Adaptation in Students of 5th Classes: Relationship between School Anxiety and Learning Motivation

The article presents results of an empirical study of the relationship between school anxiety and motivation of learning activity at the stage of adaptation in students of 5th classes. The study involved 82 students of Bryansk state school aged 10-11 years, 46 boys and 36 girls. The techniques used in the study included Phillips' school anxiety test and M.R. Ginsburg's technique for studying learning motivation. The obtained data was analysed using the methods of mathematical statistics (Mann-Whitney criterion and Pearson's criterion). As it was revealed, play motives of learning activity are associated with fear of not meeting the expectations of others and with low physiological resistance to stress. Positional motives are correlated with an individual's fear of self-expression, of not meeting the expectations of others, with problems and fears in relationships with teachers, with the general level of school anxiety, with learning and social motives. The results of the study can be used by school counselor to reduce school anxiety and increase learning motivation of schoolchildren.