ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. STEM Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1572840
A Structural Equation Modeling of Predictive Factors of Mathematics Undergraduates Academic Achievement
Provisionally accepted
- University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa, South Africa
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Mathematics achievement is the level of knowledge, proficiency or skill attained by undergraduates in mathematics, often explained by grade point average or cumulative grade point average. Many factors could either improve or deter this achievement. In this study, we assess the factors that predict the academic achievement of mathematics undergraduates through structural equation model (SEM). A survey was conducted with a sample of 411 randomly selected undergraduates from the Department of Mathematics in public universities in Southwestern Nigeria who were studying mathematical science or mathematics education. An adapted questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale hosted online through Google Forms was used for the survey. The data gathered was analysed through SEM with the aid of SmartPLS 4. The factors examined, mathematics self-efficacy, attitude, motivation and study habits, collectively accounted for 59.4% of the observed variance in the academic achievement of mathematics undergraduates. Similarly, self-efficacy and study habits accounted for 47.7% of the observed variance in academic motivation, while study habits, motivation and self-efficacy accounted for 67.8% of the observed variance in academic attitudes. Among the predictors, study habit has the most predictive influence on academic achievement, followed by mathematics self-efficacy and academic motivation, while academic attitude has the least influence on academic achievement. Hence, academics and institutions should develop and implement various instructional interventions, such as mentoring, monitoring programs and feedback supports, to help students improve their study habits and build their mathematics self-efficacy.
Keywords: self-efficacy, Attitude, Motivation, Study habits, Mathematics Undergraduates, structural equation model
Received: 07 Feb 2025; Accepted: 16 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Falebita, Asanre and Chibisa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Oluwanife Segun Falebita, University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa, South Africa
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