CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Problem solving is one of the essential skills in Mathematics that should be

mastered both by teachers and learners. It has been acknowledged as a paradigm of

complex cognition that is part of our everyday experience. Though Math is an essential

part of the education, most students could not understand thoroughly the word problems

that the teacher or the book gives. Knowing both the formulae and strategies are not

enough to guarantee us that we can solve the problem correctly and accurately.

Based on the personal experiences of Mathematics majors, they already have the

knowledge on problem solving approaches, but they still have difficulties on deriving the

correct solutions of the given word problems. So the researchers come up with the idea

of conducting this study for them to know the factors that greatly affects students’

difficulty in solving word problems which hinder them in formulating correct translations

and interpretations of the given word problem into Mathematical sentences.

This research focused on the factors that affect students’ difficulty in solving

word problems. “No idea is really bad unless we are uncritical. What is really bad is to

have no idea at all” (Polya, 2004). Polya believes that being stuck on a problem is not a

good state and we learned to solve problems through imitation and practice. Mathematics

itself is grounded in the domain of logic. Those who are not educated to think about

Mathematics are simply limited in their ability to think.

.
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
2

Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework of this study includes the independent variables and

dependent variables. The independent variables are the extrinsic factors that affect students’

difficulty in solving Math word problems and the dependent variable is intrinsic factors that

also affect students’ difficulty in solving Math word problems.

This study is based on the concepts of Polya on the phases of Mathematical problem

solving strategies and with the support of the principles of Wu about linking problem

solving to the cognitive skills. The identified variables are supported by the studies of Silva

where he specifies the causes of problem solving difficulty which were grouped into

student-related factors and environment- related factors. These factors play primary or

supporting roles in the growth and development of the learners. According to him, while

intelligence or mental ability is needed for academic success, other factors also contribute to

such success.

We identified and grouped the factors with the support of the related studies. A self-

made questionnaire was validated by the jurors and the researchers conducted the reliability

testing. After validity and reliability the study was conducted.

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
3

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Factor Factor

A. Extrinsic Factors B. Intrinsic Factors

a.1. Environment-related b.1. Anxiety

Factor
b.2. Comprehension
a.2. Structure of the Problem
c.3. Interest in the Subject

Figure 1. A Schematic Diagram showing the relationship among variables.

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
4

Statement of the Problem

The researchers undertook the study to determine the factors that affect the

difficulty of the students in solving Math word problems from the College of Teacher

Education from second year to fourth year of Central Philippines State University Main

Campus.

This study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What is the extent of the given factors that affect students’ Math word

problem solving performance in terms of:

a. extrinsic factors:

a.1environment; and

a.2 structure of the problem;

b. intrinsic factors:

b.1anxiety;

b.2comprehension; and

b.3 interest?

2. Is there any significant relationship that exists between the extent of the

extrinsic and intrinsic factors?

3. Is there any significant relationship that exists between the extent of the

different factors and to the students’ difficulty in Math word problems?

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
5

Hypotheses

Based on the problem presented, the hypotheses are formulated below:

1. There is no significant relationship that exists between the extent of the

extrinsic and intrinsic factors that affects students’ difficulty in Math word problem.

2. There is no significant relationship that exists between the extents of the

different factors to the students’ difficulty in math word problems.

Significance of the Study

The significance of the study was viewed from three different aspects namely: the

teachers, students and researchers.

DepEd. Through the result of this study they can also think of alternative ways to

improve the quality of education especially nowadays that the new curriculum is

implemented.

Teachers Education Institution. This study will be a great help to the institution

for it will serve as a guide for them to improve the quality of teaching and learning

process and to avoid the risk factor that affects students’ learning as a whole.

Teachers. Through this study, teachers, especially those teaching Mathematics,

will use this as a reference in helping the students develop their word problem analysis in

algebra. This will also challenge the teachers to introduce strategies that would make the

student appreciate the lesson.

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
6

Parents. This study will serve as a reminder for the parents to support, guide and

follow up their children’s performance in school for they also play great part in their

children’s education.

Students. It could help the students identify what factor greatly affects them in

understanding fully the word problems and performing better the solving process.

Researchers. The researchers would use this study as a guide so that when they

are in the field of teaching they can use these strategies in dealing with Mathematical

problems.

Scope and Delimitation

This study focused on the factors that affect the students’ difficulty in Math word

problems. The respondents were the students from second year to fourth year enrolled in

College of Teacher Education from Central Philippine State University – Main Campus,

Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, enrolled during the school year 2013-2014.

Definition of Terms

For clarity and convenience, the researchers defined the following terms:

Comprehension. It is the process of constructing meaning from the text, it is

active and strategic (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and

Human Development, 2000).

In this study, comprehension is referred to how the learner understands the word

problem.
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COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
7

Extrinsic Factors. It is the intervening situation or conditions that contribute

on the operations of the individual or any entity in the system (Chen, 1997).

In this study, it referred to the outside factors or environment related factors that

affect the students’ problem solving performance.

Intrinsic Factors. Emphasized that course preference is an expected part of

person way of life and it influences the intrinsic factors (Pastorili, 2001).

In this study, it is referred to the student-related factors as interest, anxiety and

comprehension.

Math Anxiety.A feeling of sudden death, as an obsession with the idea that

everyone knows that I don’t understand. I’d better not draw attention to myself by asking

serious Math avoidance and Math phobia (Tobias, 1978).

In this study, it is referredto the feeling of tension, apprehension,or fear that

interferes withMath performance.

Math Performance of the Students. It reflects the productive integration of the

students’ interest and teachers’ interest in the teaching-learning situation (Thomson,

2003).

In this study, it is referred to the grade of the student in their Math 2 subject.

Problem. A situation that required thought and a synthesis of previously learned

knowledge to solve (Orhun, 2003).

In this study, it is referred to the Mathematical word problem which was

administered to the respondents.

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
8

Structure of the Problem. It refers to how a word problem is formed (Orhun,

2003).

In this study, it is referred to how Mathematical word problems are constructed.

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
9

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter contains the related study and literature on Factors Affecting

Students’ Difficulty in Solving Word Problems.

Factors That Affects Students Difficulty in Solving Word Problems

The present study concentrated on specific causes which were grouped into student-

related factors and environment- related factors (Dante L. Silva, Milagros, Tadeo).Under the

environment-related factors were the home, teacher, and the curriculum. All these play

primary or supporting roles in the growth and development of the learners. The student-

related group included mental ability, habits, interest and attitudes towards Mathematics,

learning style, met cognitive skills / self-regulatory skills, and comprehension skills.

There has been a change of perspective as to what constitute intelligence and what it

actually does. The researcher believes that while intelligence or mental ability is needed for

academic success, other factors also contribute to such success. Habits, interest, and

attitudes are behavioral (affective) manifestations of the changes taking place in an

individual, be it positive or negative. Previous researches linked academic success to

interest, attitudes, and habits and this research aimed to either affirm or negate such

findings.

Reading is considered as a skill area of the general curriculum. Generally, students

who have reading deficiencies find difficulties in areas which require the use of vocabulary,
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
10

comprehension and analytical skills. With Mathematics, these skills are crucial in

understanding concepts and solving problems.

Tobias describes math anxiety as a feeling of sudden death as “an obsession with

the idea that everyone knows that I don’t understand; I’d better not draw attention to

myself by asking serious math avoidance and math phobia (Tobias, 1978). Math anxiety

usually arises from a lack of confidence when working on mathematical situations.

Math anxiety is defined in a variety of ways. Richardson and Suinn(1972) suggest that

mathematics anxiety involves feelings of tension and anxiety that interfere with the

manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide variety of

ordinary life and academic equations. A succinct description of math anxiety, which will

be used interchangeably in this research, is that it is both emotional and cognitive dread

of mathematics (Hodges, 1983).

The environmental cluster is composed of two categories. These are the home-

related and school related factors. Under the school-related causes are the teacher and the

curriculum.

Cognition and Metacognition Effects in Mathematics

Artzt and Armour-Thomas’s (2010) framework classifies reading as generally

cognitive whereas understanding, analyzing, and planning are metacognitive. The

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 1989) established student goals

related to learning Mathematics which are: learning to value Mathematics, becoming

confident in one’s own ability, becoming Mathematical problem solver, learning to

communicate Mathematically and learning to reason Mathematically.

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
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Comprehension

Teaching English language learners how to read is a vital issue in our current

educational policy and practice. While many students do well in literacy, several ELL

tend to exhibit lower academic achievement especially in reading.

Also, during instruction, essential content words should be discussed in depth

(Gersten et al., 2007). Explicit vocabulary instruction increases comprehension in both

languages, and comprehension strategies in native and second language should be taught

(Klinger, et al. 2006). In addition, research has shown that ELL students who are literate

in their native language are likely to have advantages in transferring those skills into a

second language, and that native language instruction help ELLs learn to read.

Reading is not the same as decoding, or the ability to recognize words (Stothard

and Hulme, 1996). Instead, reading is the process of constructing meaning from the text,

it is active and strategic (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and

Human Development, 2000).

Comprehension makes reading process complete when it is only attained. The

critical element is that the reader constructs the message encoded in the written language.

Full comprehension occurs when the reconstruction agrees with the writers intended

message. That comprehension is more stored in the reader’s brain than on the information

stored in the text.

Comprehension skills separate the “passive” unskilled reader from the “active”

readers. Skilled readers don’t just read, they interact with the text. To help a beginning

reader understand this concept, teachers or mentors might make them privy to the
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
12

dialogue readers have with themselves while reading. Comprehension requires

motivation, mental framework for holding ideas, concentration and good study

techniques. Reading comprehensively means reading with purpose to find a definite

answer to a definite problem, seek to grasp the central theme and the arrangement of the

author’s ideas (Matillano et al, 2009).

Reading strategies such as thinking aloud, visualizing and connecting text to prior

knowledge have been found to be effective for students when solving word problems

(Fogelberg et al., 2008).

Modeling effective reading strategy has been shown to improve comprehension

(Armbrusteret al, 2001) and word problem solving (Foster, 2007).

Reading that usually also aims at understanding (e.g. comprehension) has been

shown to operate in two main levels (Porfetti, 1985). First, the reader extracts the

meaning of the sentences, and second, the reader applies prior general and specific

knowledge on the subject at hand.

