ASSESSING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS' LEVEL OF INTEREST IN MATHEMATICS AND THEIR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

This study assessed the level of interest in Mathematics and the academic performance of Junior High School students in Mathematics. It used the correlational research design whose primary goal is to determine the relationship between the respondents’ interest in mathematics and performance in Mathematics. The method used in conducting this study is the descriptive survey method with the use of data from school records and adopted questionnaires. There were 263 respondents in the study. They were Junior High School students from Guihulngan National High School-Hilaitan. Four statistical treatments were used in this study: percentage, weighted mean, mean, and Pearson R Correlation. It was revealed that most of the respondents who participated in the study were female. In terms of year level, grade 10 has the most participants with 69 respondents. Results showed that the respondents were moderately interested in Mathematics. Concerning their academic performance, it was very satisfactory. It was found that there is a low positive correlation of 0.324 between the respondents’ level of interest and academic performance in Mathematics. It was concluded that there is a significant relationship between the student’s level of interest in Mathematics and their academic performance in Mathematics, although not strongly. This implies that students’ interest in Mathematics can affect their academic performance in the subject area, although not entirely. This further implies that while interest appeared to be a significant predictor of the student’s academic performance, it can also be concluded that there could be other factors that would also affect the student’s academic performance.