Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

Introduction

Reading comprehension is a key factor in English and Language. Reading comprehension

is one of the factors contributing to poor performance in Mathematics. Improving Mathematics

suggests the idea of improving first the reading comprehension. Students learn to think critically

and respond to texts as they build comprehension skills.

The 1974 Bilingual Education Policy in the Philippines mandated the use of English as

the medium of instruction in Mathematics. Mathematics textbooks and materials are written in

English for all grade levels. Thus, Filipino children are expected to solve Arithmetic word

problems in English even from their first year of schooling. This expectation poses a very

challenging task, particularly because children from non-affluent families typically encounter

English only in school and may not grow up proficient in English (National Statistical

Coordination Board [NSCB], 2007) as cited by Macquarie, Macquarie and Mitchelmore (2009).

Reading is the foundation of learning in different content subject. All over the world,

textbooks seem to play an important role in Mathematics education at all levels and thereby

students' reading activity and reading comprehension also play important roles according to

Foxman (1999). Students who have so many difficulties with their communication skill in

English language may not function effectively, not only in English language but in their

academic. When Students’ Proficiency in English Language is high, it will definitely affect and

improve the academic performance of such students. Nevertheless, when the proficiency in

English is lacking in any academic setting, it will definitely lower the academic performance of

such students. Vehemently revealed that lack of proficiency in English language is one of the
factors contributing to poor performance in Mathematics according to Aina, Ogundele, and

Olanipekun (n. d.)

In considering the NCTM (National Council for Teachers of Mathematics) principles and

standards (NCTM, 2000), one of the principles was the Learning Principle. It stated that students

must learn mathematics with understanding. If students were not able to read the questions

accurately and understand what was being asked, then this was taking away from this principle.

The students were not getting a full understanding of the math topic because their reading skills

were an obstacle to comprehension. To compensate, the students tended to memorize the facts

and procedures instead of fully understanding them.

Within the NCTMstandards, this problem may have influenced the mathematics grade of

the students. The standard stated that the students must express mathematical relationships using

equations. Other difficulties could arise under various standards and could even lie within

reading the directions correctly. Sometimes students would not be able to pronounce a word and

just skip over it, other times they just mispronounced words and at times they would even put in

different words than what was written in the directions as stated by Hite (2009).

According to Hite (2009), with problem solving, the problems were written in words but

were a lot more involved and it might not be immediately apparent how to solve the problem.

The problems were more in-depth and had more detail to them and required the solver to think

more in-depth to get to the answer.

The relationship between Mathematics learning and language communication are

essential elements of teaching and learning mathematics as stated by Gorgorio and Planas

(2001). Mathematics itself is a type of formal language. The Mathematics register is more than

just vocabulary and technical terms. It also contains words, phrases and methods of arguing
within a given situation according to Pimm (1987). The register is conveyed through the use of

natural language has its own Mathematics register. Mathematics is not language free and due to

its particular vocabulary, syntax and discourse, it can cause problems for students learning it in a

second language as argued by Barton and Neville (2005).

The aforementioned researches suggest that the relationship between the level of

students’ reading comprehension in English and performance in problem solving in mathematics

needs to be seriously considered and attended to so as to equip students with the necessary

reading comprehension skills for them to learn effectively in mathematical subject areas.

This study aims to determine the reading comprehension skills affecting the

performanceof grade 9 students in Mathematical word problems in Integrated Laboratory School.

Grade 9students was chosen to be the respondents of this study because at this year level,

students are exposed to various examinations test and are expected to have acquired reading

comprehension in the English language. The respondents’ reading comprehension test scores was

used to decide their respective level of language proficiency while their average grades in Math

will be utilized to represent performance. Furthermore, this study revealed the relationship

between reading comprehension skills and the performance in mathematical word problems

subject of the respondents.

