Effects of the Medium of Instruction in Comprehending Mathematical Word Problems

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the effects of the medium of instruction (MOI) used in teaching to the learners’ ability to comprehend mathematical word problems. Additionally, the study aimed to find out whether there is a significant difference in the mathematical performance of public school learners who were taught using Cebuano as MOI compared with private school learners who were taught using English as MOI. Anchored on Common Underlying Proficiency Theory of Cummins, Meaningful Verbal Learning Theory of Ausubel and other related studies, this research sough to know how the language affects mathematics learning. The design used is a causal comparative between two elementary schools, one private and another public. Purposive sampling was used to get the top twenty learners from each class who were chosen as research participants. Using arithmetic mean, standard deviation, t-test and z-test formula, data were statistically treated. The findings revealed that the level of mathematics achievement of the learners of both private and public schools were higher using English rather than their mother tongue, Cebuano. Findings also revealed a significant difference in the performance of both groups of learners in the two types of questionnaires. Furthermore, no significant difference was found between the performance of private school learners compared to the public school learners. Thus, it can be concluded that the medium of instruction affects the comprehension of the learners in mathematical problem.