2021 Volume 45 Issue 3 Pages 298-307
The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of environmental and affective factors on mathematical literacy by analyzing the PISA 2012 Japanese dataset. The data were analyzed by multilevel structural equation modeling at both school and student levels. It was found that: (a) At both levels, student-teacher relations were positively related to mathematical literacy, mediated by affective factors; (b) mathematical teacher support was positively related to mathematical literacy, mediated by self-efficacy only at the student level; (c) self-concept was positively related to mathematical literacy, mediated by self-efficacy and math anxiety only at the student level; (d) math anxiety was shown to have a negative effect on mathematical literacy at the student level; (e) self-efficacy was shown to have a large positive effect on mathematical literacy at both levels. These results suggest that improving student-teacher relations indirectly promotes better mathematical literacy via self-efficacy.