Theoretical Framework

The anchors of the study are the following theories, concepts, and principles on language

acquisition theories, language learning, and language development conceptualized which give

support to the main subjects which are the reading comprehension skills and the performance in

mathematical word problems such as mental representation, social cognition and Schema theory.
 Thinking about one’s own reading process it seems clear that a skilled reader usually

does not need to actively think very much to create a mental representation when reading. In the

large literature on mental representation, Cummins (1989) Meaning offers a detailed account of a

notion of mental representation. His goal is to give an account of the notion of mental

representation that is used in one venerable and still vigorous research tradition in cognitive

science the tradition that seeks to build what Cummins calls "orthodox" computational theories

of cognition. This tradition" assumes that cognitive systems are automatic interpreted formal

systems" and much of the work on problem solving, planning, language processing and higher

level visual processing that has been done during the last two decades falls squarely within the

orthodox computational paradigm. An essential part of Cummins' project is an explication of the

explanatory strategy of computational theories of cognition. He offers an account of what these

theories are trying to explain, and of what successful explanations in this paradigm must do.

When reading a text, a mental representation of the text is created by the reader, which

describes how the reader understands the text. When the words and phrases themselves are

encoded in the mental representation (possibly together with linguistic relations between them),

and not the meaning of the words and phrases, one can talk about a surface component of the

mental representationKintsch (1998).

To generate the answer to the posed question in a given problem can be seen as a natural

goal of the situation, and in order to reach that goal one needs to regulate one's behavior, that is,

self-regulating processes are active. The given question can thus play a very important role also

in the creation of the mental representation in the reading process since it can influence what

kind of prior knowledge is activated, that is, the self-regulation seems to start already in the

reading process. It has also been shown that self-regulating processes (which usually are
considered as metacognitive processes) can operate at an unconscious level Fitzsimons and

Bargh(2004). Therefore, it could be of particular interest to examine how variations of questions

in problem texts can influence the comprehension and solution of a problem.

Solving word problems competently involves more than looking for key terms (such as

altogether or more) and mindlessly performing an arithmetic operation on the given numbers in

the problem. Rather, problem solvers need to attend to the “structure” of the word problem, or

the relationships between the given quantities. Based on the word problem structure, children

must then (i) construct an internal representation of the problem and select a solution strategy by

De Corte and Verschaffel (1991) and Mayer(2003). This is based on analysis on these two

phases of word problem solving. First, in constructing an accurate representation, the child has to

read and make sense of the text. Reading strategies such as thinking aloud, visualizing, and

connecting text to prior knowledge have been found to be effective for students when solving

arithmetic word problems Fogelberg (2008). Second, a solution strategy is selected based on the

internal representation constructed from the child’s interpretation of the problem text. Although

children’s internal representations are not observable, they can be inferred on the basis of their

external representations such as the strategies they use to solve problems according to Goldin

and Shteingold (2001). There is extensive literature on the influence of the language of the

problem on the solution performance of students learning mathematics in a second language.

Social cognition theorists like Vygotsky (1989), suggests that through socially

meaningful activity, higher mental process and ideas occur. Vygotsky advocated the use of signs

and tools, identifying them as having a mediating internalize the meaning bound in socially

shared ideas. The internalization by learners of these cultural accepted structures shows the

development of a higher level of cognitive processing.

 In Cognitive schemata, while reading a passage, the reader makes some assumptions

about the contents of it and predicts, on the basis of his background knowledge, the events that

are going to happen according to Rumelhurt as cited in the study of Aleksandra (2001). Such

concepts, which help the reader interpret the text, are called cognitive schemata. The term was

first used byBartlett (1932) and Nunan (1995). According to schema theory, the reader’s

background knowledge and linguistic cues contained in the text are organized into interrelated

patterns which are made use of in reconstructing meaning. The reader makes connections which

do not exist in the text, but which are provided by his schematic knowledge activated by

linguistic cues.

The schemata are particularly important to a second and foreign language learner, as

they may be culturally dependent which may hinder the process of text comprehension. It must

be noticed; however, that more than one schema can be activated to draw a meaning from the

text. Such a situation is often encountered in ambiguous texts which can be understood in many

ways. Then, various interpretations of the text, provided by various schemata, are plausible

without being mutually exclusive. It happens, however, that only one interpretation agrees with

the author’s intentions. More complicated texts with only one intended meaning can serve as an

example here. If the reader fails to activate an appropriate schema while digesting such a text, it

may result in inability to comprehend the author’s message. Failure to comprehend the text may

also be caused by the reader’s lack of the schema intended by the author. To sum up, the text is

considered to be highly comprehensible, if only a single schema is needed to account for its

overall meaning. Thus, the more different schemata are necessary, the less comprehensible the

text is as stated by Rummelhart (1977) and Thompson (1987) as cited in the study of Aleksandra

