INVESTIGATING MASS FAILURE IN WAEC MATHEMATICS RESULTS AMONG THE HEARING IMPAIRED STUDENTS IN LAGOS STATE.
ABSTRACT
This research is carried out to complete a Bachelor of Science in Educational Management (B.Sc Ed). The research investigates the causes of mass failure in Mathematics WAEC results among the hard-of-hearing students in Lagos State.
However, the project is divided into five (5) distinct chapters. The first chapter deals with the introductory part of the project. It reveals the statement of the problem, the study’s objectives, the study’s relevance, and the definition of the terms and scope of the study.
Similarly, chapter two deals with the literature review where we consider what various authors in the past have written on the terms contained on the topic.
Chapter three focuses on the method adopted in carrying out the study. Meanwhile, the fourth chapter is on the analysis of data gathered during the study and their interpretation.
Lastly, chapter five is on the conclusion of the whole exercise, where suggestions and recommendations are made to reduce mass failure in Mathematics WAEC result among the hearing impaired students.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Pages
Title page i
Certificate ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract vi
Table of Content vii
CHAPTER ONE: Introduction
- Background to the study 1
- Statement of the problem 6
- Purpose of study 7
- Research question 8
- Research Hypothesis 9
- Significance of study 10
- Scope of study 11
- Definition of Operational Terms 12
CHAPTER TWO: Literature Review
- Introduction 16
2.1 Concept of Hearing Impairment 19
2.2 Concept of Mathematics 23
2.3 Hearing Impairment and Mathematics 25
CHAPTER THREE: Research Methodology
3.0 Introduction 39
3.1 Research Design 39
3.2 Population of study 40
3.3 Research instrument 41
3.4 Validity of the instruments 41
3.5 Description of the procedure 41
3.7 Description of the procedure for data analysis 42
CHAPTER FOUR: Data Presentation, Analysis and Discussion
4.0 Introduction 43
4.1 Presentation of Result 43
4.2 Testing of Hypothesis 1 52
4.3 Discussion of Findings 55
CHAPTER FIVE: Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation
5.1 Introduction 61
5.2 Summary 61
5.3 Conclusion 63
5.4 Recommendation 66
References
CHAPTER ONE INVESTIGATES MASS FAILURE IN WAEC MATHEMATICS RESULTS AMONG THE HEARING IMPAIRED STUDENTS IN LAGOS STATE.
1.0. Introduction
1.1. Background to the study
Mathematics is a subject that reveals a specific way of thinking and using numbers in general. Many people disengage in active daily activities since mathematics requires organised active thinking, and its teaching must be interesting in some other ways. Numbers, which are the basic elements of mathematics, are abstract, and numbers are not objects that can be felt, held or seen. They are basic concepts that are present only in mind.
Mathematics is a subject that millions of people consider as a dreadful subject. Other millions of passive conserve do not care to know anything about it. Man uses mathematics purely because he needs it to solve his domestic and economic problems. Man’s earliest contact with mathematics was through counting, then came the naming of numbers, letters, thinking and computing developed, which later proceeded to statements of arguments, proofs of theorems and logic involved in it; This is the basics of philosophy for its teaching and learning.
In the light of the above viewpoint, hard of hearing children being among the millionaires of people in the world, show a negative attitude towards learning mathematics in which their performance is below expectations in both external and internal examinations.
Mathematics is a subject like other subjects. It is a science subject under physical and natural subjects that become master key to the life of science. Towards any development in the world, mathematics has to be appealing, and so it is the backbone of technological development. It is used throughout the world as an essential tool in any field, including natural science, engineering, medicine, finance and social science. Applied mathematics, the branch of mathematics concerned with applying mathematical knowledge to other fields, inspires and makes use of new mathematical discoveries, which has led to the development of entirely new mathematical disciplines such as statistics and game theory. Mathematics is not isolated skills and procedures. It is everywhere, and most of what we see is a combination of different concepts. Much mathematics relates to other subjects like science, art and music. Most importantly, maths relates to things we do in the real world every day. Connections make mathematics easier for children to understand because they allow children to apply common rules to many different things.
