Teachers’ Motivation on Use of Mother Tongue in Teaching Mathematics in Lower Primary Schools in Yola South L.G.A
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 motivation influence the use of mother tongue in teaching mathematics in lower primary schools in Yolanda south local government. In this study, it was assumed that some teachers are not motivated when using mother tongue in teaching mathematics 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 was determined using test re-test method at a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.75. Quantitative methods were 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. Results from the study revealed that, majority of the respondents always used mother tongue in teaching counting and recognition of numbers respectively. 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, motivation had positive correlation with r-value of 0.487 and statistically significant at 1%. It was recommended that Teachers should be motivated when using Mother Tongue in teaching mathematics. Teachers should be given rewards and encouraged to use mother tongue to teach young ones in order to understand the contents of the subject matter.