(2001).
Conceptual Framework

The goal of this study is to determine the Relationship of Reading Comprehension Skills

and in Mathematical Word Problems performanceof grade 9students in Mindanao State

University- Integrated Laboratory School, which comprises the independent variable of the

study. In order to achieve it, performance in Mathematics represented by their previous

mathematics grades and reading comprehension test comprise the independent variable, was

utilized. Focus group discussion was also utilized. After due tests and deliberations,appropriate

conclusions will be built in order to answer the important queries the study is concerned of.

Reading Previous Grade in

Comprehension Test Mathematics

SMALL GROUP
DISCUSSION

Figure 1.Schematic Diagram of the Conceptual Framework of the Study

Statement of the Problem

 The relationship of English reading comprehension as an instruction forMathematical

word problem performanceoften regarded to the students’ weakness in dealing with

comprehendingword problems in Mathematics. Generally, this study is concerned with

answering the enquery about the significance of reading comprehension in the academic

performance in Mathematical word problems. Specifically, this study sought to answer the

following questions:

1. What is the performance of the respondents’ reading comprehension test scores?

2. What are the perceived effects of reading comprehension test of mathematical word

problem?

3. What are the respondents’ weaknesses of reading comprehension?

4. What are the respondents’ previous grades in Mathematics?

5. Is there any significant relationship between the respondents’ reading comprehension

test scores and their previous Math grade?

Null Hypothesis

The null hypothesis below was testedat 0.05 level of significance:

Ho: There is no significant relationship between the scores of reading comprehension test

and the previous grades of the students.

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study might be significant to the following:

The Students.This study may make students realize the importance of reading in their

academic performance in Mathematics, especially those students who are not reading

comprehensively and struggling in their academics because of incapability in

comprehendingtext. This may also enable them to evaluate themselves better, and for them to

take the necessary steps to improve academically.

Parents.Parents on the other hand, with the help of this paper may understand the value

of their children’s reading comprehension in attaining academic excellence in Mathematics.

Thus, they can help, motivate and support them.

Administrators. This study may serve as guide in understanding why there are students

who can’t cope up with the lessons presented in the English language. Also, appropriate

measures can be taken to assist students in maintaining and improving their grade.

Curriculum Makers. This study may provide a basis for curriculum makers in designing

and planning for new developments for the teaching of reading English.

Schools. Schools may be prompted to organize activities and programs that will help

improve the communicative and linguistic competence of students in the reading.

English Teachers. Teachers may be sensitized to adapt new approaches and style in

teaching the English language particularly in reading and make it certain that students are well-

equipped with the necessary language facility, enabling them to become proficient in the

language.

Future Researchers.This study may enrich the available literature in the field of

motivation and academic performance. As a result, more references will be available for those

who will conduct future researches on the topic.

 Barangay Officials.This study may elicit positive response and action from the barangay

officials in creating programs that will facilitate the development of students as to their reading

comprehension.

Scope and Limitations

This study entitledReading Comprehension on Mathematical Word Problemsof Grade 9

in MSU-Integrated Laboratory Schoolwas concerned only on testing whetherreading

comprehension has relationship on Mathematics word problem performance.

Taking into consideration the inevitable constraints of time and resources, the

respondents of the study were only 40 students of MSU-ILS, MSU-main, Marawi City, Lanao

Del Sur who were in the same section. Collection of data was done only through researcher-

made reading comprehension test on mathematical word problems.

Definition of Terms

For basis of consistency and better understanding, the researchers built a list of terms

defined conceptually and/or operationally.

Average Grade- In education, it is the process of applying standardized measurements of

varying levels of achievement in a course itself (The Free Dictionary, 2011). In this study, refers

to the grade percentage a respondent gets in Mathematics.

Academic Performance- In educational institutions, the term refers to how well a student meets

standards set out by local government and the institution itself (The Free Dictionary, 2011). In

this study, it refers to the students’ scholastic achievement through the attainment of desired

rating and good marks in Mathematics.

