African Educational Research Journal - Vol. 9(2) - Full Length Research Paper - An investigation on burnout, test anxiety, test motivation, and test attitude of prospective mathematics teachers in Turkey

Oct 15, 2026

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Student burnout can reduce motivation for required coursework and increase absenteeism, while test anxiety and attitudes can shape academic performance. This study examined correlations among burnout, test anxiety, test attitude, and test motivation for prospective mathematics teachers in Turkey, and tested differences by gender and grade level. Data were collected from 340 students. Results showed significant positive relationships between test attitude and test motivation, and between burnout and test anxiety; ANOVA also found grade-level differences in burnout and test anxiety.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Student Burnout

Burnout in University Students

Relationship Between Burnout and Test-Related Variables

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 9(2), pp. 562-569, June 2021 DOI: 10. 30918/AERJ.92.21.071 ISSN: 2354-2160 Full Length Research Paper An investigation on burnout, test anxiety, test motivation, and test attitude of prospective mathematics teachers in Turkey Mithat Takunyaci* and N. İzzet Kurbanoğlu Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Sakarya University, Turkey. Accepted 14 May, 2021 | ABSTRACT
Student burnout can lead to lower motivation to do required coursework and higher absenteeism . The purpose of the study was to examine whether a significant correlation exists between burnout, test anxiety, test attitude, and test motivation of prospective mathematics teachers studying at mathematics teacher program in an education faculty of a state university in Turkey. This study also sought to examine whether there is a significant difference between burnout, test anxiety, test attitude, and test motivation of prospective mathematics teachers, according to gender and grade level. Data were collected from 340 students. We found a significant positive correlation between test attitude and test motivation, between burnout and test anxiety; also the results of ANOVA showed that there was a statistically significant difference in prospective mathematics teachers’ burnout and test anxiety, according to grade level. These findings support prospective mathematics teachers’ test attitude had a significant positive correlation with test motivation, their burnout had a significant positive correlation with test anxiety and there was a significant difference between burnout and test anxiety, according to grade levels.
Keywords: Burnout, test anxiety, test motivation, test attitude, mathematics teachers, anxiety. | | --- | | *Corresponding [author. E-mail: mtakunyaci@sakarya.edu.tr](author. E-mail: mtakunyaci@sakarya.edu.tr). | INTRODUCTION All students in Turkey have difficulties in mathematics, and their mathematics achievement is low on national and international exams (Boyraz and Güçlü, 2018) . Mathis one of the school subjects that students perceive to bethe most challenging, complex, and abstract (Schwartz, 2000) . This is also a growing problem among prospective mathematics teachers. Students' negative emotional reactions towards mathematics cause them to avoid and careers that require them to use math skills (Betz, 2006; Betz and Hackett, 1983) . In order to improve their mathematics achievement, students need to attend classes, complete course homework on time, and actively participate in class activities. Students must be happy while doing these tasks and responsibilities; otherwise, these tasks and responsibilities could lead prospective mathematics teachers to burn out. Student burnout In literature, there are many definitions of burnout. Burnout is generally considered to be a result of stress and an inadequate support system (Gold, 1984) . It is a syndrome that usually occurs among people who help professionals (Maslach, 1978; Maslach and Pines, 1977); therefore, it is generally defined as a syndrome characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment in professionals (Golembiewski, Sun, Lin and Boudreau, 1995 ; Firth et al. , 1985; Jackson, Schwab and Schuler, 1986; Lahoz and Mason, 1989; Maslach, 1978; Maslach and Pines, 1977; Schaufeli et al. , 2009; Schwab and Iwanicki, 1982) . According to Maslach and Leiter (1997), major factors of burnout include work overload, lack of control, lack of Takunyaci and İzzet Kurbanoğlu 563 reward, lack of community, value conflict, and lack of fairness, which are obvious indications that a person anda job are mismatched (Yang, 2004) . Studies have shown that burnout can lead to lower commitment, higher turnover, absenteeism, reduced productivity, low morale, and lower consideration of others (Cordes and Dougherty, 1993; Maslach, 1978; Maslach and Pines, 1977) . Burnout is a growing problem among u

FAQs

What relationships does the study report among burnout, test anxiety, test attitude, and test motivation?

The study reports a significant positive correlation between test attitude and test motivation, and between burnout and test anxiety.

How were differences in burnout and test anxiety examined?

The study used ANOVA to test whether burnout and test anxiety differed significantly according to grade level (and also considered gender in its overall design).

Who participated in the research and what was the sample size?

The research collected data from 340 prospective mathematics teachers studying in Turkey.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen