Mediation and moderation effect of mathematics interest and teaching quality between self-concept and mathematics achievement

Purpose: This study investigated the mediation and moderation effect of mathematics interest and teaching quality on the relationship between self-concept and mathematics achievement.
Design/methodology/approach: The study was conducted at Sakafia Islamic Senior High School (SHS) and Kumasi Academy SHS in Ghana. A sample comprised of 300 students who offered general arts, general science, and home economics were randomly selected from a population of 1,200. The study adopted a descriptive survey and analysis such as exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, discriminant validity, and reliability analysis from Cronbach’s alpha was estimated using SPSS (version 23) and Amos (version 23).
Findings: From the hypothesis, the findings revealed that self-concept partialy mediate mathematics achievement through mathematics interest and teaching quality also showed moderating effect between interest and achievement. The study also found out that self-concept, mathematics interest and teaching quality have direct effect on students’ performance.
Research limitations/implications: The study investigated the moderation effect of teaching quality, which was found to be insignificant. This is an imperative for further study to critically analyzed it effect on other antecedents.
Practical implication: The study informed teachers teaching mathematics and in other different programs to be equipped with knowledge of how students perceive mathematics so as to select the appropriate teaching approach to influence their interest and belief in the study of mathematics.
Originality/value: There are studies by some researchers combining these variables under study with other factors to influence students’ performance however, little attention was on the effect mathematics interest and teaching quality to impact student performance through self-concept.