The Mediating Effect of Emotional Intelligence on the Relationship between Teaching Practices and Problems and Difficulties towards Learning Mathematics

Abstract

This study aims to establish the mediating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between teaching practices and problems and difficulties encountered by senior high school students in learning mathematics. A descriptive–correlational design is employed in this study and targeted a total of three hundred (300) respondents using a random stratified sampling to guarantee that biases will be avoided. Questionnaires are administered online using Google Forms for easy data collection. The study's results indicated that SHS respondents perceived the level of teaching practices, with a weighted mean of 4.15. Additionally, the level of problems and difficulties encountered in learning mathematics among SHS students was found to have a weighted mean of 3.87. In contrast, the level of emotional intelligence was calculated to be 4.16. All of these levels are considered to be high. Therefore, there is a significant relationship between teaching practices and problems and difficulties encountered by the SHS respondents in learning mathematics. The relationship between teaching practices and the problems encountered by SHS students in selected schools in Davao del Norte regarding learning mathematics is directly mediated by emotional intelligence, as indicated by the mediation analysis. This suggests that effectively managing the students' emotional intelligence can directly affect their performance and accomplishments in mathematics. Furthermore, the study indicates that educators' teaching practices can directly affect how students handle the problems and difficulties they face.