Correlate- refers to a complementary thing, something that shares mutual or complementary

properties with something else (Encarta Dictionary, 2009).In this study, the term is employed to

denote the following related variables: academic success in mathematics, latest grade average for

Reading Comprehension.

English Language- is a language originating in northwestern Europe which is the most widely

used member of the Germanic language family. It is the primary language of the majority of

people in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, other former

colonies of Britain, and territories of the United States. It is also an official or semiofficial

language of many countries with a colonial past. It is taught as a foreign language and used as

the language of technology and diplomacy (The Free Dictionary, 2011). In this study, it refers to

the language used as the medium of instruction in Philippine schools and as a minor language

spoken in different contexts.

Second Language- refers to a language learned by somebody after the first language he or she

learns at home. It is a language in widespread use in a country, sometimes having official status

(Wikipedia, 2011). In this study, it refers to the English language taught and learned by non-

native English speakers as a language second to their native tongue.

Reading Comprehension- is the product of reading a text. This simple idea that the acquisition

of reading comprehension is learning to under- stand writing as well as one understands spoken

language has empirical justification (Encarta Dictionaries, 2009). In this study, refers to the

comprehension of the students on the test.

Mathematics- is the branch of science concerned with number, quantity and space, either as

abstract concepts (pure mathematics) or as applied to physics, engineering and other subjects
(applied mathematics), (Encarta Dictionaries, 2009). In this study, refers to the variable subject

of the research.

Problem Solving- problem solving in mathematics needs to be seriously considered and

attended to so as to equip students with the necessary reading comprehension skills for them to

learn effectively in mathematical subject areas(Encarta Dictionaries, 2009). In this study, refers

to a one part of the field in mathematics as its basic components and the very focus of the study.

Perception- is an attitude or understanding based on what is observed or thought(Encarta

Dictionaries, 2009). In this study, refers to the impression of the respondents regarding the

reading comprehension test.

 Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE & STUDIES

This chapter presents the related literature and studies which support the contentions of

the study. Previous findings as well as the recent outcomes of studies are revealed which are

intensely explored and scrutinized by the researchers. Also, these provide theoretical

nourishment and firm foundations of the study in terms of background on the variables reading

comprehension on word problem performance in mathematics.

Related Literature

Bailey and Butler (2003),defined the ability to be academically proficient as knowing and

being able to use general and content-specific vocabulary, specialized or complex grammatical

structures, and multifarious language functions and discourse structures—all for the purpose of

acquiring new knowledge and skills, interacting about a topic, or imparting information to others.

They also encompassed academic features at the lexical, grammatical, and discourse levels, as

well as language functions. For instance, at the lexical level, academic English vocabulary

comprises general academic vocabulary that can be used across content areas (e.g., represent,

demonstrate, used in different disciplines) and specialized academic vocabulary within a specific

content area (e.g., diameter, radius, predominantly used in mathematics). Without having been

equipped with the essential skills in English which is used as the academic language, students

would find it difficult to adjust and understand the content of certain subjects or discipline.

Chamot and O’Malley (1994) as mentioned in the study of Ardasheva (2010), defined

academic language as the language used in teaching and learning for the purpose of acquiring

new language and skills, imparting new information, describing abstract ideas, and developing
students’ conceptual understanding. They also described academic language functions as the task

that language users must be able to perform in the content areas.

When reading a text, a mental representation of the text is created by the reader, which

describes how the reader understands the text. Many studies about reading comprehension show,

or support the conclusion, that “multiple levels of representation are involved in making

meaning” (p. 78, Van Oostendorp and Goldman, 1998).

Mathematical texts used in, or at least created for, educational settings that focus on

learning mathematics are of interest. Even with this limitation it is not easy to define or describe

these texts, and it is even questionable if there is a common core to all texts of interest (Morgan,

1998).

According to Draper (2012), in order for students to be successful in the Math classroom

they must be able to find the meaning of a math problem and look for approaches to a possible

solution. Students must analyze and make conjectures about information. They need to analyze

situations to make connections and plan solutions. Reading comprehension and writing strategies

are parallel to strategies students need to be mathematically proficient. Students need to verify

their answers to math problem solving pieces just as students need to monitor for meaning while

reading.

