English Language Competence and Mathematics Performance among Secondary School Students in Bungoma East Sub-County, Bungoma County, Kenya.
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Date
2015
Authors
Wafula, Amos Wanjala
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Mathematics is the foundation of scientific and technological development of the
nation. It is used as a basic requirement for entry into the prestigious courses such as
Medicine and Engineering. Despite the importance of the subject in the society, there
has been poor performance in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education. The
study investigated English language competence of the students and the performance
in Mathematics in Bungoma East Sub-County. The purpose of the study was to
determine the influence of students' English language competence on Mathematics
performance. The target population of students was 13328 and 399 teachers. The
study used descriptive survey method. The study randomly sampled 400 Form two
students to sit English language competence tests and Mathematics word and nonword
problem tests. The sample of students represents 10.78 per cent of all Form two
students in the Sub-County. On the other hand, forty Mathematics teachers were
randomly sampled to fill a questionnaire. The sample of teachers represented 10 per
cent of the teachers in the Sub-County. Content and construct validity of English and
Mathematics tests were ensured as the students' test items were adapted from Kenya
National Examinations Council past papers and a pilot study was conducted while
reliability coefficient was determined by Kuder-Richardson formula (KR-20). The
data were analyzed using descriptive methods such as percentages and means.
Inferential data analysis was carried out using student Hest and Pearson Correlation
Coefficient. Students Hest was found by comparing students' mean scores of
Mathematics word and non-word problem tests while Pearson product correlation
coefficient was used to determine the influence of students' English language
competence on Mathematics performance. Students performed better in non-word
problem test compared to word problem test. The study found that there is positive
correlation ( r = 0.9649,a = 0.05 ) between English language competence and
Mathematics performance in secondary schools in Bungoma East Sub-County. It was
also found that boys performed better than girls in Mathematics competence tests. It
was, therefore, concluded that there is a strong positive correlation between English
language competence and Mathematics performance in secondary schools. It is
recommended that students learn English language effectively and teachers of
Mathematics and the Kenya National Examinations Council use simple English
language to improve the performance of students' in Mathematics.
Description
A Research Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the School of Education of Kenyatta University.