Cain and Oakhill (2006) found that children assign to a poor text comprehenders

or good text comprehenders’ group differed in Math and literary skills.

Mathematics

Mathematics as defined yourdictionary.com, is ”the group of sciences (including

arithmetic, geometry, algebra, calculus, etc. dealing with quantities, magnitudes, and

forms and their relationships, attributes etc., by the use of numbers and symbols.” Ernest

(1989) mentioned that learning Mathematics involves more than basic knowledge of

facts, skills and procedures. He added that it has a crucial involvement of conceptual
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
13

structures, the general strategies in solving problems, attitudes towards the subject and

appreciation of Mathematics.

According to the latest Gallup youth survey conducted in 2004 (as cited by Saad,

2005), the subject that the teenagers find most difficult in school is Mathematics. Thus,

Saad(2005) said that it is not surprising how the subject has the lowest difficulty rate. The

reasons were not mentioned, however, Stites (1993) said that people have the tendency to

blame the educators of the poor difficulty of the students in Math. However, Temple

professor and Mathematician John Allen Paulos (as cited in Stites, 1993) directed these

problems to a number of factors. Paulos (as cited in Stites, 1993) attributed this problem

to the educational system that "emphasizes practice without incorporating the concept."

In addition to this, he mentioned that this is also partly because of the mentality that Math

is not for everyone. According to Paulos (as cited in Stites, 1993), people think that Math

is only for a selected few or the left-brained ones.

In the Philippine concept, as cited in a research conducted by Cabahug and

Ladot (2005), the University of the Philippines’ greatest failure is in Mathematics. It is

also said that repetition in Mathematics is common among UP students that almost one

out of three repeat a Mathematics course. Cabahug and Ladot (2005) also said that the

faculty of the UP Cebu Natural Science and Mathematics Division or NSMD has felt the

declining difficulty of students in basic Mathematics. It is also stated that the attitude

towards Mathematics and achievement in Mathematics have always been a great concern.

Fullarton (1993) as cited in Cabahug and Ladot (2005), stated that poor attitude

towards Mathematics is often being said as one of the contributing factors to lower
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
14

participation and less success in the courses. Neale(1969) still cited in Cabahug and

Ladot (2005), said that the attitude towards Mathematics affects difficulty as difficulty in

turn affects attitudes.

In the study conducted by Cabahug and Ladot(2005), there were 941 students in

four school years excluding transferees and those who withdrew from Math 11 and Math

17 were the subjects of the study. The dependent variable was the students’ difficulty in

Math 11 or Math 17 measured by a dichotomous criterion of “pass” or “fail”. The

researchers stated that the UPCAT Mathematics ability, University predicted grade,

attitude towards the subject, degree program and type of high school the students

graduated from are the factors of success and failure of students. The results of the study

showed that the students who took up Math 11 and Math 17 got a passing rate of 73.3%

and 73.2% respectively. The highest failure rate is 36% for Math 11 and 31.2% for Math

17. The researchers stated that these results showed that the training of the incoming

freshmen is deficient.

Furthermore, Cabahug and Ladot(2005) said that for students who were required

to take Math 11, their only significant factor is the attitude of students towards the

subject. The results of their study also showed that for students enrolled in degree

programs requiring Math 17 in addition to UPCAT Mathematical ability and attitude

towards Mathematics, the type of school is also a significant factor.

Davidson and Levitov (1993), on the other hand, point these difficulties to the

condition that fears Mathematics.

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COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
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Overstreet (1951), believed that fear is the most deceitful emotional force that has

the greatest impact on our behavior. He said that fear "makes us do what we ought not to

do and leave undone what we ought to do (p.3)." The author stated reasons on why the

"fear-problem (p.4)" remains unsolved despite its length of occurrence in human history.

Part of this, Overstreet (1951) mentioned, is our lack of ability to recognize fear as it is.

He added that fear disguises itself in a wide range of emotions which are, more often than

not, an opposite of fear such that of courage, ambition, humility, sacrifices or loyalty.

Mathematics Anxiety

Math anxiety is commonly defined as a feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear

that interferes with math performance. The first systematic instrument for assessing math

anxiety was the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS), published by Richardson

and Suinn (1972). In this test, participants rate themselves on the level of anxiety they

would feel in various everyday situations, such as trying to refigure a restaurant bill when

they think they have been overcharged or taking a math test.

Highly math-anxious individualsare characterized by astrong tendency to avoid

math,which ultimately undercutstheir math competence and forecloses important career

paths. Math anxiety disrupts cognitive processing by compromising ongoing activity in

working memory. Although the causes of math anxiety are undetermined, some teaching

styles are implicated as risk factors.

U.S. culture abounds withattitudes that foster math anxiety:Math is thought to be

inherently difficult (as Barbie dolls used tosay, “Math class is hard”), aptitudeis
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
16

considered far more importantthan effort (Geary, 1994),and being good at math is

consideredrelatively unimportant, oreven optional.

There is a rather extensive literatureon the personal and educationalconsequences

of math anxiety,summarized thoroughly inHembree (1990). Perhaps the most pervasive

—and unfortunate tendencyis avoidance. Highly mathanxiousindividuals avoid math.

They take fewer elective mathcourses, both in high school and incollege, than people

with low mathanxiety. And when they take math,they receive lower grades. Highlymath-

anxious people also espousenegative attitudes toward math,and hold negative self-

perceptions about their math abilities.An obvious but unfortunateconsequence of the

avoidance tendencyis that compared with peoplewho do not have math anxiety,highly

math-anxious individualsend up with lower math competenceand achievement. They

areexposed to lessmath in school andapparently learn less of what theyare exposed to; as

a result, theyshow lower achievement as measured by standardized tests (e.g.,Fennema,

1989).Math anxiety is a bona fide anxietyreaction, a phobia (Faust, 1992),with both

immediate cognitive andlong-term educational implications.Unfortunately, there hasbeen

no thorough empirical workon the origins or causes of mathanxiety, although there are

somestrong hints. For instance, Turneret al. (2002) documented the patternsof student

avoidance (e.g.,not being involved or seeking help)that result from teachers who conveya

high demand for correctnessbut provide little cognitive or motivationalsupport during

lessons(e.g., the teacher “typically did notrespond to mistakes and misunderstandingswith

explanations,”; “he often showed annoyancewhen students gave wrong answers. . . . He

held them responsiblefor their lack of understanding,”). Turner et al. speculatedthat

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
17

students with such teachersmay feel “vulnerable to public displays of incompetence”,

ahypothesis consistent with our participants’anecdotal reports thatpublic embarrassment

in mathclass contributed to their math anxiety.Thus, it is entirely plausible,but as yet

undocumented, thatsuch classroom methods are riskfactors for math anxiety.

Math anxiety is a real problem facing students and teachers today. The

mathematicsteacher especially needs to understand the causes and effects of math anxiety

as well aways to help students overcome it. There are many symptoms of math anxiety

includingunwillingness to attempt mathematics problems, a fear of taking

advancedmathematics classes, and being unusually nervous when in mathematics class.

Matanxiety hinders students' working memory (Perina, 2002). It occurs at different ages

indifferent people for different reasons. The main cause of math anxiety is the

teacherhimself. It has been shown that students tend to internalize their instructor's

interest inand enthusiasm for teaching math (Jackson and Leffingwell, 1999). If the

teacher has abad attitude about mathematics, his students most likely will as well.

However, theteacher can take many steps to reduce math anxiety including reviewing

basicmathematics skills, by making sure students understand the mathematical language,

andby providing a support system for their students (Schwartz, 2000). The more a

teacherunderstands math anxiety the more he will be able to prevent it and help

studentsovercome it.

Problem Solving
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Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
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Problem solving, as used in Mathematics education literature, refers to the process

wherein students encounter a problem – a question for which they have no immediately

apparent resolution, nor an algorithm that they can directly apply to get an answer

(Schoenfeld, 1992). They must then read the problem carefully, analyze it for whatever

information it has, and examine their own Mathematical knowledge to see if they can

come up with a strategy that will help them find a solution. The process forces the

reorganization of existing ideas and the emergence of new ones as students work on

problems with the help of a teacher who acts as a facilitator by asking questions that help

students to review their knowledge and construct new connections. As the new

knowledge is embedded into existing cognitive frameworks, the result is an enrichment

of the network of ideas through understanding. The simplified process described above

was first summarized in Polya’s path-breaking book (1957), and has since then inspired

much research.

In this work, Polya (2004) states that students learn to solve problems through

imitation and practice.Furthermore, Polya argues that students must do as much of the

problem solving on their own as is possible, he portrays an image of problem solving that

shows the teacher quite involved in the student’s work. The teacher is ready and able to ask

guiding questions should the student get stuck.

In How to Solve It, Polya presents four phases of Mathematical problem solving:

understand the problem, make a plan, carry out the plan, and review and discuss. He argues

that for the first phase, the student should be able to state the problem

fluently and point out the unknown, the data, and the condition in the problem. Thus, “the
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
19

teacher can seldom afford to miss the questions: What is the unknown? What are the

data? What is the condition?” If applicable, the student should then

draw a figure and point out the unknown, the data, and the condition. For the secondphase,

the student must make a plan. Polya argues that this will require a bright idea. In

this phase, “the best that the teacher can do for the student is to procure for him, by

unobtrusive help, a bright idea.” The teacher should then ask leading

questions to help the student figure out a bright idea. The teacher should be prepared if

even fairly explicit hints are “insufficient to shake the stupor of the students; and so he

should be prepared to use a wide gamut of more and more explicit hints.” In the third phase

of carrying out the plan, the teacher's job is mainly to ensure that the student checks each

step. In the final phase the teacher should encourage to student to check their result, see if

they can derive it differently, and examine whether their solution could connect to any

other problems (Polya, 2004).

It is the worthwhile search for Mathematical growth that has researchers looking

for ways by which one may use problem solving as a teaching tool. The Principles and

Standardsfor School Mathematics (National Council for Teachers of Mathematics, 2000)

describes problem solving based teaching as using “interesting and well-selected

problems to launch Mathematical lessons and engage students. In this way, new ideas,

techniques and Mathematical relationship merge and become the focus of discussion.

