Content Analysis of Primary School Mathematics Textbooks and its Relationship with Pupils Achievement

Abstract

Malaysia has undergone several changes in its education policy from KBSR to KSSR over the decades and the changes in school textbooks follow suit. The current KSSR Math textbooks used were developed in 2014/15 and millions of Ringgits has been spent by the government to provide quality education for all. However, the findings from International studies such as TIMSS and PISA have shown a low level of attainment, especially in word problems, among Malaysian pupils in the learning of mathematics. Is there a possibility that this low attainment in mathematics education in schools, among other factors, have something to do with the content analysis of the textbook’s pupils use in the classroom? A three-phase descriptive-correlational content analysis design was utilized for the study. In the first phase of the research, a total of eleven mathematics texts (4 textbooks and 7 activity books) from Primary One to Primary Four were analyzed according to eleven types of categories as modelled by the Van de Walle (1998) framework. The findings show that the problem categories were not represented in a systematic manner throughout Year One to Year Four mathematics texts. Some categories were overrepresented while others were underrepresented. The next phase finding depicts a significant relationship between pupils’ achievement in the Word Problem Test categories and the distribution of word problem categories across all grade levels. In other words, results showed that pupils face more difficulty on the problems that were underrepresented and least difficulty that were overrepresented. As mathematics syllabuses in KSSR keep expanding and focus more on high order thinking skills among pupils, it is important to make sure that the sources are well prepared for the cause. Therefore, the curriculum and textbook developer should consider taking input from research to provide up to date information related to curriculum matters and in this case to the variety of word problem categories in ration that benefit pupils across levels.