In a nutshell, mathematics as a particular subject is as old as the Garden of Eden that commences with simple education of addition and subtraction and the latest advances in Arithmetic, Algebraic, Geometry, Statistics, calculus, and other important topics. It is a source of concrete reasoning, logic and abstract thinking. It is a language communicable even irrespective of hard of hearing children.
Similarly, children are, by nature, very playful. Their playful attitude can be properly channelled towards developing an interest in mathematics. Most mathematics lessons ended up with children’s attitudes towards the subject due to a lack of practical activity.
The teacher needs to arrange a wide variety of activities for the children to enjoy mathematics, and this is the way to control their attention and make them interested in the learning activities.
Mathematics is essentially artificial. Many people have contributed to the development of mathematics, such as Pascal, Formal, Isaac, Newton of England, Pythagoras, Lagrange, and others.
Mathematics is important for the hearing impaired to prepare adequately for life after school and prepare them for secondary school and higher institutions.
There are several factors responsible for mass failure in mathematics among the hearing impaired, which include language problems, negative attitude of the mathematics teacher towards the subject, poor method of teaching by the teacher, silence of the hard of hearing students, lack of human resources, poor examination condition, lack of appreciation, low-self concept and lack of qualified and specially trained mathematics teacher to handle the teaching of the subject with the hard of hearing children.
Also, there are great implications for the mass future of mathematics. Mathematics is the backbone of science, technology, accounting or bookkeeping and account business management, to maintain but few. Future in mathematics has pulled out many students from the school setting. Also, those who want to escape the subject to the other courses are not their real choice.
Finally, the causes of mass failure in mathematics could be attributed to the attitude of the teachers and the negative attitude of hard of hearing children toward mathematics learning and the school curriculum.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The cause of mass failure in mathematics WAEC results among the hearing impaired students is the focus of this project.
Many people see mathematics as a difficult subject. But the subject is very important for development and progress. Hence, the nature of the subject makes it difficult for many people, including hearing impaired ones. Over the years, students graduated with low-grade levels or failed in mathematics. The question is that what are the factors contributing to these negative phenomena (mass failure) in mathematical sciences?.
The central hypothesis of this study is that some factors have a significant effect on the academic performance of hard of hearing students in mathematics. This research thus intended to investigate the causes of mass failure in mathematics WAEC results among the hearing impaired students.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
For this study, the following purposes are considered.
- To identify the problems involved in teaching and learning mathematics, which led to mass failure among the hearing impaired students in schools for the deaf in Lagos State.
- To recommend possible and positive solutions to hard-of-hearing students’ attitudes toward learning mathematics.
- Attempt to provide practical suggestions on methods and materials that can be used to effectively facilitate the teaching and learning of this subject.
- To inspire researchers and policymakers on education to conduct more detailed research into this field to develop a suitable mathematics curriculum for this type of disabled student.
1.4 Research Questions
The following research questions were formulated to guide the study:
- Do students with hearing impairment perform better in mathematics than their counterparts without any disability?
- Does hard of hearing students physically fit in other extra-curriculum activities?
- Does teaching methodology determine the academic performance of hard of hearing students in mathematics?
- Does parent’s attitudes towards their ward or child determine the academic performance of hard of hearing students in mathematics?
- Does a teacher’s mastering of mathematics promote hard of hearing students in the subject?
- Does hard hearing students’ knowledge of mathematics be determined by their punctuality in the mathematics class?
- Does home/private tutoring of hard of hearing students enhance their performance in mathematics?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
Four hypotheses guided the study. The hypotheses tested the academic performance of students and the significance of the availability of textbooks, teaching methods, the inadequacy of mathematics teachers and their qualifications, class size, student’s attitudes and interests and classroom resources on academic performance in mathematics.
- Hard-of-hearing students’ academic performance in mathematics at secondary school is not significantly high.
