Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies (JETERAPS) 4(3): 542-546

Journal of Emerging
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(ISSN: Policy Studies (JETERAPS) 4(3):542-546 (ISSN:2141-6990)
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Effect of Mother Tongue and Mathematical Language on Primary

School Pupils Performance in Mathematics
Oginni Omoniyi. Israel and Owolabi Olabode. Thomas

Department of Curriculum Studies,

Faculty of Education, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Abstract
The study evaluated the use of mother tongue and mathematical language on assessment of Nigerians Primary
School pupils in mathematics. The purpose was to examine the effect of the use of mother tongue and
mathematical language on Primary School pupils in mathematics. It investigated whether any difference existed
in the use of three major Nigerian languages including mathematical language on the assessment of Primary
School mathematics. It also examined which one will be more effective in enhancing primary school pupils
performance in mathematics. The study adopted a pre-test, post test control group quasi experimental design.
240 students drawn from primary schools in Osun state, Nigeria were sampled and used for the study.
Mathematics teachers were trained in each of the Nigerian languages on how to use mother tongue and
mathematics language. A unified syllabus was used for the study. Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) was
the instrument used to collect data from the subjects. The scores were collated and scored in percentages, mean
and standard deviation for descriptive statistics and t-test, Analysis of Variances (ANOVA) and Post Hoc
Analysis for the inferential statistics. Findings revealed a significant difference in performance scores among the
groups. The study would be beneficial to the pupils, parents, mathematics teachers, government and policy
makers on the need to incorporate mother tongue into the teaching and learning of mathematics for simplifying
and better performance in mathematics. Based on the findings it was recommended among other things that
mother tongue should be employed in the teaching of mathematics at primary schools level in order to
internalise mathematics language and make the pupils mathematics friendly at their tender age.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Keywords: assessments evaluation, mother tongue, mathematical language, primary, spatial
_________________________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION songs and games. They learn by participating in the
Language is central to or pervasive in the realm of language itself.
human. Language forms the basis of whatever social
cohesion we can attain, determine our worldview. Unfortunately, the uses of mother tongue in teaching
Language intimately links the past with the present mathematics have not been encouraged in the Nigeria
and the present with the future. We cannot escape its school system. Formal education was introduced to
influences even by silence. Human beings need most African countries with little or no attention
language to grasp things intellectually and to get devoted to the teaching of indigenous language in
others to do so, to a large extent, language defines their educational institution for quite a long time
humanity. Zhang (1997) stated that language is the .According to Jannina & Mark (2004) mother tongue
key to the heart of people if we lose the key, we lose was christened as vernacular which means language
the people. If treasure the key and keep it safe, it will spoken by the barbarians. The introduction of
unlock the door to untold riches, riches that cannot be education by colonial administrators was to impart
guessed at from other side of the door. David (2006) knowledge that suited not the interest and the purpose
opined that language is undoubtedly one of the most of the African pupils, but those of the foreign
important areas of the curriculum. They are both educators. The local languages were regarded as
means to an end and an end in themselves. That is, inferior to that of the colonial rulers language, and
they provide a child with the tools to communicate where any attention was paid to African language at
and at the same time an integral part of the creative all, emphasis was placed on reading the Holy Bible
process that results from this communication when in their own tongue..
the language arts are taught with awareness, as well
as enjoyment, students gain competence of their The imperial language is the focus and it serves as the
language and confidence in themselves. They learn to medium of communication for other aspects of the
integrate the components of language into all aspects school curriculum. In fact it is regarded as lingua
of their lives. Clenfield (1998) opined that children franca in Nigeria . This suited the colonial
learn language through all the language experiences administrators in trading, it enables them to use the
they have, such as discussion, conversation, lectures, products of such a system as clerk and messengers.
scolding, stories, reading, reporting trips, parties, The significance of peoples own native language in
their psycho-social development was completely

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Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies (JETERAPS) 4(3):542-546 (ISSN:2141-6990)