Good problems can inspire the exploration of important Mathematical ideas, nurture

persistence, and reinforce the need to understand and use various strategies Mathematical

properties, and relationships”. This succinct statement encompasses about two decades of
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COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
20

research and reflection on the entire gamut of issues related to problem solving in

Mathematics education.

Solving word problems competently involves more than looking for key terms.

Based on the word problem structure, children must then construct an internal

representation of the problem, and select a solution strategy (Meyer, 2003).

Both Math and word problem-solving difficulty and comprehension skills are

associated with technical reading skills (Fletcher, 2005). Technical reading also

contributes to Math word problem-solving difficulty and comprehension (Fuchs et al.,

2004).

According to Wu et al., (2006), in order to teach Mathematical problem-solving

skills effectively, one needs to link to demands of problem-solving tasks to the cognitive

processes involved. From within the field of teaching and learning, Wu divided research

into two approaches to identifying problem-solving cognitive processes: the factor-

analytic approach and the information processing approach. The factor-analytic approach

is generally empirical in that different factors that distinguish in characterize different

kinds of activities are identified through the use of exploratory factor analysis. While in

the information processing approach, identifying the problem-solving solving processes

focuses on the sequential steps of cognitive demands required in solving Mathematical

problems.

According to Hargreaves (2003) the ability to problem solving and thinking

critically is highly regarded as an essential skill in the 21 st knowledge economy. Higher

cognitive questioning has been reported as a teaching strategy that promotes students’
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
21

abilities to perform proficiency on higher order and problem solving tasks and to use

higher order thinking to a greater degree and their responses (Kramarski and Mizrachi,

2006). The use of higher questioning instruction has been shown to have positive impact

on a variety of learning constructs and across a variety of subject areas. Various cognitive

questioning had been shown to produce positive effect in student academic achievement,

the development of student problem solving and critical thinking skills.

Structure of the Problem

Success in solving world problems is reliant in students’ knowledge of language

and structure, ability to interpret vocabulary in mathematical terms and actual

mathematical knowledge and ability. Research suggests that strategies emphasizing

comprehensive understanding of word problems especially in how individual problem

element relate to each other and the problem as a whole.

There are four types of structural dimensions of word problems that affect their

difficulty in how they are solved. Mathematical structure, which includes the nature of

the given and unknown quantities of the problem, and the mathematical operations by

which the unknowns can be derive from the givens. Next is the Semantic structure, which

includes the ways in which an interpretation of the text points to particular mathematical

relationships. Context, meaning the nature of the situation described. Last is the format,

meaning how the problem is formulated and presented. Format involves such factors as

the placement of the question, the complexity of the lexical and grammatical structures,

and the presence of superfluous information and so on. (Fuson, Karen 1992

CHAPTER III
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Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
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RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

The contents of this chapter are the research environment, research design,

respondents of the study, data gathering instrument, validity of instrument, data gathering

procedure and data treatment.

Research Design

This study, Factors Affecting Students’ Performance in Word Problem Solving

used the descriptive survey research design particularly in determining the factors that

affect the difficulty of the students in solving word problems in Math. For descriptive

design the researchers used mean.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of the study are the second year to fourth year students from the

College of Teacher of Central Philippines State University Main Campus, officially

enrolled during the school year 2013-2014. To identify the respondents of the study,

stratified random sampling was employed to obtain a quota of 100 from the total

population.

Sampling Methods and Techniques

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The researchers used the stratified random sampling method in selecting a sample

size from the total population. First, the master list of the total population was secured;

then a quota of 100 respondents was selected from the total population. In the stratified

random sampling design, the number of respondents per year level was identified using

the frequency and percentage distribution. The table below shows the frequency and

distribution of the total population.

TableA. Respondents of the Study

YEAR LEVEL POPULATION SIZE SAMPLE SIZE
BEED BSED BEED BSED
IV 76 70 20 13
III 59 46 16 12
II 80 49 21 18
TOTAL 215 165 57 43

To select the sample size and to ensure that each of the population has an equal

chance to be included in the sample, the random sampling method was utilized. In this

method the respondents were identified by assigning random numbers using the

calculator. Finally, the random numbers were arranged from highest to lowest and the

researchers identified the respondents based from who got the highest result.

Data Gathering Instrument

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A self-made survey questionnaire was used to gather data from the respondents to

identify what factor is prevalent among the students. In thesurvey questionnaire, the

Likert scaling ranging from 1 to 5 was utilized. Strongly Agree for 5, Agree for 4,

Moderate for 3, Disagree for 2 and Strongly Disagree for 1.The self-made test question

for problem solving was used to identify the performance of the students in solving word

problems.

Validity and Reliability of the Instruments

To ensure the validity of the instruments, these were subjected to the evaluation of

the jurors for face validity and construct validity. The researchers selected three experts

namely: Mrs. Consolation Credito, Ms. Ma. Lorena B. Crobes and Mrs. Mary Grace

Sombewho validated the questionnaire to ensure the kind of questions to be included

taking into consideration its measurability and consistency. For the reliability of the

instrument the researcher conducted the reliability testing to 30 first year students from

the College of Teacher Education main campus of Central Philippines State University.

The ratings for the validity of the instrument:

1 – Needs Improvement

2 – Good

3 – Very Good

4 - Excellent

The obtained result was 3.2 with the descriptive interpretation on verygood.

Data Gathering Procedure

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
25

The researchers before conducting the research studymade sure that all the

suggestions and recommendations of the panel during the pre-oral were complied. The

researchersconducted the reliability testing and item analysis of the test questions. After

asking the permission ofthe College Dean the respondents were informed on the schedule

for the conduct of the study. The respondents were properly informed about the purpose

of the study. After the completionof the requirements needed, the researchers

administered the conduct of the study to gather the data needed.

Data Treatment

Problem No. 1 which states, “What is the extent of the given factors that affect

students’ Mathematics word problem performance in terms of extrinsic factors:a.1

environment; anda.2 structure of the problem and b. intrinsic factors:b.1 anxiety; b.2

comprehension;andb.3 interest?”

The Mean of the data was employed.

Problem No. 2 which states, “Is there any significant relationship that exists

between the extent of the extrinsic and intrinsic factors?”

The Spearman rho was employed.

Problem No. 3 which states, “Is there any significant relationship that exists

between the extent of the different factors and to the students’ difficulty in Math word

problems?”

The Spearman rho was employed.

CHAPTER IV
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COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
26

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the results of the data gathered in this study. The data

pertained to “Factors Affecting Students’ Difficulty in Solving Word Problems”. The

baseline and statistical data were presented in tables, analyzed and interpreted.

Table 1a. Extent of the Extrinsic Factor - Environment

INDICATORS MEAN INTERPRETATION

1. My parents encourage me to study

4.13 High
and go to school always.
2. The time allotted in every class
meetings is enough for me to grasp 3.07 Moderate
the concepts.
3. I have enough personal reference
materials (books, magazines, etc.) 2.90 Moderate
for me to utilize.
4. I am not worried financially on my
2.92 Moderate
studies.
5. My teachers’ teaching strategy is
efficient and effective for us to 3.52 High
learn fully what he/she is teaching.
6. My school has complete facilities
2.82 Moderate
which can stimulate learning.
7. My classmates encourage me to 3.47 High
join group discussions.
8. I’ve got access to the new 3.33 Moderate
technology for a better learning.
9. I live in a peaceful and silent place. 3.57 High
10. I have good foundation in basic
3.19 Moderate
math.
3.29 Moderate
Mean
Interpretation
1.00 – 1.80 (Very Low Extent)
1.81 – 2.60 (Low Extent)
2.61 – 3.40 (Moderate Extent)
3.41 – 4.20 (High Extent)
4.21 – 5.00 (Very High Extent)
The table 1ashows the extent of environmental-related factors that affects

students’ difficulty in solving word problems.

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
27

Indicator number one shows the highest mean of 4.13 with the descriptive

interpretation of high extent. The result implied that if parents encourage their children to

study and go to school always, there will be a positive response from them. This further

implied that students will perform well in school. On the other hand, indicator number six

has a mean of 2.82 with the descriptive interpretation of moderate extent. The result

implied that school facilities affect students’ stimulation of learning. It means

insufficiency of school facilitates will lead to poor performance of students.

Generally, respondents had a mean of 3.29with the descriptive interpretation of

moderate extent. As a whole the students’ performance in solving word problems in Math

are moderately affected with the environmental-related factors. This implied that if the

environment is conducive, positive performance could be seen through the students;

otherwise it will negatively affect their performance. The result is supported by the

findings of Maat and Zakaria and Vaughan (2011) which they have identified that

students with a higher perception of the learning environment and a more positive

perception of their teachers have more positive attitudes towards mathematics.

Table 1b. Extent of the Extrinsic Factor – Structure of the problem

INDICATOR MEAN INTERPRETATION

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Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
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1. The problem can be

3.25 Moderate
visualized and valid.
2. The problem is clear and
3.27 Moderate
concise.
3. Problems are stated clearly
with the use of correct 3.35 Moderate
punctuations.
4. Math word problem posted
can be translated into 3.41 High
mathematical sentence.
5. The word problems do not
3.01 Moderate
contain many distracters.
6. The problem can be
3.17 Moderate
understood easily.
7. The problem does not
3.16 Moderate
include unnecessary data.
8. The problems are posted
3.40 Moderate
clearly.
9. Instructions are clearly
3.37 Moderate
defined.
10. Printed materials that are
3.49 High
being provided are clear.
3.29 Moderate
Mean
Interpretation
1.00 – 1.80 (Very Low Extent)
1.81 – 2.60 (Low Extent)
2.61 – 3.40 (Moderate Extent)
3.41 – 4.20 (High Extent)
4.21 – 5.00 (Very High Extent)

The table above shows the extent of structure of the problem on students’

performance in solving word problems.

Indicator number ten shows the highest mean of 3.49with the descriptive

interpretation of high extent. The result implied that students agreed that when printed

materials provided are clear they would understand better the word problems. This

further implied that the clarity of the text of the materials is necessary for students to

lessen difficulty in solving word problems. Indicator number five on the other hand,
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
29

showed the lowest mean of 3.01 with the descriptive interpretation of moderate extent.

