The Effectiveness of Mother Tongue-Based Instruction among Grade Four Pupils of Tulo I Elementary School

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Education is one of the greatest things by which man can attain. One of the component subjects in education is Mathematics. Moreover, different mathematics assessments showed that the Philippines does not perform well in mathematics. It was found out that the Philippines placed 23rd among 25 countries for both Science and Mathematics for Grade 4.In response, Department of Education introduced the K to 12 Reform Curriculum in 2012. The said curriculum is expected to bring remarkable innovations in Philippine education by using mother tongue language.In line with this, the researcher wants to find out the effectiveness of mother tongue among grade four pupils from their previous grade level as the researcher is a grade 4 teacher handling Mathematics.

METHODS

The descriptive-comparative method of research was used in this study. Comparative in the sense that the level of performance of the pupils in the two tests were described and discussed. The result was then the basis for identifying differences between the performances, thus comparative.The researcher used the questionnaire as a data gathering instrument. After it was collected, the researcher then tallied, analyzed and presented the data in tabular form. After interpreting the results, the researcher came up with different interventions to be applied.

RESULTS

The following were the results obtained: (1) The mother tongue bears a significant impact on the teaching and learning process and more importantly on our culture, both studies recognized the use of mother tongue and the effect of it to the pupils. (2) Carelessness on number sign obtained the highest scores of 94 which ranked first in the distribution of mean scores. This may imply that the students know what to do regarding the problem but should be careful in representing the number sign. (3) Mother's tongue does not necessarily guarantee success in word problem-solving. (4) there was no significant difference in the performance of Grade 4 pupils who took the word problem expressed in Mother Tongue and English language.

DISCUSSIONS

After all the data were subjected to statistical treatment. Findings revealed that the local language does not warrant success in solving word problems in mathematics. In as much as the English language do not guarantee the same success. Pupils succeed in working out problems that involve simple calculations and fell short on problems that require a deeper understanding. Thus, it can be concluded that the language of mathematics goes far beyond the text that the pupils read.