Mathematical Language Skills as Correlates of Students’ Academic Achievement and Attitude Toward Mthematics in Senior Secondary Schools in Taraba State, Nigeria Relevance and Implications for the Ethiopian Landscape
Keywords:
Mathematical Language, Academic Achievement, Attitude Toward MathematicsAbstract
The study investigated mathematical language skills as correlates to students’ academic achievement and attitude
toward mathematics in senior secondary schools in Taraba State, Nigeria. Two research objectives, two research
questions and two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted correlational survey research design. The population of the study was 2220 students consisting of 1008 male and 1012 female of Jalingo
education zone. A sample size of 339 students from nine schools was selected for the study. The study employed
purposive sampling techniques to select nine schools out of 52 public secondary schools within Jalingo education zone. The study also employed simple random sampling techniques to select 339 SSIII students from the
nine schools in Taraba state. The instruments used for data collection were the Students Mathematical Language
Skills Test (SMLST), Attitude Toward Mathematics Inventory (ATMI) and a Mathematics Achievement Proforma
(MAP). Cronbach Alpha statistics was used to obtain the reliability of 0.74 through pilot testing for SMLST. Similarly, Kendall’tau correlation coefficient of concordance was used to obtain the reliability of 0.88 through pilot
testing for ATMI. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer research questions while, Pearson product
moment correlation was used to test hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the study indicated that
mathematical language skill was moderate with a grand mean of 23.03, so also the students’ academic achievement
and attitude toward mathematics results with a grand mean of 48.04 and 3.19 respectively. Also, mathematical
language skills significantly correlated academic achievement in mathematics with the r- value of 0.335. The result
also shows that students mathematical language skills significantly correlated with attitude toward mathematics
with the r- value 0.208, P = 0.00 all through. Based on the findings, it was concluded that mathematical language
skills significantly correlate students’ academic achievement and attitude toward mathematics in senior secondary school III in Jalingo education zone. The study recommended among others that since mathematical language
significantly correlate academic achievement, the teachers of mathematics should be suitably trained in the art of
using mathematical language for teaching students and hence affects their academics positively. Also, teachers
should be trained on how to properly use mathematical language while teaching the students there by making them
to develop positive attitude toward the subject.
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