This means that the distracters in the word problem moderately affect students’ difficulty.

Generally the respondents had a mean of 3.29 with the descriptive interpretation

of moderate extent. As a whole students’ performance were slightly affected by the

structure of the word problems in math. The result is confirmed with the findings of

Karen Fuson, 1992 which states that “research suggests that strategies emphasizing

comprehensive understanding of word problems especially in how individual problem

element relate to each other and the problem as a whole are most effective in helping

students improve their problem solving ability.”

Table 1c. Extent of the Intrinsic Factor - Anxiety

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
30

INDICATOR MEAN INTERPRETATION

1. I worry too much about passing

3.83 High
the test given.
2. Solving math problems makes
2.91 Moderate
me sick.
3. I am afraid to read math word
problems because I might not 2.90 Moderate
understand it.
4. Low grades/scores in Math
subject disappoints me to learn 3.18 Moderate
more.
5. People think I am not good in
2.88 Moderate
math, therefore I am not.
6. Numbers are monsters for me. 2.70 Moderate
7. I’ve got a terrible experience in
math and I don’t want let it 3.43 High
happen again.
8. I am hesitant to ask clarifications
3.12 Moderate
to my teacher.
9. I am not confident with my
3.22 Moderate
answers on the problems given.
10. I don’t want to discuss my 3.04 Moderate
answers with others for fear of
giving the wrong one.
3.12 Moderate
Mean
Interpretation
1.00 – 1.80 (Very Low Extent)
1.81 – 2.60 (Low Extent)
2.61 – 3.40 (Moderate Extent)
3.41 – 4.20 (High Extent)
4.21 – 5.00 (Very High Extent)

The table shows the extent of anxiety on students’ performance on solving word

problems.

Indicator number one has the highest mean of 3.83 with the descriptive

interpretation of high extent. The result implied that when students were pressured to pass

the test it will greatly affect their performance. On the other hand, indicator number six

has a mean of 2.70 with the descriptive interpretation of moderate extent. The result
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
31

implied that when students instilled in their minds that mathematics is difficult they will

hesitate to try solving word problems.

Generally the respondent has a mean of 3.12 with the descriptive interpretation of

moderate extent. As a whole the students’ anxiety in Math moderately affects their

performance in solving word problems. This result supports the idea of Mark H. Ashcraft

(2002) stating that “math anxiety disrupts cognitive processing by compromising ongoing

activity in working memory. Although the causes of math anxiety are undetermined,

some teaching styles are implicated as risk factors.”

Table 1d. Extent of the Intrinsic Factor –Comprehension

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
32

INDICATOR MEAN INTERPRETATION

1. I can easily understand the word problems

3.14 Moderate
presented.
2. I can identify what strategy I am going to
use to derive the answer of the problem I 3.16 Moderate
read.
3. I can easily identify grammatically wrong
3.20 Moderate
word problems.
4. I can picture out what I am reading. 3.54 High
5. I can identify the appropriate operations to
be utilized for me to get the answer of the 3.26 Moderate
problem.
6. I can easily determine the meaning of
3.30 Moderate
unfamiliar words through context clues.
7. I can retain the things I have read for a long
3.26 Moderate
period of time.
8. I read and re-read the problem to fully
3.69 High
understand it.
9. I can easily identify the distractors in the
problem that are not actually necessary to 3.24 Moderate
be taken into consideration.
10. I can connect the concepts in math
3.37 Moderate
whenever I read math word problems.
3.32 Moderate
Mean
Interpretation
1.00 – 1.80 (Very Low Extent)
1.81 – 2.60 (Low Extent)
2.61 – 3.40 (Moderate Extent)
3.41 – 4.20 (High Extent)
4.21 – 5.00 (Very High Extent)

The table shows the extent of comprehension on students’ performance on solving

word problems.

The indicator number eight has a highest mean of 3.69 with the descriptive

interpretation of high extent. This means that students agreed that when they read and re-

read the problem they fully understood it. This further implied that reading text over and

over makes the students comprehend well what it wants to convey thus lessen their

difficulty in solving word problems. On the other hand indicator number one has a mean
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
33

of 3.14 with the descriptive interpretation of moderate extent. This implied that when

students understand easily the word problems presented to them their difficulty will also

be lessen.

Generally the respondents have a mean of 3.32 with moderate extent as the

descriptive interpretation. As a whole, students’ comprehensionskills moderately affect

their performance in solving word problems in Math. The ability of the students to

understand the problem affects their performance in math. This confirmed the idea of Ara

(2007) that the lack of reading skills and adequate vocabulary was a barrier for students

to attempt mathematical tasks, especially word problems. In addition, Boggs(2005)

suggested that students should read and re-read the problem to ascertain that they have

responded correctly to the question.

Table 1e. Extent of the Intrinsic Factor – Interest

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
34

INDICATOR MEAN INTERPRETATION

1. I love math. 3.31 Moderate

2. Every time I encounter a math
word problem, I am eager to 3.25 Moderate
solve it.
3. My focus is constant to the
problem solving every time I 3.15 Moderate
solve.
4. I don’t want to leave a problem I
3.20 Moderate
encountered unanswered.
5. I love to discuss the strategies
and answers in problem solving 3.30 Moderate
to my classmates.
6. I did not get bored when it comes
3.31 Moderate
to numbers.
7. I can spend many hours just to
finish solving certain math word 3.19 Moderate
problems.
8. I love collecting math trivia’s. 3.10 Moderate
9. I believe Math is not a problem,
3.66 High
it is itself the solution.
10. I am fond of solving math word
3.27 Moderate
problems.
3.27 Moderate
Mean
Interpretation
1.00 – 1.80 (Very Low Extent)
1.81 – 2.60 (Low Extent)
2.61 – 3.40 (Moderate Extent)
3.41 – 4.20 (High Extent)
4.21 – 5.00 (Very High Extent)

The table above shows the extent of students’ interest with their performance on

solving word problems.

Indicator number nine has the highest mean of 3.66 with the descriptive

interpretation of high extent. The result implied that students’ belief in math as a solution

and not a problem will have a positive effect on their performance thus lessen their

difficulty in the subject. On the other hand, indicator number eight has a lowest mean of
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
35

3.10 with the descriptive interpretation of moderate extent. The result implied that

students’ interest in collecting math trivia’s moderately motivating them.

Generally the respondents have a mean of 3.27 with the descriptive indicator of

moderate extent. All in all students weremoderately affected with their interest in the

subject as to Math word problem solving performance. This affirms the idea of OECD

(2004) which suggests that “a genuine interest in school subjects is important as well.

Students with aninterest in a subject like mathematics are likely to be more motivated to

managetheir own learning and develop the requisite skills to become effective learnersof

that subject. Hence, interest in mathematics is relevant when considering thedevelopment

of effective learning strategies for mathematics.”

EXTRINSIC INTRINSIC STATISTICS

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
36

Environment-related Anxiety Spearman’s rho coeff. -0.09

Factor Probability value 0.36
Significance Level 0.05
Decision Failed to Reject
Ho
Conclusion Not Significant
Comprehension Spearman’s rho coeff. 0.67
Probability value 0.00
Significance Level 0.01
Decision Reject Ho
Conclusion Highly
Significant
Interest in the Spearman’s rho coeff. 0.64
Subject Probability value 0.00
Significance Level 0.01
Decision Reject Ho
Conclusion Highly
Significant
Structure of the Problem Anxiety Spearman’s rho coeff. -0.16
Probability value 0.11
Significance Level 0.05
Decision Failed to Reject
Ho
Conclusion Not Significant
Comprehension Spearman’s rho coeff. 0.80
Probability value 0.00
Significance Level 0.01
Decision Reject Ho
Conclusion Highly
Significant
Interest in the Spearman’s rho coeff. 0.70
Subject Probability value 0.00
Significance Level 0.01
Decision Reject Ho
Conclusion Highly
Significant

Table 2.Relationship Analysis between the Extent of the Extrinsic and Intrinsic
Factors

Ho: There is no significant association among variables.

Reject Ho if p-value is lesser than 0.05
The table reveals the relationship analysis between the extent of extrinsic and

intrinsic factors using Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient.

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
37

Environment Associated to Anxiety

The Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient in the environment-related factors and

anxiety is -0.09with associated probability value of 0.36. Since, the p-value is greater

than the significance value of 0.05, the result showed that there is no significant

relationship analysis between the environment-related factors and anxiety. The result

implied that the extent of environment-related factors was not related with the students’

anxiety in Math. No matter how conducive the learning environment it is not an

assurance that the students will not experience anxiety in mathematics.

The result given was in contrast to the ideas of Tobias (1978) and Stodolsky

(1985) which states that “beginnings of anxiety can often be traced to negative classroom

experiences seems particularly strong and well-documented.”

Environment Associated to Comprehension

Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient in the environment-related factors and

comprehension is 0.67 with associated probability value of 0.00 which is lesser than the

significance value of 0.01.The result showed that there was a significant relationship

analysis between the environment-related factors and comprehension. The result implied

that the extent of environment-related factors is related with the students’ comprehension.

Student’s ability to comprehend the problems was highly affected by the kind of

environment they are in.

This is supported by Akey’s (2012) work which showed that several aspects of

school context (e.g., teacher support, student-to-student interaction, and the academic and
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
38

behavior expectations of the teacher) were significantly related to student attitudes and

behaviors. Akey concluded that the class environment where teachers who students see as

supportive promote student feelings of control and confidence in their ability to succeed.

The way students perceive teacher characteristics will affect their attitudes towards

mathematics.

Environment Associated to Interest

TheSpearman’s rho correlation coefficient in the environment-related factors and

interest in the subject is 0.64with associated probability value of 0.00which is lesser than

the significance value of 0.01.The result showed that there is a significant relationship

analysis between the environment-related factors and interest in the subject. The result

implied that the extent of environment-related factors is related with the students’ interest

in subject. The more conducive the learning environment the more the students are

encouraged to do well in the subject.