In short, it seems that mathematical word problems have their own culture of familiarity,

expectation, and response (in terms of probable solution process) into which we immerse and

enculturate students. Standard word-problem form may produce in problem solvers a mental set

that differs from that used for reading stories or other types of text. This further complicates both

the role of context in word problems and how problem context might be constructed in a manner
most advantageous to student learning. Lave (1993) summarizes the matter of school-form word

problems as mentioned by Weist (2003).

Thinking about one's own reading process it seems clear that a skilled reader usually does

not need to actively think very much to create a mental representation when reading. The use of

syntactic and semantic rules together with the activation of more specific prior knowledge thus

happens quite automatically, on a more unconscious level. In general, different cognitive

processes can be more or less conscious. Perception can refer to highly automatic and

unconscious processes, for example when you see a dog and directly recognize it as a dog; you

are aware of the result of the process (that you see a dog) but no active and conscious thought

processes were needed for this recognition. Problem solving on the other hand can be said to deal

with active thinking, a more resource demanding process, for example when trying to remember

the name of a person you meet and recognize. Thus, when reading a text without experiencing

any difficulties in understanding what you read, the process has more in common with

perception than with problem solving, in that the process of understanding is mainly

unconscious. This is a situation representative for Kintsch's (1998) concept of comprehension,

which “is located somewhere along that continuum between perception and problem solving"

p.66.

However, little is known about how linguistic processing and mathematical-logical

reasoning are interrelated, and the role that technical reading plays in this relationship. The

present study examined the association between performance on mathematical word problems

and reading comprehension skills, and investigated whether children with and without technical

reading difficulties differ in their performance in math word problems and reading

comprehension. Mathematics performance and reading skills have been shown to be closely
related. Light and De Fries (1995) showed that difficulties in arithmetic were associated with

reading ability development. Moreover, studies focusing on children with learning disabilities

have shown that difficulties in reading and in Mathematics often co-occur.

However, the mental representation created in the reading process does not only serve as

background to solving the problem, but the solving process has already started, since also prior

knowledge is activated in the reading process, including more specific types of prior knowledge

that can be suitable for solving the problem, that is, the comprehension of the problem need not

only consist of a pure text base in the mental representation but also a situation model can be

created. It could even be the case that the problem in principle has been solved through the

reading process (or at least the problem is believed to be solved). In such a case, the problem is

solved using mainly unconscious cognitive processes, that is, the problem is solved through pure

comprehension according Kintsch (1998) of the problem/situation. Davis (1984) gives an

empirical example of this type of solution by comprehension, where an existing mental

representation of a similar problem was activated, and the person "had done this unconsciously,

but had been able to reconstruct some of the process by deter- mined introspection afterwards."

Thus, this is not only a theoretical possibility, and it has also been shown that these types of

unconscious comprehension processes can be used to explain behavior in such situations as

action planning in the study of (Mannes and Kintsch, 1991) and decision making according to

(Kitajima and Polson, 1995)

When reading a text, a mental representation of the text is created by the reader, which

describes how the reader understands the text. Many studie/s about reading comprehension show,

or support the conclusion, that “multiple levels of representation are involved in making

meaning” p.45, Van Oostendorp and Goldman (1998). In particular, the work of Kintsch seems
to have had a great influence on research on reading comprehension. Kintsch (1998)

distinguishes between three different levels, or components, of the mental representation created

when reading a text, the surface component, the text base, and the situation model.

When the words and phrases themselves are encoded in the mental representation

(possibly together with linguistic relations between them), and not the meaning of the words and

phrases, one can talk about a surface component of the mental representation.

The text base represents the meaning of the text, that is, the semantic structure of the text,

and it “consists of those elements and relations that are directly derived from the text itself ...

without adding anything that is not explicitly specified in the text” Kintsch (1998). Since the text

base consists of the meaning of the text and the same meaning can be expressed in different

ways, a text base can be created without any memory of the exact words or phrases from the text.