ignored. Ajayi (2005) stated that the native languages of instruction in the first two or three years. The
were de-emphasised. in contrast to the imperial that medium switches to English in the third or fourth
the African themselves were reportedly sometimes year abruptly in most schools. In some areas, where
not interested in, Indeed, official policy was often there are many linguistic groups, English is
opposed to the teaching of African language. In introduced actively from the first year.
final analysis, no foreign language can take the place
of the mother tongue and no system of education can From experience, education administrators who
afford to regard it without serious detriment to the insisted that the medium of instructions in the senior
mental development of the child. Thought and classes in primary schools in Nigeria should be
language are together as an entity. One is dependent English are either ignorant of the great national
on the other for its existence. They grow and decay suicide implied as they are committed to dragging the
together, the child thinks and dreams in the language nation backward and are not informed about the
through which he acquires the firsthand experience of secrets of how the developed nations got there .
life. This naturally happens to be the mother tongue
and for this reason the mother tongue becomes the Kolawole (2005) discovered that students in Owo
first conditions of schooling and for intellectual local government area of Ondo State perform better
development of children. whenever they are taught some basic concept in
Yoruba. Abiri (1990) stated that Mathematics taught
The National Policy on Education (NPE) affirmed in a childs mother tongue has a lot advantages, such
that Government recognizes the importance of as overcoming limited knowledge of foreign
language as a means of promoting social interaction, mathematical vocabulary,. Teaching in mother
national cohesion and preservation of our culture. tongue also bring closer to children mathematics
The policy endorsed the need for every child to learn example and concepts, it helps the children to
the language of the immediate environment. In the develop a mathematical vocabulary in the mother
interest of national unity, it is expedient that every tongue. It equally helps adults who are not literate in
child shall be required to learn one of the three major English to understand and appreciate mathematics.
Nigerian languages Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba. It is not
surprising that many children cannot speak any of the Mathematics language is the collection of signs or
indigenous languages including their mother tongue. symbols, abbreviations, axioms, lemma, methods,
The challenges of teaching in mother tongue may formulae, and units that are necessary in mathematics
remain unattainable unless Nigeria education system teaching and learning. Understanding of its usage is
is decolonised, English may remain the official imperative and cannot be underestimated.
language since it is our colonial heritage (Adekunle, Obodo(1997) affirmed that failure of the learners to
2008). Fafunwa (1998) attributed the continued master the mathematical language lead to poor
retention of English as our official language to performance in the subject. Hoffman (1988)
colonial mentality. Fafunwa stressed that children remarked that mathematics has often been described
should be given early education in mother tongue, as arithmetic with letter, however notations used in
because it will last longer in their memory than any mathematics such as +, , or are symbols while
other tongue. Even The United Nation Education other mathematicians believed that mathematics
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO, language are special emblem that guided the learners
1953) found out that children will excel more when on steps to take.
taught in local language .Fafunwa faulted the school
of thought that Yoruba or other native language have The uniqueness of mathematics language has
no numerals, scientific formulas and terms. Since distinguished mathematics from other subjects.
English used Arabic numeral successfully, any Anyone that cannot cope with imperial and native
Nigerian languages could as well borrow numeral language which is based on verbal reasoning may
and others from other region of the world. All great, likely get lost easily in quantitative reasoning where
highly developed countries of the world speak their the use of mathematics language is necessary. Spatial
own languages, including the newly emerging and mathematical reasoning will help students to
economic and industrial powers of South East Asia, generate, retain, retrieve and transform well
even though they were colonised by Britain that had structured visual images into mathematics
colonised Nigeria appreciation with the aid of mathematics
language.(Lohman,2005)
There is need for mathematics experts in Nigeria to
shrug off colonial mentality by discarding English Basic arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction,
and developing a curriculum and textbooks in multiplication and division) are commonly use in
mathematics that will meet up the cultural, ethnic and occupational and educational settings where it is
linguistic diversity of the three major Nigerian essential. Yet, the knowledge of arithmetic is not
languages In Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa speaking areas, enough for the learners to think reflectively and
the child starts with the mother tongue as a medium creatively. There is need for the mastery of

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Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies (JETERAPS) 4(3):542-546 (ISSN:2141-6990)

mathematical language and verbal ability which Research Instrument

might be helpful for spatially gifted learners in The instrument used for this study was Mathematics
multiple domains. (Lohman,2005) Achievement Test designed by the researchers; First
section consisted of the students bio-data, while the
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM second part consisted of the test items. The
The researchers observed that Nigerians indigenous instrument was validated by seasoned mathematics
languages have been rendered unimportant in the teachers in primary schools as well as the curriculum
comity of nations as a means of communicating experts for face and content validity. Reliability of
ideas, particularly in the teaching of the subjects that the instrument was ascertained by using split half
seems to be abstract in nature like mathematics method and later subjected to Pearson Product
.Which had eventually led many pupils to develop Moment Correlation analyses; the reliability
negative attitude towards the subject. It has been coefficient of 0.69 was obtained.
noted that some of the primary school pupils cannot
interpret mathematical language correctly thereby Administration of the Instrument
increases poor performance in mathematics The instrument was administered by the researchers
with the help of research assistances that went
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY through an induction course on mother tongue and
The purpose of the study was to examine the mathematical language by the researchers.
effectiveness of mother tongue and mathematical
language on the performance of the primary school Testing of Hypotheses
pupils in mathematics, and to find out if there will be Data obtained were analysed using Analysis of
significant difference in the performance of the Variance (ANOVA), t-test analysis, mean and
students when exposed to the mother tongue and Standard deviation as well as Post Hoc Analysis
mathematical language
RESULTS
RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1; There is no significant difference in the
Is there any difference in the performance of the performance of the students expose to the use of
students expose to the use of mother tongue in mother tongue in mathematics
mathematics?
Is there any difference in the performance of the Table1: Summary of ANOVA on the Pre-test Score
students expose to mathematics language? of the Students exposed to lingua franca
Source Sum of Df Mean F- F- Result
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES Squares square cal table
Between 102.432 2 51.217
1; There is no significant difference in the group 41045.790 237 173.189 .295 2.99 NS
performance of the students expose to the use of Within 41147.49 239 224.406
mother tongue in mathematics groups
2 There is no significant difference in the Total
performance of the students expose to P<0.05
mathematics language.
Table 1 shows that F- calculated (0.295) is less than
RESEARCH DESIGN F- table (2,99) at 0.05 level of significance. Therefore
The pre-test, post test control group quasi the null hypothesis is not rejected; this implies that
experimental design was adopted for this study. This there is no significant difference in the performance
design was considered appropriate because it of the Students in the three Nigerian languages prior
carefully marked and recorded students scores at treatment By implication, all the tribes HAUSA,
different stages of the study. IGBO & YORUBA students have homogenous
academic standard in mathematics before treatment.
POPULATION
The population of this study comprises all the Table 2; Summary of ANOVA on the Post-test of the
primary schools pupils in Ilesa East Local Students exposed to mother tongues .
Sources Sum of Df Mean F-cal F- Result
Government Area of Osun State Nigeria
squares square table
Between 3058.900 2 1529.4
Sample and Sampling Techniques group 6966.100 237 50 52.02 2.99 Sig
Eighty pupils were selected from each tribe after Within 10025.000 239 29. 1
thorough screening by the research assistance. Ten groups 39212
Total 1558.8
primary schools were selected by simple random 00
sampling from the thirty-six public primary schools p 0.05
in the local government. 240 pupils were randomly
selected which consisting of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba Table 2 shows that F- calculated (52.021) is greater
pupils in their respective schools than F table (2.99) at 0.05 level of significance.