The result confirmed the study of Maat and Zakaria as they identified a significant

relationship between learning environment and interest towards mathematics. Students

with a higher perception of the learning environment and a more positive perception of

their teachers have more positive attitudes towards mathematics. Rawnsley and Fisher

also found that students had more positive attitudes toward mathematics when their

teacher was perceived to be highly supportive.These findings highlight the role of the

teacher in supporting student learning, interest and even motivation and have some

implications for education and instructional practices.

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
39

Structure of the Problem to Anxiety

The Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient in the structure of the problem and

anxiety is -0.16with associated probability value of 0.11which is greater than the

significance value of 0.05. The result showed that there was no significant relationship

analysis between the structure of the problem factors and anxiety. The result implied that

the extent of structure of the problem is not related with the students’ anxiety in math. If

the problem is correctly structured and detailed, it will not guarantee that students will

not experience anxiety in the subject.

The result is in contrast with what Gal and Ginsburg 1994 noted that students’

pre-conceived ideas about the nature of problems in math could produce anxiety.

Structure of the Problem to Interest

The Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient in the structure of the problemand

interest in the subject is 0.70with associated probability value of 0.00which is lesser than

the significance value of 0.01.The result showed that there was a significant relationship

analysis between the structure of the problemand interest in the subject. The result

implied that the extent of structure of the problemis related with the students’ interest in

subject. This means that students will be more interested in solving and working with the

problems if it is clearly stated with correct grammar. This also implies that students are

most likely to be interested to solve math problems if there will be no superfluous

information and the nature of the given problem can be described and can be interpreted
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
40

easily. This further implies that the complex the problem posted the less interest one can

get from the students.

The result affirmed the statement of Galda (1990) that reader’s response to written

material is determined by various personal, textual and contextual factors. One factor is

reader’s expectation for reading. The form and style of reading material, as well as the

purpose for reading it, impact how individuals read the material, how they interact with

or respond to it.

Structure of the Problem to Comprehension

Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient in the structure of the problemand

comprehensionis 0.80 with associated probability value of 0.00which is lesser than the

significance value of 0.01.The result showed that there was a significant relationship

analysis between the structure of the problemand comprehension. The result implied that

the extent of structure of the problemis related with the students’ comprehension.The

structure of the problem will give impact on how the students understand and interpret

the given problem. This means that well-structured problems can stimulate better

comprehension and better understanding. Thus, students who happen to meet such

problems can easily grasp idea from the problem posted and can think better ways to find

its answer.

This result confirmed the idea of Davis-Dorsey (1991) which states that

“rewording problems in ways that make semantic relation more obvious has been found

to aid comprehension and solution process and rewording word problems to facilitate

comprehension may be beneficial.”

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
41

As a whole, the identified intrinsic factors are significantly related to the

identified extrinsic factors except the anxiety. This implies that the environment related

factors and structure of the problem is not associated with students’ anxiety.This further

implies that anxiety will always be present with or without the environment related

disturbances. It also means that no matter how well-structured a problem is, anxiety will

exist. This highlights the need to have research onthe origins of math anxiety andon its

“signature” in brain activity,to examine both its emotionaland its cognitivecomponents.

Table 3.Relationship Analysis between Students’ Performance and the Extent of

Extrinsic and Intrinsic Factors

FACTORS STATISTICS
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COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
42

Performance Environment-related Spearman’s rho coeff. -0.11

Factor Probability value 0.29
Significance Level 0.05
Decision Fail to
Reject Ho
Conclusion Not
Significant
Spearman’s rho coeff. -0.11
Structure of the Problem Probability value 0.30
Significance Level 0.05
Decision Fail to
Reject Ho
Conclusion Not
Significant
Spearman’s rho coeff. 0.08
Anxiety Probability value 0.45
Significance Level 0.05
Decision Fail to
Reject Ho
Conclusion Not Significant
Spearman’s rho coeff. -0.05
Comprehension Probability value 0.64
Significance Level 0.05
Decision Fail to
Reject Ho
Conclusion Not Significant
Spearman’s rho coeff. -0.02
Interest in the Subject Probability value 0.84
Significance Level 0.05
Decision Fail to
Reject Ho
Conclusion Not Significant
Ho: There is no significant relationship between factors and students’ performance
Reject Ho if p-value is lesser than 0.05s

The table shows the relationship analysis between the students’ performance in

math word problem and the identified factors using Spearman’s’ Rho correlation

coefficient.

Students’ Performance to Environment-related Factors

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
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Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
43

The Spearman’s Rho correlation coefficienton students’ performance and

environment-related factor is -0.11 with associated probability value of 0.29 which is

greater than the significance value of 0.05. The result showed that there was no

significant relationship analysis between the environment-related factor and Math

problem solving difficulty. This implied that students’ performance in math is not

affected by the environment. No matter how conducive the environment is, it is not an

assurance that students will not experience difficulty in solving word problems.

This is in contrast with Karatas’ and Baki’s (2013) study which revealed that

“while the experimental group students’ achievements of problem solving increased,

control group students’ achievement on problem solving have not changed significantly.

This difference might be attributed to the learning environment applied to the

experimental group students. Polya’s (1945) problem solving phases and problem solving

strategies were discussed in that learning environment based on problem solving. In this

learning environment it is aimed to provide students with a heuristic problem solving

experience.”

Students’ Performance to Structure of the problem

The Spearman’s Rho correlation coefficienton students’ performance and the

structure of theproblem is -0.11 with associated probability value of 0.29 which is greater

than the significance value of 0.05. The result showed that there was no significant
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
44

relationship analysis between the structure of the problemand Math problem solving

difficulty. This implied that structure of the problem does not affect students,

performance in math. It means that whether the problems are correctly structured or not it

will not affect the performance of the students in solving problems.

This result is supported by Weist (1997) that “readability of test depends not only

on word and sentence length but also on its linguistic and conceptual organization. It also

depends on the assumptions a writer makes about the prior knowledge of the reader and

writer’s success in facilitating the reader’s access to text’s content and textual schemata.”

Researchers also found out there was no correlation between standard readability and

problem solving performance. Furthermore, evaluation of word problem should include

multiple factors, such a vocabulary, wordy and story concepts presented (Mestre, 1988),

reminds us that language proficiency mediates cognitive functioning. Wertheimer (1985)

also believed that building adequate problem representation, goal-directed planning,

inference and elaborating by using one's world knowledge, testing hypotheses, applying

heuristics and comprehension monitoring are seen as basic operational building blocks of

problem solving, as well as thinking skills

Students’ Performance to Anxiety

The Spearman’s Rho correlation coefficient on students’ performance and anxiety

is 0.08 with associated probability value of 0.45which is greater than the significance

value of 0.05. The result showed that there was no significant relationship analysis
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
45

between the anxiety and Math problem solving difficulty. It implied that students’

anxiety in the subject is not related with their performance. No matter how low the

anxiety of the students toward the subject it is not a guarantee that they will not

experience difficulty in solving word problems.

This is in contrast to the statement of OECD (2004) stating “Students’ anxiety in

mathematics, which is common among students in manycountries and is known to affect

performance.”This analysis showsthat students who areless anxious perform better

regardless of other characteristics.

Students’ Performance to Comprehension

The Spearman’s Rho correlation coefficienton students’ performance and

comprehension is -0.05 with associated probability value of 0.64 which is greater than the

significance value of 0.05. The result showed that there was no significant relationship

analysis between comprehensionand Math problem solving difficulty. It implied that

students’ performance is not related with comprehension. Students’ capacity to

understand and interpret the problem is not an assurance that they will not have any

difficulty in solving the given problem.

This result is in contrast with the statement of Aiken (1972) which states that

“reading ability has an important role on definition of problem solving.” Aiken found that

there is an important relationship between problem solving and the skill of

comprehension.

Students’ Performance to Interest

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
46

The Spearman’s Rho correlation coefficient on students’ performance and interest

is -0.02 with associated probability value of 0.84 which is greater than the significance

value of 0.05. The result showed that there was no significant relationship analysis

between interest and Math problem solving difficulty. It implied that students’ interest in

the subject is not related with their performance. Students’ interest in the subject will not

give an assurance that they will not experience difficulty in the subject.

The result above is in contrast with the study of Nicolaidou and Philippou

(2012) which revealed significant correlations between attitudes and performance.

Students having positive attitudes achieved better. Mato and De La Torre in a

study with secondary school students also showed that those with better academic

performance have more positive attitudes regarding math than those with poorer

academic performance. More recent studies point to a positive relation between

student attitudes towards mathematics and student academic achievement.These

results were confirmed in wider research, concerning math study attitudes among

the secondary school students of nine countries, developed by Sanchez et al.

CHAPTER V

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECCOMENDATION

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
47

This chapter summarizes the findings of the study, the conclusions drawn and the

recommendations about the factors affecting students’ difficulty in solving word

problems.

Summary of Findings

The results of the investigation based on the set objects were resolved which are

stated below. The following are:

The extent of environmental-related factors result was that there were 4 out of the

10 indicators with high extent as the descriptive interpretation and the remaining 6

indicators with moderate extent as the descriptive interpretation. As a whole,

environmental-related factors resulted to a descriptive interpretation of moderate

extent.This implied that the students were moderately affected with the environmental

factors to their performance in solving word problems math.

The extent of structure of the problem came up with the descriptive interpretation

of moderate extent. This means thatthe students were moderately bothered whether the

structure of the word problems in math affects their performance in solving it. The result

showed that 8 out of 10 indicators in the structure of the problem area have a descriptive

interpretation of moderate extent while the remaining 2 indicators are classified as high

extent.

The extent of anxiety result was that there were 2 out of the 10 indicators with

high extent as the descriptive interpretation and the remaining 8 indicators with moderate

extent as the descriptive interpretation. A descriptive interpretation of moderate extent

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
48

was derived which means students’ anxiety in math moderately affects their performance

in solving word problems.

There were 2 out of the 10 indicators with high extent as the descriptive

interpretation and the remaining 8 indicators with moderate extent as the descriptive

interpretation in the extent of comprehension factor. Generally, respondents had a

moderate extent as the descriptive interpretation. This showed that students’

comprehension skills moderately affect their performance in solving word problems in

math. The ability of the students to understand the problem somehow affects their

performance in math.