Mathematics abilities can be assessed by various methods, including, for example,

arithmetic with oral or written instructions. One measure of math ability in an educational

context has traditionally been Mathematical word problems (DeCorte and Verschaffel, 1987;

Riley and Greeno, 1988) as cited by Aunola, Nurmi, Tuohimaa (2008). Children are usually

asked to read (or listen to) the Mathematical story or the problem presented, write down the

mathematical operations necessary for completing the task, and then solve the problem and come

up with an answer. They have categorized word problems into four item types, each type defined

by the problem-solving strategy required: compare, change, combine, and equalize. The skills

needed for processing written information have been considered a combination of decoding skills

and reading comprehension (Ehri, 2000). Reading that usually also aims at understand reading

comprehension. The reader extracts the meaning of the sentences and the reader applies prior

general and specific knowledge on the subject at hand. In addition, the reasoning strategies used
by readers at different age levels have been of interest to researchers Bowyer-Crane and

Snowling, 2005; Cain and Oakhill, 1999; Graesser and Bertus, 1998; Magliano, et al., 1999 as

cited by Aunola, et. al, (2008).

According to Ladson-Billings (1997), an important feature that should be in the reform of

mathematics education is the expectation for students not merely to memorize formulas and rules

and apply procedures but to engage in the process of mathematical thinking. In short, they should

be expected to do what Mathematics and other professional users of Mathematics do. Such a

Mathematics education program is based on engaging students in posing and solving problems

rather than on expecting rote memorization and convergent thinking.

Solving word problems can be enhanced when the reader attempts to increase his/her

comprehension through translating the language of the test into personal and meaningful

vocabulary at their comprehension level. In short, success with Mathematical problems requires

both reading for comprehension and computational skills as stated by Hollander (1997).

Related Studies

The study ofTuohimaa, Aunola and Nurmib (2008), entitled “The Association Between

Mathematics Problem and Reading Comprehension”, aimed to investigate the interplay between

mathematical word problem skills and reading comprehension to the extent to which connections

between children’s text comprehension skills and mathematical word problem-solving

performance are attributable to their technical reading skills.The participants were 225 children

aged 9–10 (Grade 4). The children’s text comprehension and mathematical word problem-

solving performance was tested. Technical reading skills were investigated in order to categorize

participants as good or poor readers. The results showed that performance on math word

problems was strongly related to performance in reading comprehension.The study has also
shown that a detailed analysis of question type structures in Mathematical word problems and

reading comprehension tasks is important in order to understand the accuracy of measures as

well as the interplay between these skills. In a pedagogical sense, the results indicate the

importance of prioritizing fluency in technical reading skills before shifting the main focus of

teaching to more comprehensive reading strategies relevant for both reading comprehension and

Mathematical word problems.

According to Hembree (1992) and Weist (1996/1997) as cited in the study of Lukhele

(n.d) entitled “Exploring Relationships between Reading Attitudes, Reading Ability and

Academic Performance among Teacher Trainees in Swaziland”.Problem solving in Mathematics

and reading comprehension go hand in hand. Solving Math problems entails or requires the

students to do or apply two skills at the same time-reading and computing. It is a two-edged

sword which the student should conquer.Readability scores determined by standard formulas do

not appear to capture comprehensibility of word problems. A research involving more than 1000

third- through sixth-grade students tested given questions to answer both variables and showed

that this type of readability bore no relationship to students’ ability to solve the problems. Other

researchers have also found no correlation between standard readability scores and problem-

solving.

According to Osterholm (n.d) in his study “A Reading Comprehension Perspective on

Problem Solving”. It becomes evident that the relationship between reading comprehension and

problem solving is complex. The study was conducted with 445 participants. The students seem

to have difficulties in articulating their motives for feeling that they have understood a text, or

not. Perhaps this difficulty makes them often comment on the meaning of individual words

(which is done about one third of the time), since this could be seen as a common cause for
difficulty when reading. . An open question in these studies is to what extent the reader believes

that the text is understood – a metacognitive aspect. The previous studies have used a specific

“measure” of comprehension, which may rely on criteria for comprehension that do not need to

agree with what the reader views as important when understanding (mathematics) texts.First, the

reading process can affect the problem solving process, but can also act as an integral part of the

solving process. The cause for their difficulties could be that most of the monitoring activity

takes place at an unconscious level, that the use of some comprehension criteria has been

cognitively automatized. Some of the previous research studies have focused on the creation of a

mental representation when reading mathematics texts, that is, on how the reader understands a

text.