- There is no significant difference between the academic performances of students at Ikeja Senior High School (inclusive unit) and State Senior Grammar School (special)
iii. There is no significant influence of availability of textbooks, teaching methods, class size, student attitude and student-teacher interaction on the academic performance of students
- There is no significant difference between the influences of the factors on academic performance in both schools.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The study investigating the mass failure in mathematics WAEC result among the hearing impaired students in Lagos State is relevant education. The Federal Government in the National Policy on Education (2007) says that the purpose and objectives of special education should be:
- To give concrete meaning to the ideas of equalizing educational opportunity for all children, their physical, mental, and emotional disabilities notwithstanding.
- To provide adequate education for all disabled children and adults to enable them to play their roles in the nation’s development.
Mathematics as a subject is regarded as very difficult for even the sighted students but less for the hard of hearing students; therefore, one needs to look into the problems to make mathematics interesting. Thereby alleviating mass failure.
1.7 Scope of the Study
This study was focused on the investigation of mass failure in mathematics among the hard of hearing students at Ikeja Senior High School (inclusive unit) and State Senior Grammar School (special), but due to financial and logistic restrictions, the study will be restricted to Ikeja Senior High School (inclusive unit), and State Senior Grammar School (special) Surulere Lagos both are integrated schools in Lagos State.
Thus, the research cuts across the whole state, but for data collection and case study, the writer has decided after due consultation with specialists in special education to limit the research work to the school named above.
1.8 Definition of Operational Terms
For this write-up, the following terms shall be defined and hence applied.
MATHEMATICS: Mathematics, as used in this context, refers to a subject that reveals a particular way of thinking and using numbers. Mathematics is the science that draws necessary conclusions. It is a mental activity which consists in carrying out, one after the other and those mental constructions which are inductive and effective. It is also the subject in which we never know what we are talking about or whether what we are saying is true. Mathematics is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which is not there.
HEARING IMPAIRED: As used in this context, hearing impaired refers to a child with defects in or both ears. This child could be totally or partially handicapped. Hearing-impaired, as used, refers to all categories of children with a learning problem.
SPECIAL EDUCATION: As used in this context, special education is a program designed to educate the disabled, bearing in mind their disabilities. The education plan to meet each disabled person’s needs in terms of the method of teaching teachers and facilities to bring about a good teaching-learning process. Special education is the education of children and adults who have different sorts of handicaps ranging from blindness, partial sightedness, deafness and hardness of hearing to mental retardation, social maladjustment and physical handicap, behaviour disorder, and multiple handicaps.
MATHEMATICS SPECIALIST TEACHER: This refers to those who had been specially trained to teach mathematics in the class irrespective of the handicapping condition of the learners.
SERVICE: Service I help done to someone; in order words, it is a benefit rendered to another person.
NEEDS: Needs are immediate wants of something required to complete a work. In order words, needs are necessary for having solutions to the problems.
WAEC: West African Examination Councils; This is one of the agencies of education at the national level. It was established in 2012. It is responsible for organizing and conducting school and public examinations in some West African Countries that are member countries. There are Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leon, Gambia and Liberia.
This organisation took over this responsibility from overseas examination bodies like Cambridge University, which conduct the Cambridge Oversees School Certificate Examination. The council’s chief executive is the registrar, who is in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. In Nigeria, the council has Zonal offices in some states such as Lagos, Ibadan, Kano, Jos, Enugu, and Benin to facilitate the decentralization. It also organises and conducts a comprehensive list of school and public examinations such as WAEC, GCE, and O’LEVEL. The bodies operate through a governing council committee and sub-committee, which is internationally composed.
THE MAN COMMITTEE ARE:
- The school panel committee; is in charge of school examination policy.
- Subject panel of the school examination committee. In charge of the syllabus and revision in each subject.
- Local Committee: They look after local interests in each country or state and recommend them to the National Committee.
- Standing committee on finance, staff and administration.
- International co-ordinating committee.