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Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies (JETERAPS) 4(3):542-546 (ISSN:2141-6990)

Therefore the null hypothesis is rejected; this implies appears that Igbo pupils performed better than the
that there is significant difference in the performance rest of the two as a result of the closeness of their
of the pupils in the three Nigerian languages after tongue to English language.
treatment. By implication, the treatment given to the
entire three Nigerian tribes pupils really affect their LIMITATION TO THE STUDY
performance in mathematics. There are several constraints encountered during the
2 There is no significant difference in the study. Firstly, the issue of language barrier made it
performance of the students expose to difficult in locating mathematics teachers in the three
mathematics language. languages. Secondly, identifying the schools where
certain tribe concentrated was very tasking.
Table 3: Summary of ANOVA on the Pre-test Score
of the Students exposed to mathematics language RECOMMENDATIONS
Sources Sum of Df Mean F-cal F- Resul With the above findings, it is therefore recommended
squares square table t that, indigenous language must not be only taught
Betwee 152.900 2 76.450
n group 96421.10 23 406.84 0.18 .2.9 NS
and use but taught properly at all level of educational
Within 0 7 0 8 9 ladder both by utilizing the outcome on research with
groups 96573..30 23 483.29 these language and by ensuring adequate and suitable
Total 9 training for the teachers concerned..The National
p 0.05 Mathematical Centre (NMC) Abuja should address
the mode of instruction to depend solely on the
Table 3 shows that F- calculated (0.188) is less than mother tongues. Specialist in the mother tongue in
F- table (2,99) at 0.05 level of significance. Therefore this lexical committee should be involved. The use of
the null hypothesis is not rejected; this implies that mother tongue and mathematical language should be
there is no significant difference in the performance prioritized so as to improve the nations technological
of the Students knowledge of mathematics language basis since Kolawole & Oginni (2009) affirmed that
prior treatment By implication, all the tribes HAUSA, neglect of mathematics teaching by any nation works
IGBO & YORUBA students have homogenous injury to all knowledge, and eventually lead to
mathematics language understanding before ignoramus and poverty. Teaching of mathematics
treatment. strictly in English should be de-emphasis to enable
the mathematics teachers explain in the mother
Table4: Summary of ANOVA on the Post-test Score tongue whenever they are teaching..The use of the
of the Students exposed to mathematics language national language in our primary schools should be
Sources Sum of Df Mean F-cal F- Result
encouraged: this will help to preserve our national
squares square table
Between 1231.40 2 615.45 . culture and heritage. Textbooks writers, Publishers
group 5135.100 237 21..009. 29.29 2.99 S and Curriculum planners should work together with
Within 6366.5 239 636.419 experts in mathematics, so as to produce standard
groups texts in mathematics for the pupils mother tongues to
Total
gain its pride of place in schools for better
p 0.05
understanding of the subject..Society and groups
should be educated on the need to support mother
Table 4 shows that F- calculated (29.29) is greater
tongue initiatives in the teaching of
than F table (2.99) at 0.05 level of significance.
mathematics..Mother tongue in the teaching of
Therefore the null hypothesis is rejected; this implies
mathematics should be extended to post primary and
that there is significant difference in the performance
tertiary institution so as to increase the numbers of
of the Students exposed to mathematics language in
mathematics learners in schools
the three Nigerian languages after treatment. By
implication, mathematics language influences their
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Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies (JETERAPS) 4(3):542-546 (ISSN:2141-6990)

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