In the study of Krulik and Rundnick (1988),“Problem Solving, A Handbook for

Elementary School Teachers,Needhem Heights”.Human holds back from the subject, which

aren’t well known and especially couldn’t be understood easily. Because of its content and its

symbols, mathematics is a discipline, which couldn’t be understood easily by everyone. From

this point of view, the most people hold back from mathematics. One of the ways by which

holding back mathematics started in childhood could be coped is to acquire the skill of

mathematical problem-solving. The study was conducted with 255 participants. In many

researchers it was asserted that problem solving was the principal reason of studying

mathematics. According to many people, mathematics could be defined as problem solving. In

addition to that, it was determined that problem solving makes a relation among the events, the

algorithms and the problems concerned with real life. Various definitions of problem and

problem solving were given Problem is a situation that required thought and a synthesis of

previously learned knowledge to solve.

 According to Skinner (1968) in his study entitled “The Technology of Teaching” with

495 sixth grade participants. Problem solving is a complex behavior which is made up of a set of

simple reasons. Many complex behavior procedures may be defined as the rules of induction,

deduction, hypothesis statement. He defined problem solving as the knowledge-processing

expressed by the symbolic procedures in the situations in which responses could be controlled by

Skinner (1968). Problem solving defines a procedure. In examining the papers relating to

problem solving processes, it was seen that, in almost all the studies, the subjects went through

the same stages.

Cummins (1979, 1984) in studies of the “Language skills of bilinguals” concluded that a

certain level of linguistics proficiency seemed to be necessary for academic achievement. This is

apparently because language competence allows one to use it as an organizer of knowledge and

as a tool for reasoning. Dawe (1983) in his study entitled “Bilingualism and Special Education:

Issues in Assessment and Pedagogy” with 365 participants. Dawe wants to know the very

problem of the students in mathematics who perform poor in the specific subject. The

respondents were given questions based from the current lessons. The study showed that

bilingual students who performed poorly in mathematics tended to have low levels of

competence in their native language. According to Dawe, this occurred because these students

had learned their second language, the level of language proficiency that is a necessary

foundation academic learning.

MacGregor (1999), in their study entitled “Teaching Mathematics in English to Students

of Non-English-Speaking Background”with 235 participants who took the math test and

language proficiency. Their study contends that vocabulary, number and symbol sense, as well as

the ability to read and comprehend word problems are important factors effecting achievement in
math. However, they believe the connection is actually much deeper. They believe the cognitive

ability drives symbol processing ability is the basis for both language proficiency and math

achievement.

Young Filipino children are expected to solve mathematical word problems in English, a

task which they typically encounter only in schools. According to Bautista, Mulligan and

Mitchelmore (2009), in this exploratory study entitled “Young Filipino Students Making Sense

of Arithmetic Word Problems in English“, task-based interviews were conducted with seven

Filipino children from a public school. The children were asked to read and solve addition and

subtraction word problems in English or Filipino. Analysis focused on how language influences

problem solution and on the reading and mathematical strategies used. Results showed that

children (a) were better able to comprehend and solve problems given in Filipino, (b) rarely used

reading strategies, (c) were not familiar with using drawings or objects to represent wordproblems,

and (d) employed unitary counting procedures for problems involving multi-digit numbers.
 Chapter 3

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides an overview on the research framework. Descriptions on the

population and sample, data collecting instruments, and the procedure of the data collection as

well as methods of data analysis are explained.

Research Design

The research design of the study is quantitative and qualitative method. Descriptive-

correlation research design was employed to describe the respondent’s performance in Reading

Comprehension on Mathematical Word Problems. Quantitative was used to determine the recent

mathematical level of word problem solving of the respondents and enumerate viewed

difficulties from the results and supported with qualitative method which was group interview

discussion among respondents which will identified their difficulties from the test taken.