Lastly, the extent of the interest factor only had the 9 th indicator with high extent

as the descriptive interpretation and the remaining 9 indicators are with moderate extent

as the descriptive interpretation. As the result of the whole, the respondents had a mean

with the descriptive indicator of moderate extent. This implied that students are

moderately affected with their interest in the subject to their performance in solving word

problems.

The findings of the next problem showed a significant relationship that exists

between the extent of the extrinsic and intrinsic factors that affects students’ performance

in math word problem.

The extent of the association between the environmental-related factors to

student’s comprehension and interest in the subject and the extent of the association

between the structure of the problem factors to student’s comprehension and interest in

the subject was significant relationships. It meansthat comprehension and interest are
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
49

related to the kind of environment the learner had and the quality of the construction of

the problem to be solved. The conduciveness and comfort from the environment each

student enjoyed is meaningful in their comprehension and interest to give their

performance in the subject.Same is true to the quality of the problems that is being

constructed and to be solved by the students.

On the other hand, there was no significant relationship between the

environmental-related factors and structure of the problem to anxiety. Thus, anxiety

exists with or without the presence of theenvironmental-related factors and structure of

the problem factors. This means that comfortable and conducive environment is not an

assurance to overcome anxiety so does with the completeness and correctness in the

problem being constructed.

Lastly, there was no significant relationship that exists between the extents of the

different factors and to the students’ performance in math word problems. This simply

implied that learners’ performance is not affected with the identified extrinsic and

intrinsic factors. This further showed that students performing high or low in the math

word problem solving were not influenced with the kind of environment, construction of

the problem, anxiety, comprehension and interest they have.

Conclusion

From the preceding results of the study, the following conclusions were drawn:
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
50

The extent of the given factors- environment and structure of the problem

(Extrinsic) and anxiety, comprehension and interest (Intrinsic) that affect students’

mathematics word problem performance were all described as moderate extent.

There was significance in the association of the extrinsic and intrinsic factors

except on the anxiety factor of the students which really exist even in the absence of the

other factors.

There was no significant relationship that exists between the identified factors and

the students’ performance in math word problem solving.

Recommendations

In the light of the findings and conclusions, the researchers made the following

recommendations:

1. Schools should provide facilities that are not only limited to official

purposes so that the need for conducive learning will be addressed.

2. Teachers should provide clear and legible printed materials for the

students to help them comprehend easier the given problems.

3. Parents should encourage and support their children especially in their

needs in school.

4. The classroom atmosphere should be conducive and encouraging enough

to trigger the students’ positive response towards the subject.

5. Students are recommended to develop and practice the habit of reading

mind stimulating mediums of logical puzzles and brain teasers.

6. Students should have a positive mind-set towards Math as a subject.

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
51

7. For future researchers, it is recommended that similar studies should be

undertaken to make further progress in this study. Thus the following titles are suggested:

a. Problem Solving Strategies: Its Effect in Students Performance

b. English Proficiency: Its Relation to Math Proficiency

c. Factors Affecting Students’ Difficulty in Word Problem Solving

(With the Other Courses as Respondents)

d. Math Difficulty versus Math Performance of Students

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barbu, Otilia C. (2008). Effects of Linguistic Complexity and Math Difficulty on Word
Problem Solving by English Learners. Educational Psychology, The University of
Arizona, United States
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
52

Browder, D. M. et.al. (2008). A Meta-Analysis on Teaching Mathematics to Students

with Significant Cognitive Disabilities. Exceptional Children, 74(4), 407-432.

Cuenca-Sanchez, Yojanna (2008). A Literature Review: English Language Learners and

Comprehension. George Mason University.

Giovanni, Peter, et.al. (2010). Mathematics-related Beliefs of Filipino College

Students:Factors Affecting Mathematics and Problem SolvingPerformance.
International Conference on Mathematics Education Research 2010 (ICMER
2010), Philippines.
Hill et al. (2005).Math Achievement, Problem-Solving Abilities and Teacher
Questioning.Arizona State University.

Krawec, Jennifer L. (2010). Problem Representation and Mathematical Problem Solving

of Students of Varying Math Ability.University of Miami. Miami.

Lourdusamy, Lim Chap Sam A. et.al (2008).Factors Affecting Students’ Abilities to

SolveOperational and Word ProblemsinMathematics.University Science Malaysia.
Medrano, Juan (2012). The Effect of Cognitively Guided Instruction on Primary Students’

Nicholas Flegg, et.al. (2008). Synthesising the Literature Concerning Math Anxiety to
Inform a Project on Pre-service Teacher Retention Rates. University of Southern
Queensland, Australia.

Scheonfeld, Alan H. (2008). Learning to Think Mathematically: Problem Solving,

Metacognition and Sense-making in Mathematics. University of California.
Silva, Dante L. (2000).Factors Associated with Non-Performing Filipino Students in
Mathematics: A Vision of Student’s Cognitive and Behavior Management
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
53

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1A. LETTER FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE STUDY

February 27, 2014

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
54

CONSOLATION G. CREDITO
Math Instructress
College of Arts and Sciences
CPSU Main Campus

Ma’am:

Good day!

As part of our requirements for the subject Educational Research 2, we, the
researchers, would like to ask a favor from you, if you could spare a little time rate our
questionnaires, for the validity reasons, to be used in our study entitled: “Factors
Affecting Students’ Difficulty in Solving Math Word Problems.”

Attached herewith are the Criteria for Evaluation and the Questionnaire.

Your positive response would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much and God bless.

Respectfully Yours,

(Sgd.) ELVIE MARIE R. GASATAYA (Sgd.) JENNY ROSE O.LUBERAS

Researcher Researcher

(Sgd.)MERRY JOY A. LANAJA (Sgd.) CHARITY B. NAVARRO

Researcher Researcher

(Sgd.)MARC ALEXEI CAESAR B. BADAJOS

Research Adviser

APPENDIX 1B. LETTER FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE STUDY

February 27, 2014

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
55

MARIA LORENA B. CROBES

Math Instructress
College of Arts and Sciences
CPSU Main Campus

Ma’am:

Good day!

As part of our requirements for the subject Educational Research 2, we, the
researchers, would like to ask a favor from you, if you could spare a little time rate our
questionnaires, for the validity reasons, to be used in our study entitled: “Factors
Affecting Students’ Difficulty in Solving Math Word Problems.”

Attached herewith are the Criteria for Evaluation and the Questionnaire.

Your positive response would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much and God bless.

Respectfully Yours,

(Sgd.) ELVIE MARIE R. GASATAYA (Sgd.) JENNY ROSE O.LUBERAS

Researcher Researcher

(Sgd.) MERRY JOY A. LANAJA (Sgd.) CHARITY B. NAVARRO

Researcher Researcher

(Sgd.)MARC ALEXEI CAESAR B. BADAJOS

Research Adviser

APPENDIX 1C. LETTER FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE STUDY

February 27, 2014

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
56

MARY GRACE SOMBE

Statistics Part-time Instructress
College of Agriculture
CPSU Main Campus

Ma’am:

Good day!

As part of our requirements for the subject Educational Research 2, we, the
researchers, would like to ask a favor from you, if you could spare a little time rate our
questionnaires, for the validity reasons, to be used in our study entitled: “Factors
Affecting Students’ Difficulty in Solving Math Word Problems.”

Attached herewith are the Criteria for Evaluation and the Questionnaire.

Your positive response would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much and God bless.

Respectfully Yours,

(Sgd.) ELVIE MARIE R. GASATAYA (Sgd.) JENNY ROSE O.LUBERAS

Researcher Researcher

(Sgd.) MERRY JOY A. LANAJA (Sgd.) CHARITY B. NAVARRO

Researcher Researcher

(Sgd.)MARC ALEXEI CAESAR B. BADAJOS

Research Adviser

APPENDIX 1D. LETTER FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE STUDY

March 12, 2014

The Coordinator:
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
57

This is to certify that Elvie Marie R. Gasataya, Merry Joy A. Lanaja,

Jenny Rose O.Luberasand Charity B. Navarro is/are now ready for the conduct of
his/her/their thesis as per approved thesis outline hereto attached.

Please see to it that he/she has appropriate number of questionnaire for the
respondents.

This is for your information and appropriate action.

(Sgd.)JOEL A. PEREZ, Ph.D.

Chairman, Student Research Section

Note:

This note shall be attached to the approved outline. No student is allowed to

conduct his/her thesis without an approved thesis outline. The Panel of Research

Coordinator upon approval of the Research Chairman reserved the right to declare the

conduct of research void without prior approval to conduct the study.

APPENDIX 1E. LETTER FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE STUDY

March 12, 2014

DR. FREDDIE C. MANINGO

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
58

President
Central Philippines State University
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental

SIR:
May we have the honor to ask permission from your good office to allow us to
conduct our research study entitled “Factors Affecting Students’ Difficulty in Solving
Math Word Problems” as our partial fulfillment of the requirements for the subject
Prof. Ed. 13-Research 2. Furthermore, we request for your approval that we will be
allowed to conduct this study to the students of the School of Teacher Education of
Central Philippines State University as the subject of our study.

It is our sincere and humble belief that this study will contribute a pool of
knowledge in the school’s pursuit for quality and excellence in education.

Your favorable response to this request will be highly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

Very truly yours,

(Sgd.) ELVIE MARIE R. GASATAYA (Sgd.) JENNY ROSE O.LUBERAS

Researcher Researcher

(Sgd.) MERRY JOY A. LANAJA (Sgd.) CHARITY B. NAVARRO

Researcher Researcher

Noted:

(Sgd.)MARC ALEXEI CAESAR B. BADAJOS (Sgd.) GRENNY I. JUNGCO

Adviser Research Coordinator

(Sgd.)ELEANOR F. CASTRO, Ph. D.

Dean, College of Teacher Education

Recommending approval:

(Sgd.)JOEL A. PEREZ, Ph. D.

Vice president for Academic affairs
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
59

Approved:

(Sgd.)FREDDIE C. MANINGO Ph.D.

President

APPENDIX 1F. LETTER FOR THE CONDUCT OF THE STUDY

March 12, 2014

ELEANOR F. CASTRO, Ph.D.

