Abstract

EFFECTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY AND MATHEMATICAL MODELLING FOR OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE IN MATHEMATICS ON UPPER BASIC TWO STUDENTS IN BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

Peter Dogo, Ph.D,1 Jonah Dashe Ph.D2 and Sulai Erasmus Ibrahim3

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The study was aimed at establishing the effect of English Language Proficiency on Upper Basic two (UB2) Students? Performance in Mathematics, Solomon Four Group design was used as a research design for the study. The targeted population comprised of 2260 Upper Basic two students in Bauchi South Educational Zone of Bauchi State, Nigeria. Purposeful sampling technique was used in chosen four public boarding schools for the study. The sample size of the study comprised of 420 UB2 students. Two research questions were raised for the study and two null hypotheses were formulated and tested. The test instrument, Mathematics Word Problems- Solving Test (MWPST) was validated by two experts in Science Education of Federal University Kashere, Gombe State and a qualified Mathematics teacher from one of the pilot schools for the study. Chronbach Alpha coefficient (?=0.81) was used to measure the reliability of the instrument. Data from the students? performance test of MWPST was analyzed using simple percentage, mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and t-test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Scheffes compares were used to test the stated hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Analysis of data generated from students? pre-test revealed that, the effect of English language proficiency on students? performance in word problems- solving was insignificant (t (203)=0.919, p>0.0). The result from the study showed a significant difference (F(417) =48.63, p=0.00, p<0.05) in the effect of English language proficiency on performance between the four groups in the post-tests. The study posited that the interventional strategy (Mathematical Modelling Approach) significantly improves the UB2 students? performance and problem solving abilities. Overall results in this study illustrated that students? performance in word problems increased significantly. The result also indicated an increased in students? proficiency of English language instruction and text language increased. In essence, learners? performance was directly related to language use in the mathematics classroom. Keywords: English language, proficiency, modelling, mathematical approach. real word problems, Upper Basic.

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