The relationships between English literacy skills and learner academic performance in Mathematics

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between English literacy skills and learner academic performance in Mathematics. The researcher used a quantitative research approach in this study. The study’s design was a non-experimental quantitative research design focusing on a survey design. The overall population of the study amounted to sixty-nine (69) Grade nine learners sampled from a bilingual high school in the Motheo district. The instrument used to collect data for this study was an online survey designed on Google Forms. The survey consisted of demographical questions, as well as a Likert scale in order to collect the general level of agreement or disagree which the learners had toward the statements made. The results were presented in the form of graphs such as pie charts and bar graphs. The findings helped to reveal the relationship between English literacy skills and learner academic performance in Mathematics. The study found that there is a definite relationship between English literacy skills and learner academic performance in Mathematics. The proven relationship exhibits that learners who consist of the necessary literacy skills, obtain an academic performance in Mathematics which mirrors the extent of these literacy skills. The study recommended that there should be more emphasis on the enhancement of literacy skills in school, since this fact will lead to an overall better academic performance in Mathematics.

Keywords

• literacy
• language proficiency
• multilingual
• learners
• mathematics