TEACHERS’ TRAINING ON USE OF MOTHER TONGUE IN TEACHING MATHEMATICS IN LOWER PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN YOLA SOUTH LGA
Fatima Abdulwahab Umar
Department of Early Childhood Care and Education
Federal College of Education, Yola, Adamawa State
Email:Fatimaumarabdulwahab@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Use of mother tongue (MT) as a medium of instruction is globally recommended for pupils in lower primary schools. The child MT should be the medium of instruction in learning in grades 1-3, because the fundamentals of mathematics concepts are introduced at this level. The purpose of the study was to investigate the extent to which teachers training on the of use mother tongue in teaching mathematics in lower primary schools in Yola South L.G.A Metropolis. In this study, it was assumed that some teachers are trained on the use of mother tongue to improve the conceptualization of mathematics knowledge by pupils especially at the lower level of education. Descriptive survey research design was used to guide the study. The target population was teachers in lower primary schools in yola Metropolis. The study employed random sampling techniques to select the sample for the study. Data was collected using questionnaire for teachers. A pilot study was carried out in two primary schools. Content validity was used to test the validity of the instruments. The reliability of the instruments were determined using test re-test method at a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.75. Quantitative methods was used in analyzing data using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to generate frequencies and means. Results were presented using tables, figures, and text. Result of level of training of the respondents shows that up to 74% had NCE as their level of training with 56% had only between 1-5 years teaching experience and 71.43% revealed that they love to use mother tongue to teach mathematics. The correlation result showed that the variable, level of education had positive correlation with r-value of 0.600, and statistically significant at 1%. It was recommended that Teachers training programmed in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders and Government agencies should be organized on an annual basis. Teachers’ evaluation on the use of mother tongue should be conducted either by Government, school administration or private partners to assess the teachers’ ability and strengthen further their use of mother tongue.