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
60

Dean, School of Teacher Education

Central Philippines State University
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental

Ma’am:

May we have the honor to ask permission from your good office to allow us to
conduct our research study entitled “Factors Affecting Students’ Difficulty in Solving
Math Word Problems” as our partial fulfillment of the requirements for the subject
Prof. Ed. 13-Research 2. Furthermore, we request for your approval that we will be
allowed to conduct at the School of Teacher Education of the Central Philippines State
University as the subject of our study.

It is our sincere and humble belief that this study will contribute a pool of
knowledge in the school’s pursuit for quality and excellence in education.

Your favorable response to this request will be highly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

Very truly yours,

(Sgd.) ELVIE MARIE R. GASATAYA (Sgd.) JENNY ROSE O.LUBERAS

Researcher Researcher

(Sgd.)MERRY JOY A. LANAJA (Sgd.) CHARITY B. NAVARRO

Researcher Researcher

Noted:

(Sgd.)MARC ALEXEI CAESAR B. BADAJOS

Adviser

Approved:

(Sgd.)ELEANOR F. CASTRO, Ph. D.

Dean, School of Teacher Education
APPENDIX 2. RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE

Research Study Entitled:

“Factors Affecting Students’ Difficulty in Solving Math Word Problems”
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
61

Name of Student (Optional): ___________________________________

Course, Year and Section: _____________________________________

Part I. Survey Questionnaire

Instruction: Please check () the answer that best fits to your personal choice. Below is

the rating scale for your answers.

5 – Strongly Agree 4 – Agree 3 – Moderately Disagree

2 – Disagree 1 – Strongly Disagree
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors 5 4 3 2 1
1. I love math.
2. My parents encourage me to study and go to school always.
3. I worry too much about passing the test given.
4. I can easily understand the word problems presented.
5. Solving math problems makes me sick.
6. The time allotted in every class meetings is enough for me to
grasp the concepts.
7. The problem can be visualized and valid.
8. I am afraid to read math word problems because I might not
understand it.
9. Every time I encounter a math word problem, I am eager to solve
it.
10. I can identify what strategy I am going to use to derive the
answer of the problem I read.
11. The problem is clear and concise.
12. I have enough personal reference materials (books, magazines,
etc.) for me to utilize.
13. My focus is constant to the problem solving every time I solve.
14. Problems are stated clearly with the use of correct punctuations
15. I can easily identify grammatically wrong word problems.
16. I don’t want to leave a problem I encountered unanswered.
17. I can picture out what I am reading.
18. I am not worried financially on my studies.
19. Low grades/scores in Math subject disappoints me to learn more.
20. I love to discuss the strategies and answers in problem solving to
my classmates.
21. Math word problem posted can be translated into mathematical
sentence
22. People think I am not good in math, therefore I am not.
23. I can identify the appropriate operations to be utilized for me to
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
62

get the answer of the problem.

24. I can easily determine the meaning of unfamiliar words through
context clues.
25. Numbers are monsters for me.
26. The word problems do not contain many distractors.
27. My teachers’ teaching strategy is efficient and effective for us to
learn fully what he/she is teaching.
28. I did not get bored when it comes to numbers.
29. I can retain the things I have read for a long period of time.
30. My school has complete facilities which can stimulate learning.
31. I can spend many hours just to finish solving certain math word
problems.
32. I’ve got a terrible experience in math and I don’t want let it
happen again.
33. The problem can be understood easily.
34. I read and re-read the problem to fully understand it.
35. The problem does not include unnecessary data.
36. My classmates encourage me to join group discussions.
37. I am hesitant to ask clarifications to my teacher.
38. I love collecting math trivia’s.
39. I’ve got access to the new technology for a better learning.
40. I can easily identify the distractors in the problem that are not
actually necessary to be taken into consideration.
41. I am not confident with my answers on the problems given.
42. I believe Math is not a problem, it is itself the solution.
43. I can connect the concepts in math whenever I read math word
problems.
44. I am fond of solving math word problems.
45. The problems are posted clearly.
46. I live in a peaceful and silent place.
47. I don’t want to discuss my answers with others for fear of giving
the wrong one.
48. I have good foundation in basic math.
49. Instructions are clearly defined.
50. Printed materials that are being provided are clear.

Part II. Problem Solving Questionnaire

Instructions: Read the following problems carefully and encircle the letter of your
choice.
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
63

1. Set A is a one digit number multiple of 3, and set B is a factor of 12. What are the
elements of AUB?
a. AUB ={3,6,9} c. AUB ={3, 6, 12}
b. AUB ={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9} d. AUB ={1,2,3,4,6,9,12}
2. In a class of 30 boys, 14 like Pepsi and 19 like Coke. If 5 like both, then how many
do not like any?
a. 1 b. 5 c. 3 d. 2
3. Give the sum of the prime number between 40 and 70.
a. 371 b. 428 ` c. 400 d. 480
4. Give the element of the whole number less than 10.
a. 0, 1, 2, … c. 0, 1, 2, …, 9
b. …, -1, 0, 1, …, 9 d. -1, 0, 1
5. Angels A, B and C are angle of a triangle, if angle B is twice as large as angle A, and
angle C is three times as large as angle B. Find the measures of angle C.
a. 20° b. 40° ` c. 120° d. 150°
6. Trisha bought half a kilo of meat at P 156.50/kg and 1.5 kg of fish at P 125/kg. How
much change did she get from her P 500?
a. P 281.50 c. P 220.00
b. P 250.00 d. P 218.50
7. If x=0.8, find the smallest number in the set; (x+0.8, x-0.8, x/0.8, x + x).
x
a. x + 0.8 c.
0.8
b. x - 0.8 d. x + x
8. The volume of a right cylinder is given by the formula V=‫ח‬r2h where r is the radius
of a circular base and h is the height of the cylinder. If the volume of a right cylinder
is 36‫ח‬cm3 and the height is 4 cm, find the radius.
a. 9 cm c. 4 cm
b. 3 cm d. 5 cm
9. Find the angle of two sides of the parallelogram if the diagonal is 6.2 cm, a=7.4 cm
and b=9.2 cm.
a. 40° b. 41° ` c. 42° d. 43°
10. He A rectangle has length 4 m greater than its width. If the area is 77 square meters,
then what are the dimensions of the rectangle?
a. 6 by 10 m c. 7 by 10 m
b. 5 by 11 m d. 7by 11 m
11. If a cube with edge length π has the same volume as a cylinder with a height of π,
then the radius of the base of the cylinder is.
1
a. Π c.
√π
b. √ π d. None of the above
12. If the height of a cylinder is doubled, by what number must the radius of the base be
multiplied so that the resulting cylinder has the same volume as the original cylinder?
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
64

1
a. 4 c.
2
b. 2 d. None of the above
13. The height of a solid cone is 12 inches, and the area of a circular cone is 64π in2.
What is the area, in square inches, of the base of the cone formed when a plane
parallel to the base cuts through the original cone 9 inches above the vertex of the
cone?
a. 9π c. 25π
b. 16π d. None of the above
14. The perimeter of a rectangle is 44 and with the width of (x-3). Solve x if the length is
2x+1.
a. 2 b. 4 ` c. 7 d. 5
15. Cube has 6 surface areas, what is the volume of the cube whose surface area is 96?
a. 16 b. 32 ` c. 64 d. 125
16. If the degree measures of the angles of quadrilateral are 4x, 7x, 9x and 10x: then what
is the sum of the measures of the smallest angle and the largest angle?
a. 140 b. 150 ` c. 168 d. 170
17. What value of A will make the multiplication A/3 x 4/9 = 1 true?
a. ¾ c. ½
b. 10/3 d. 6/7
18. In a bag of chips, 4/7 is red, 1/3 is blue, and the rest are yellow. What fractions of the
chips are yellow?
a. 5/21 b. 12/25 ` c. 2/12 d. 2/21
19. If 10kg of mango cost P 750, find the cost of 4kg of mangoes?
a. P 250.00 b. P 150.00 ` c. P 200.00 d. P 300.00
20. At a class excursion there are 36 students who join the affair this was 1/6 of the class.
How many were there in the class?
a. 216 b. 220 ` c. 225 d. 230
21. William Martines, a sales man, is employed on a salary plus commission basis. His
total earning last month amounted P 8,500.00 of which P 6,700.00 represented his
total basic monthly salary. If his total sales for the month amounted to P 10,000.00,
what percent commission did he receive?
a. 19% b. 20% c. 16% d. 18%
22. Joemarie, an agent for Miss Leslie, charges 8% for his services. If he was able to
collect P 3,785.00 for a certain week, how much did he receive for his services?
a. P 302.80 c. P 276.89
b. P 403.15 d. P 300.00
23. How much interest will be charged on a loan of P 8,500.00 for 180 days at an interest
rate of 4%?
a. P 150.00 c. P 190.00
b. P 170.00 d. P 180.00
24. If joy has 750 marbles, she lost one-third of it and she bought one half of what is left.
How many marbles does she have now?
a. 250 b. 750 c. 500 d. 450
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
65

25. Jessica is measuring two line segments. The first line segment is {30 cm long}. The
second line segment is {500 mm long}. How long are the two line segments together?
(Answer in cm).
a. 50 cm c. 20 cm
b. 30 cm d. 80 cm
26. Steven wakes up for school at {6:30} in the morning. If school starts at {8:00} am,
how long does he have from the time he wakes up until school starts?
a. 1 hour c. 1 hour and 45 minutes
b. 30 minutes d. 1 hour and 30 minutes
27. It takes 20 days for a painter to paint 4 portraits. How long will it take the same
painter to finish 20 portraits at a similar rate?
a. 115 b. 100 c. 110 d. 105
28. The ratio of two numbers is 3:5. The sum of the numbers is 32. What is the bigger
number?
a. 20 b. 12 c. 16 d. 10
29. One number is 9 times as large as another. If 16 be subtracted from the larger, the
result is 32 more than the smaller. What is the smaller number?
a. 7 b. 6 c. 9 d. 5
30. Charity bought some fruits 1/5 of the fruits are avocados, 1/3 are strawberry and 2/7
of the reminder are mangoes. If there are 18 mangoes, find the total number of fruits?
a. 125 c. 105
b. 135 d. 145

APPENDIX 3. VALIDITY AND RESULT

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
66

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT EVALUATION FORM

Legend: 4 – Excellent 2 – Good

3 – Very Good 1 – Needs Improvement

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION J1 J2 J3

1. The questionnaire is short enough such that the respondents
will not reject it because it takes much of his/her precious 2 3 3
time.
2. The questionnaire has face appeal that the respondents will 3 3 3
be included to accomplish fully.
3. The questionnaire obtains such some depths to the responses 3 4 4
and avoids superficial answer or information.
4. The items in their alternatives responses not too suggestive 3 4 4
or too stimulating.
5. The questionnaire can elicit the responses which definite but 3 4 3
not mechanically forced.
6. The items were started in such a way that the responses will 4 4 3
not be embarrassing to the person concerned.
7. Items are framed in such manner as to ally suspicion on the 3 3 4
part of the respondent concerning hidden purposes in the
questionnaire.
8. The questionnaire is not so narrow, not restrictive or limited 3 3 3
in its score or philosophy.
9. The responses to the question when taken as a whole could 3 3 3
answer the purposes for which the questionnaire is designed.
AVERAGE 3 3.4 3.3
GENERAL AVERAGE 3.2

Please indicate your signature. Thank you very much.