Research Locale

This study was conducted in Mindanao State University- Integrated Laboratory School. It

was located at MSU-Main, Marawi City, Lanao Del Sur. This school was founded onSeptember

9, 1964. It has a total population of 1, 500 students at present approximately, with 88 teachers, 1

book keeper, 1 librarian, 1 disbursing officer, 1 school nurse, 1 administrative clerk, 1 utility

worker, and 2 guards. It has 53 instructional classrooms, 2 libraries, 1 computer laboratory, 3

canteens, 2 faculty rooms, 1 science laboratory, 2 computer laboratories and an administration

building. This school is one of the top-performing secondary schools in the division of Lanao

Del Sur. It is a winner in the division, regional and national contests. Students continue joining
different school organizations like debating team, literary clubs, and many more. This study

involves 40 students of Mindanao State University- Integrated Laboratory School as respondents

who are grade 9 students of the school year 2014-2015.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of the study werethe 44Grade 9 students ofMindanao State University-

Integrated Laboratory Schoolusingselected as one section.

Instrumentation

The following instrumentwas used in gathering the data:

Reading Comprehension Test. It is a thirty 30 item test of reading

comprehensionpersonally structured by the researchers. The thirty (30) item test is structured by

the researcher. To ensure test reliability, the test had undergone pilot testing with 44 third year

students of Mindanao State University-UTC as initial respondents.

Interview Guide Questions. There are six (6) questions needed to answer the stated

problem: (1) Do you have difficulties in understanding the questions? (2) What are the

difficulties you’ve encountered in taking the test? (3) Are the Mathematical terms familiar to

you? (4) Did you observed synonyms in the content of the questions?(5) How do you understand

the questions? (6) How many minutes does it take you to understand the questions?

Data Gathering Procedures

The data of this study had gathered with following proper procedure in research study. A

letter of request wasprepared by the researcher accordingly signed by them and was be indorsed

by their thesis adviser and the Dean of the College of Education of MSU-Main. This said letter
was personally delivered to the Principal of Mindanao State University-Integrated Laboratory

School, requesting that the researchers be allowed to administer the questionnaire of their study

to the said school. As soon as the principal approved the request, the Reading Comprehension

Test on Mathematical Word Problems was then administered to the participating students. After

test, there was asmall group discussion for the respondents’ concern about the exam and open up

the respondents’ difficulties inunderstanding mathematical word problems and in comprehending

the text. They were grouped accordingly: (from highest to lowest). There are six groups with

seven respondents who participated the group discussion. The discussion included the perceive

problem and difficulties in comprehension and other pointed difficulties of the respondents. The

results were then tabulated to determine the relationship of mathematical word problems between

reading comprehension. In addition, to make this study more validated, the respondents’ result in

reading comprehension test and their previous grade in mathematics was correlated.

Data analysis Procedure

Qualitative and quantitative method was used to analyze the problem in the study.

Quantitative was the source of data needed to identify problems and enumerate keys for

qualitative conduction. As attested by authorities, problems even before are mentioned in

different studies in which difficulties in mathematical word problem solving as mentioned in this

study: context clues, mathematical vocabulary, language organization and comprehension speed

was always considered. Accordingly, the information needed was already in lined in the

objectives thus questions are the basis for the interview questions. From the given questions, the

question identifies the problems which will fall on context clues, mathematical vocabulary,

language organization and comprehension speed.

 The results were tabulated and analyzed using the appropriate statistical tools to get the

findings and proper explanation.

Statistical Tools Used

The statistical toolwas used in the treatment of data:

1. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient- Thiswas employed to compute for

the extent of relationship between the respondents’ Reading Comprehension Test and

their previous grades in Mathematics.

2. Mean- This was employed to compute the average rating of the result of reading

comprehension test.
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READING COMPREHENSION ON MATHEMATICAL WORD PROBLEMS OF THE
GRADE 11 STEM STUDENTS OF AL-KHAWARIZMI INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE
FOUNDATION INCORPORATED SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Statement of the Problem

1. What is the performance of the respondents’ reading comprehension test scores?

2. What are the perceived effects of reading comprehension test of mathematical word

problem?

3. What are the respondents’ weaknesses of reading comprehension?

4. What are the respondents’ previous grades in Mathematics?

5. Is there any significant relationship between the respondents’ reading comprehension

test scores and their previous Math grade?

 A Thesis Proposal
Presented to
Dr. Eugene Torres Jr.

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements in
ELT 205 (Research in Language)

FARHAN P. MACAPANDI

June 1, 2018