Mathematical communication ability analysis of high school students on trigonometry learning

Abstract

Mathematical communication skills are one of the essential mathematical basic competencies of mathematics and mathematics education. The purpose of this study was to determine the mathematical communication skills of high school students in solving trigonometry problems and to reveal the difficult aspects of mathematical communication for high school students. The research design used was descriptive qualitative research involving 36 students of class X MIPA 1 as research subjects. The students were distributed into 3 groups, namely high, moderate, and low group which consisted of 12 students per group. The instrument used in this study was a test of mathematical communication skills in the form of a description. Based on the result, the average mathematical communication skills of students in all groups were in the less (inadequate) category. The results showed that students’ ability to solve trigonometry problems with mathematical communication had not been achieved. It was also found that students had difficulty on resolving mathematical problems presented in the form of images, on expressing the mathematical concepts used.