Modeling the Factors Affecting Students' Mathematical Literacy Scores: The Case of PISA 2012


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ÇETİN S., GÖK B.

HACETTEPE UNIVERSITESI EGITIM FAKULTESI DERGISI-HACETTEPE UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, vol.32, no.4, pp.982-998, 2017 (ESCI) identifier identifier

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine whether interest in mathematics, mathematics self-efficacy and work ethics variables have any effect on mathematics literacy of students who took PISA 2012 by using structural equation modeling (SEM). Exploratory factor analysis extracted in three factors. It was found that eight variables were related to interest in mathematics factor, eight variables were related to mathematics self-efficacy factor, and nine variables were related to work ethics factor. Of these variables, three were latent and twenty-five were observed. Then the consistency of the model was analyzed, and it was found that model could be used for the whole data set. "Mathematics self-efficacy" variable was found to be the best predictor of mathematics literacy. The other two variables, namely "interest in mathematics" and "study ethics", were found to have less effect on mathematics literacy. In addition, these two variables were found to less predict mathematics literacy. In the study, R-2 coefficient was found to be 0.34. It means that 34% of the variance in students' mathematics literacy is explained by interest in mathematics, self-efficacy, and work ethics variables. The data obtained showed that the model designed was confirmed.