IDENTIFICATION OF TEACHING TOPIC IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL ENGLISH LANGUAGE

IDENTIFICATION OF TEACHING TOPIC IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL ENGLISH LANGUAGE

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Background to the Study

Learning of mathematics developsgood knowledgeand understanding because of its application to all fields of human endeavor. It is a field of study that brings about logical thinking and reasoning toward a solution to problem that is to be solved. Gouba (2008) viewed mathematicsas a peculiar subject that is recognized in the entire world. It is, therefore, integrated in education so as to prepare students with the basic requirement necessary for proceeding to higher education, career aspirations and for personnel living. It remainsas the base for all sciences and technologies in the world (Uchechi, 2013).

Gambari, et al., ( 2013) viewed mathematics as the subject that takes a significant position in developing the individual knowledge and plays a significant role in enhancing the country‘s socio-economic development. It is a means of social functions in our day-to-day activities. The social functions include: buying, selling,and banking, among others.Association for Computational Mechanics in Engineering (ACME, 2011) agreed that mathematics makes an essential contribution to a good rounded education, playing a vital role in the area industry and technology. Without a sound understanding of mathematics appreciation of a range of other educational disciplines such as music, the sciences, geography and economics is compromised (Vorderman et al., 2011). Welberry(2009) viewed that mathematics defines a situation and gives the reason for the existence of the problem situation. In essence therefore it develops knowledge and understanding which can be applied to solve relevant problems or situations.

The study of mathematicsleads to good andlogical thinking,accuracy and creativity.Mathematics is an essential tool in the exploration of or world and viewed as the science of understanding patterns that exist around us and solving problems in our daily life (Agwu, 2015). Mathematics deals with nature and refers to that aspectof numbers which may be found in sand dunes and the aspect of movement which may include how an individual person walks, talks and reasons and this explainswhy mathematics helps us to understand and control our nature (NCCA, 2014).NCTM (2006) recommendedthat students at lower level of education need to learn mathematics to excel at higher levels of generalization of models and solve complex problems. This would provide the opportunity for many countries of the world to remain competitive in terms of economy that is neededfor scientific and technological development.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 2012) maintained that every student should have equitable and optimal opportunities to learn mathematics free from bias – intentional or unintentional- based on race, gender, socioeconomic status, or language. To close the achievement gap, all students need the opportunity to learn challenging mathematics from a well-qualified teacher who will make connections to the background, needs, and cultures of all learners (NCTM, 2012). We must communicate to learn languages and mathematics. Focus on mathematical representations, mathematics language syntax, grammar, and semantics are flexible in English language.

Percy & Andrew (2014) opines that translation from words to symbols is undeniably one of the solution processes in solving word problems, examples of such words or phrases which are English groups and can be translated into mathematical symbols, may include sum (+), difference (-), take away (-), of (x) product (x), ago (-) division (÷), less than (<), greater than (>) etc. Symbols in brackets after each word stated are refers to as mathematical symbols or notation. The challenge on learners would then be to relearn these familiar words and assimilate them into correct mathematical contexts. This challenge therefore can only be addressed when leaners have the required proficiency of both the text language and the language of instruction.

Further research indicated that for learners to be successful in mathematics, it requires teachers to have a deep knowledge of both the language of instruction

and the subject matter which they are expected to teach (Ball, Thames & Phelps 2008) .A clear view of how student is learning mathematics develops and progresses across levels (Daro, Mosher & Corcoran 2011). It also requires teachers to be skilled at teaching in ways that are effective in developing mathematics learning for all students. Mathematics learning should focus on developing understanding of concepts and procedures through problem solving, reasoning, and discourse (NCTM, 2012). Students‘ understanding is deepened when both the language of instruction and the method used by teachers provide the discussion of similarities among representations that revealed underlying mathematical structures or essential features of mathematical ideas (Zimba 2011).

Kenya, one of the Africancountriesis set to achieve Vision 2030, whoseaim is making Kenya a newly industrialized middle income country, thus student population must excel in sciences, and the vehicle for this is mathematics ( Githua&Njoroge, 2013).

Mbuaga etal., (2012) in their study onfactors contributing to students‘ poor performance in Mathematics at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education revealed that factors may include teachers strategies, students economic background, proficiency of the language of instruction by students. Benson and O‘Oconnor (2015) found that students poor performance at the national examination (KSCE) would be as a result of their in ability to comprehend mathematics vocabulary and the language of instruction. For students to excel, they must recognize, comprehend and apply the requisite mathematical vocabulary.

