ANALYSIS OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT’S ERRORS IN SOLVING WORD PROBLEMS USING NEWMAN’S ERROR ANALYSIS (NEA) PROCEDURE

Abstract

The study was intended to analyze Senior High School students’ errors in solving algebra word problem using Newman’s Error Analysis (NEA). The study employed descriptive qualitative design. 70 S.H.S 1 students were randomly sampled from the three Senior High Schools within the Nkoranza North District. Teacher-made word problem diagnostic test was conducted and Newman’s Error Analysis (NEA)checklist used to analyze students’ errors in the test. Various descriptive statistics such as Bar graph, pie chart and frequency distribution were used to described the errors committed. The study found that, out of the 623 total errors committed by the 70 students in the 10-item test, 45.4% wasoncomprehension errors, 34.4% was transformation errors, 13% was process skills errors, 5% was encoding errors and the least being reading errors which is 2.2%. It is recommended that mathematics teachers thoroughly teach the meaning of words used in crafting word problem items and also tailor their strategies towards the changing of word problemsinto mathematical models and equation.The finding of this study would equip mathematics teachers within the study settingwitha scientific based information on the kind of errors students make in solving word problems. This information would then be used as foundation in coming out with strategies to mitigate or curtail the errors students commit in solving word problem