Abstract

Mathematics is a core subject in South Africa. Studies have shown that the performance of learners on this subject is not encouraging. Many factors have been alluded to by scholars as contributing factors to this poor performance. The gap between theory and practice of mathematics teaching can be bridged by the use of appropriate learning styles, availability, and utilization of instructional. This paper finds out the relationship that exists among learning styles, instructional materials, and mathematics performance of Grade 6. The choice of Grade 6 is important because it is the last grade level of primary school before a learner can enter secondary school level in South Africa. The study adopted a correlational research design of a quantitative approach. Stratified sampling techniques were used to select 1225 learners from Grade 6 schools within Buffalo City Metropolitan Education District. The data revealed among others that in Buffalo City, availability and utilization of instructional materials have no significant relationship with the mathematics performance of selected grade 6 learners (B=.023, t=.804, P≥0.05) while students learning styles (visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic) have a significant relationship with grade 6 learners Mathematics performance (B=-.113, t=-3.886, p<0.05). The study concluded that one of the most fundamental issues to consider in improving Mathematics performance is the understanding of the learners’ learning styles and effective use of appropriate instructional materials for teaching Mathematics.

Highlights

  • Poor academic performance and a bad attitude toward mathematics among students are influenced by more than just teaching methods and instructional resources

  • What is the relative effect of learning styles, availability, and utilization of instructional materials on grade 6 learners’ Mathematics performance?

  • The regression outputs presented R2 as .012(1.2%), and R=.110, which implies that the students learning styles, availability, and utilization of instructional materials accounted for 1.2% of the variance in learners’ Mathematics performance at schools in Buffalo city

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Summary

Introduction

Poor academic performance and a bad attitude toward mathematics among students are influenced by more than just teaching methods and instructional resources. Individual differences have been revealed as a pointer to the learning style demonstrated by learners during classroom teaching (Abdullahi, 2014). Learning Styles and Instructional Materials as Correlates of Grade 6 Learners’ Mathematics Performance in Buffalo City, South Africa knowledge in a habitual way is defined as learning style. Psychological characteristics resulting from individual differences, according to Abdullahi (2014), determine the learning processes that a person employs. Dunn and Dunn (2011) believe that specific learning styles of individuals' emphasis on mental process, retention, and internalization of challenging material result in new and difficult information

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