(Sgd.)CONSOLATION G. CREDITO(Sgd.) MARIA LORENA B. CROBES
Juror Juror

(Sgd.)MARY GRACE SOMBE

Juror

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
67

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Name : Elvie Marie RamasGasataya

N-name : Trixia

Address : Brgy. Salong, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental

Date of Birth : August 2, 1995

Age : 19 years old

Civil Status : Single

Gender : Female

Nationality : Filipino

Religion : Roman Catholic

Contact Number : 09473379915

Father : Elvis Cordova Gasataya

Mother : Ma. Luisa RamasGasataya

Siblings : Elvis Jr, Therese Mariel, Gwenfrew Mae, June ElmarMikhael,

Zers Nazareth Marvi, Eloisa Leigh

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Elementary : Kabankalan Catholic College – Elementary Department

Awards Received : None

Secondary : Salong National High School – Main

Awards Received : Fifth Honorable Mention; NCAE Topnotcher (school-based);

Leadership Awardee; Best in Math; Computer Literacy Awardee

Tertiary : Central Philippines State University

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
68

Course : Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in Mathematics

Awards Received : Academic Awardee (1st year – 3rd year); Leadership Awardee;

Best in Journalism Awardee

SEMINARS/TRAININGS/CONFERENCES ATTENDED

 Introduction of K-12 Seminar – August 2012

 Akbayan Youth Basic Orientation Seminar – November 2012

 Ecological Solid Waste Management (RA 9003) Seminar – March 2013

 Spiritual Youth Encounter Seminar – October 2013

 Advancing in K-12 and Outcome Based Education Seminar – January 2014

 Red Cross Youth Basic Leadership Training – February 2014

 Youth Summit on Young People’s Agenda – March 2014

 iCare 1st Eco Camp – May 2014

 Student Council Alliance of the Philippines’ 9th National Congress – June 2014

 Basic Journalism Writeshop – July 2014

 A Poetry Writeshop – September 2014

 SPED Seminar Phase 2 – October 2014

ORGANIZATIONAL AFFILIATION
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
69

NAME POSITION YEAR

 Education Society Member 2011- 2015

Muse 2013-2014

 CPSU Catholic Youth Organization Member 2011-2012

Secretary 2013-2014

P.I.O. 2014-2015

 Future Leaders of the Philippines Member 2011-2015

 AngBagongMagsasaka Opinion Editor 2013-2014

Managing Editor 2014-2015

 Akbayan Youth Kabankalan Member 2012-present

Territorial Assembly

 Student Council Alliance of the Member 2014-2016

Philippines

 iCare Organization Secretary for 2012-2014

Engineering Component

 Red Cross Youth – CPSU Unit Member 2014-2015

 Supreme Student Government Member 2011-2014

Senator 2014-2015

PERSONAL INFORMATION
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
70

Name : Merry Joy AmparadoLanaja

N-name : MJ/ Joy

Address : Brgy. Panciao, Manjuyod, Negros Oriental

Date of Birth : November 21, 1994

Age : 19 years old

Civil Status : Single

Gender : Female

Nationality : Filipino

Religion : Roman Catholic

Contact Number : 09278954708

Father : Jupiter AcabLanaja

Mother : MaridethAmparadoLanaja

Siblings : Joemarie& Princess Quit

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Elementary : Bagtic Elementary School

Awards Received : Class Valedictorian; Girl Scout of the Year, Leadership

Secondary : Bagtic National High School

Awards Received : Class Valedictorian; Best in Math, Science, Filipino & MAPEH,

NCAE Tech-Voc. Excellence and Academic Excellence, VP Binay

Leadership Award

Tertiary : Central Philippines State University

Course : Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in Mathematics

 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
71

Awards Received : Academic Awardee (1st year-3rd year), Leadership Awardee

SEMINARS/TRAININGS/CONFERENCES ATTENDED

 Introduction of K-12 Seminar – August 2012

 Student Leaders Seminar Workshop – August 2012

 ABSTRACT Leadership Enhancement – November 2012

 PACSA Seminar Workshop – November 2012

 Ecological Solid Waste Management (RA 9003) Seminar – March 2013

 Student Leaders Resilience Seminar Workshop – August 2013

 Akbayan Youth Basic Orientation Seminar – August 2013

 BUB Region 6 NAPC-Youth Sector - September 2013

 Ambassador for Youth Empowerment Training – September 2013

 Akbayan Youth 2nd National Congress – October 2013

 Ecological Solid Waste Management (RA 9003) Seminar – March 2013

 K12 and Outcome Based Education Seminar – January 2014

 Youth Summit on Young People’s Agenda – March 2014

 SPED Seminar Phase 2 – October 2014

ORGANIZATIONAL AFFILIATION
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
72

NAME POSITION YEAR

 Supreme Student Government Senator 2012-2013

President 2013-2014

 I care Organization VP Enforcement 2013-2014

Component

 Future Leaders of the Philippines Member 2011-2015

 AngBagongMagsasaka CPSU Contributor 2013-2014

Student Publication Opinion Editor 2014-2015

 Akbayan Youth Kabankalan Vice-Chairwoman 2012-present

Territorial Assembly

 National Anti-Poverty Commission Region 6 – 2013-present

Youth & Student Sector Representative

 Ambassador for Youth Visayas Youth 2013-present

Empowerment Representative

 Education Society Member 2011-2015

 Mabinay Youth Ambassadors’ Leader/ Organizer 2014-present

Organization

 Graduating Class President 2015

PERSONAL INFORMATION
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
73

Name : Jenny Rose OrquiolaLuberas

N-name : Jen/ Zhen

Address : Brgy. Caradio-an, Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental

Date of Birth : July 22, 1991

Age : 23 years old

Civil Status : Single

Gender : Female

Nationality : Filipino

Religion : Roman Catholic

Contact Number : 09473362916

Father : George TandaLuberas

Mother : Nancy OrquiolaLuberas (Deceased)

Siblings : Geornie, Joevon, Hyacinth, Mary Kristine, Mae Kathrine, Japhet

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Elementary : Magsaha Elementary School

Awards Received : Class Valedictorian; Girl Scout of the Year, Leadership Awardee

Secondary : The Sisters of Mary School- Girls Town

Awards Received : Academic Awardee- 2nd honors

Tertiary : Central Philippines State University

Course : Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in Mathematics

Awards Received : Leadership Awardee

SEMINARS/TRAININGS/CONFERENCES ATTENDED
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
74

 Introduction of K-12 Seminar – August 2012

 Red Cross LDP Seminar - Dec. 2012

 Akbayan Youth Basic Orientation Seminar – August 2013

 Ecological Solid Waste Management (RA 9003) Seminar – March 2013

 Spiritual Youth Encounter Seminar – October 2013

 Advancing in K-12 and Outcome Based Education Seminar – January 2014

 Red Cross Youth Basic Leadership Training – February 2014

 Youth Summit on Young People’s Agenda – March 2014

 iCare 1st Eco Camp – May 2014

 Basic Journalism Writeshop – July 2014

 A Poetry Writeshop – September 2014

 SPED Seminar Phase 2 – October 2014

ORGANIZATIONAL AFFILIATION
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
75

NAME POSITION YEAR

 Supreme Student Government Legislative Member 2012-2013

General Secretary 2013-2014

 I care Organization General Secretary 2013-2014

 Future Leaders of the Member 2011-2015

Philippines

 Akbayan Youth Kabankalan Member 2012-present

Territorial Assembly

 CPSU Catholic Youth Secretary 2012-2013

Organization President 2013-2014

Business Manager 2014-2015

 Education Society Member 2011-2015

 AngBagongMagsasaka CPSU

Student Publication

 Red Cross CPSU Unit Member 2012-present

PERSONAL INFORMATION
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
76

Name : Charity Bokingkito Navarro

N-name : Cha2x

Address : Brgy. 4, Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental

Date of Birth : September 16, 1994

Age : 20 years old

Civil Status : Single

Gender : Female

Nationality : Filipino

Religion : Grace Gospel

Contact Number : 09482135089

Father : WenifredoCatinoy Navarro

Mother : Elsie Bokingkito Navarro

Siblings : Erwin, Fresie, Hadaza

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Elementary : ERAMS – West

Awards Received : Meritorious Award

Secondary : Kabankalan NHS (formerly Binicuil NHS – Poblacion Extension)

Awards Received : Meritorious Award

Tertiary : Central Philippines State University

Course : Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in Mathematics

Awards Received : Academic Awardee (1styear-2ndyear)

SEMINARS/TRAININGS/CONFERENCES ATTENDED
 CENTRAL PHILIPPINES STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
77

 Introduction of K-12 Seminar – August 2012

 Advancing in K-12 and Outcome Based Education Seminar – January 2014

 SPED Seminar Phase 2 – October 2014

ORGANIZATIONAL AFFILIATION

NAME POSITION YEAR

 Education Society Member 2011 – 2015

 Supreme Student Member 2011 – 2015

Government

 Future Leaders of the Member 2011 – 2015

Philippines

 I Care Organization Member 2013 – 2014