In Singapore, the necessity to study mathematics has led to the revisions of its mathematicscurriculum in order to meet the requirement that align with international reform movements (SMoE, 2007, p.14). The curriculum framework is aimed at equipping learners to become effective and good   problem solvers, it is based on five important aspect of human learning, these include; the inculcation of skills, knowledge, behaviors , metacognition and mental process(Eric, 2009).TheGood reason for the introduction of new mathematics

curriculum is seen as an important step for which learners will develop problem-

solving abilities and see problem-solving more relevant and effective. It will also enable leaners to have the required ability for advanced mathematics.

In South Africa, despite wide spread acceptance of the notion that improving performance of students in mathematics may have a high economic and sound payoff, analyse in all countries have surprisingly little information on which to base educational strategies. Student‘s low performances at lower level exams in mathematics and English language in the country have become a matter of concern when compared to other African countries that participated in the exams (Van den & Damme, 2001). Some challenges in South Africa is the quality of education, that is to say, that many teachers in the country are not teaching their subject as required and there are large number of teachers who are teaching mathematics that are not qualified and that bring about students poor performance in the subject.

Sarah (2003) in her study on language and other background factors affecting secondary pupils‘ performance in Mathematics in South Africa considers language background as a factor that affects students‘ performance in mathematics in South African secondary schools. 8000 South African students in 200 different schools were tested in mathematics and science as well as English which was a national option.. The results of the test were substantially low including other developing countries like Morocco, Chile, Indonesia and Philippines. The study confirms that proficiency in English language does

correlate with their achievement in mathematics; students with high scores in

mathematics also performed well in the English test administered while those with low scores didn‘t perform.

In Malaysia, students‘ performances at secondary level of education remain very low. Mathematics achievement test in TIMSS in 2003 clearly indicates how well students in Singapore have done. Over 50 percent of them achieved more than the average score of 603 compared to Malaysian students with only 10 % (Mullis etal., 2004). The poor performance of the students becomes a major concern among Malaysian educational stakeholders. This brings about the need for language policy for teaching mathematics and science in English, this was introduced at all levels of education in the year 2003 (IRC, 2008). This policy was then commenced and takes up properly after a period of five years in the level of education.

The motives for the use of English as a medium of instruction was to enable leaners to have the knowledge of medium of instruction so that knowledge or skills are acquired through this medium of instruction to be assessable for both public and private employment. Another reason was that, the students‘ performance from public secondary achievement test revealed poor knowledge or understanding of language of instruction among learners, since for the past decades at least forty six per cent (46%) of learners failed to acquire the required level of performance in English in the basic level of examination (Sua, 2007).

In Nigeria, evidence of this were observed when teachers were provided with solution to the test items from the beginning algebra ( Ladele, 2013 ). Teachers were required to provide correct answer to a wrong one, or confirm a correct answer, and identify the mistakes that they believed might have led to the students‘ incorrect solutions (Ladele, 2013). The purpose of this activity was to help the teachers see the issues from the students‘ perspective and to find out how much they knew about the existence of algebraic word problems. It was very surprising that some of the teachers arrived at wrong answers and by the amount of discussion the question generated. Some teachers themselves appeared to initially struggle with the meaning of some questions and they also appeared to be unaware of misconceptions about variables and expressions.

Solving word problems require the knowledge of mathematics, the language of the text and the language of instruction, which learners need to acquire and apply (Jitendra, 2009). However, it is often assumed that an understanding of solving word problems will be picked up if students are grounded in the new approach of problem solving (Ladele, 2013). Mathematical modelling approach in mathematics classroom cannot be overemphasized as this would provide leaners with necessary skills of solving word problems. In Nigeria and Bauchi State in particular, students‘ poor performance in mathematics over the years has indicated their inability to use relevant approach in solving word problems. This study therefore, sought to find out if mathematical modelling approach would make word problems easier to be solved by the Nigerian junior secondary school students and also find out howtheir proficiency level of English as a medium of instruction in the mathematics classroom would be improved based on.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Proficiency in English as a second language and as a medium of instruction in mathematics classroom is a contributing factor to good performance of students in mathematics.In Nigeria, the leaning of mathematics is English language ((NPE; 2004; David; 2011, Adeyemi & Adeyemi, 2012). learners with low level of proficiency of the language of instruction performed very low in mathematics. Other reasons that can contribute students‘ poor performance in mathematics may include large class size, students‘ language background, sex, teachers approachand learners understanding of the text language. These remain a serious problem to secondary students in learning mathematics.

The seriousness and urgency of the situation is reflected in the results of 2014 West African School Certificate Examinations (WASCE) in which only 31.8% of

the students scored a credit in Mathematics and English language. The continuous

decline of studentspoor performance in mathematics at both JSSCE and WEAC level of examinations is not surprising as the mathematics essay paper (Paper 2) presents most of the questions in words, and worded problems.Developing relevant equations in word problems is necessary ((NCTM, 2009: 35).

