Pre-Service Teachers’ Teaching Anxiety about Mathematics and Their Learning Styles

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in the teaching anxiety of preservice teachers in mathematics according to their learning style preferences. There were a total of 506 pre-service teachers involved in this study. Of the total, 205 were pre-service elementary school teachers, 173 were pre-service elementary mathematics teachers, and 128 were pre-service secondary mathematics teachers. In the collection of the data, the researcher employed two types of instruments: the Learning Style Inventory (LSI) and the Mathematics Teaching Anxiety Scale (MATAS). The LSI determined the participants’ learning style preference: divergent, assimilator, convergent, and accommodator. The MATAS found the participants’ mathematics teaching anxiety level. The researcher used the one-way ANOVA with α = 0.05 in the analysis of the data. The study revealed that there were statistically significant differences in mathematics teaching anxiety between convergent and the other three types of learners: divergent, accommodator, and assimilator. The difference was in favour of convergent learners. In other words, convergent learners had less mathematics teaching anxiety than the other types of learners. The study also found that divergent learners showed the highest level of mathematics teaching anxiety.