Analysis of some factors that influence causal attribution of mathematics performance among secondary school students in Lesotho

Abstract

Student learning is influenced by many factors which educational research is tasked to determine and feed into the teaching-learning process to enhance its effectiveness. Several studies with different populations have determined that that to which a learner attributes his or her performance significantly influences such performance. To determine some of the factors that significantly impact upon students’ causal attribution of their performance on mathematics, this study ana1ysed, using chi-square (c2) statistics, survey research data from 717 Form D (Form 4) students from 30 randomly selected secondary schools in the Kingdom of Lesotho. The results showed that while gender of students had no significant influence on students attribution of their performance in mathematics, the person with whom the students were living, students’ preferred occupation after school, type of proprietor of schools, and preferred classroom seating zone during mathematics lesson, each had significant influence on this variable. Based on these results, appropriate discussions and recommendations were made.