Word problems often require the use of algebra to solve them. Solving word problems at levels beyond the primary school most often involves interpreting and translating the sentences into algebraic forms before mathematical operations are carried out.To be successful in solving word problems, students need to learn how to read such problems. Simply decoding words or extracting arithmetic operations is not enough: students must learn to read betweenthe lines and understand what they are expected to do mathematically. Proficiency in both English and mathematical languageby learners is necessary for success in problem-solving.

The Federal Government of Nigeria however, recognizes that consistent quality of teaching and learning remains asignificant challenge whichcan be addressedso as to improve leaners performance in the subject. The aim of the Junior Secondary School Mathematics curriculum in Nigeria is to provide mathematical literacy to all students (FMoE, 2007). To this effect, students should be able to solve word problems and represent them algebraically in their second year in secondary school as they transit from arithmetic to algebra.One way of trying to find out what makes word problems difficult was to investigate the effects of English as a language of instruction in teaching and learning mathematics and also to seeif mathematical modelling would make word problems easier to be solved by the Nigerian junior secondary school students.This initiative should be taken to fill such a gap and stands as a step in this direction.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The study was guided by the following specific objectives:

i) To establish teacher‘s proficiency level of English as a second language in teaching and learning of JSS2 algebraic word problems.

ii) To determine teacher‘s level of preparedness in their use of English in teaching and learning JSS2algebraic word problems.

iii) To find out the effect of English Language onJSS2 performance in word problems through mathematical modelling.

1.4 Research Questions

The following research questions were developed to guide the study, these included;

i) What is the teacher‘s proficiency level of English as a language of instruction in teaching and learning of mathematical modelling at junior secondary school level?

ii) What is teacher‘s level of preparedness in their use of English in teaching word problems at junior secondary school level?

1.5 Significance of the Study

The significance of every study is its findings, for this, the study would;

i) Certify and address some key concepts such as effects of the second language, teachers‘ proficiency level, teachers‘ preparedness among others as they relate to teachers knowledge of mathematics.

ii) Establish theoretical understanding of English Language through teaching andlearning mathematical modelling that be useful to the Ministry of Education as it will provide relevant suggestion which can be used in the formulation oftraining policies and practices for secondary teacher education.

iii) Will enhance the teacher pedagogicalcontent knowledge, how a teacher can teach the subject content and the language of mathematic.

iv) Be useful in the identification and correction ofstudents‘ misconceptions in solving algebraic word problems in mathematics at internal, national and international examinations levels.

v) Be helpful in enabling learners and teachers alike; effectively acquire new and relevant concept and practical skills, thus becoming innovative and responsible in teaching and learning mathematics. Address an existing knowledge gap in the area of teaching and learning mathematics in Nigerian secondary schools.

1.6 Delimitation and Limitation

The research has considered only government secondary schools, specifically junior secondary school two students (JSS2). Other classes were not considered in the study due to the study being anexperimental research. The choice of the level and the class in this study was that, the junior secondary level is the connection between the primary mathematics syllabus and the secondary mathematics syllabus. The class has also experienced the beginning algebra in their first year (Ladele, 2013). The study was delimited to instruction specifically involving mathematical modelling approach. The study has also involved mathematics teachers only in the public andboarding schools from the study area.

Limitations

The first foreseeable was the distance from the researchers host university (KU) and Bauchi Southern Educational Zone of Bauchi State, Nigeria, the place of data collection. This long distance would haveaffected both the time and the budget available for the research. This problem was addressed as the researcher got an

introductory letter from the departmentimmediately after the submission of the

proposal copy, seeking permission for the researcher to visit the study schoolsthrough the directive from the Bauchi State Ministry of Education. The permission was granted two weeks to the commencement of the intervention and data collection. The state government which is also the employer of the researcher assisted and sponsored the field work through the Tetfund intervention.

The second limitation was the issue of unexpected transfer of one mathematics teacherafter the period of the training that was likely to be involved in the intervention. This problem was almost addressed as a special arrangement was made between the researcher and the Head of the new posted school to allow the trained teacher to takepart in the study. This would have affected the findings of this research work.

Academic calendar wasalmost tampered with as the Bauchi state government declared one week break. The break was as a result of Sallah celebration, this made the researcher to adjust his research schedule slightly for a week. A permissionletter was received from the Ministry of Education.There was no any breakagain from the commencement to the end of intervention.

Finally, there was a scarcity of research findings on the effect of English Language as medium of instruction in teachingmathematics within Bauchi State, Nigeria. These revealed that reference on previous studies and findings in the area were confined to both local and foreign sources.

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