Abstract:
The study investigated the influence of mathematical ability and English language proficiency on
physics student achievement in Adamawa. The frequent mass failure in physics subjects among
secondary school students necessitates more research on physics achievement. The problem of language of
instruction is identified as one of the problems in physics study. Three research questions and three
hypotheses guided this study. The target population of the study consisted of all the SSII science
students of public senior secondary schools located in Adamawa state, comprising 5 Education zone
which approximately constitute 19800 students. Using the Taro Yamani sampling method, a total of 400
Students (80 students from each educational zone) across the state formed the sample of this study. An
expo-facto design that involved a nonequivalent group was used. Three reliable instruments were used
for data collection. The mathematical ability test (MAT), was adopted from Otis-Lennon. English
Language Proficiency Test (ELPT), was adapted from Yeditepe University Istanbul, and Physics
Achievement Test (PAT) was drawn from West African Examination Council (WAEC) past objective
questions of years from 2006 to 2016. The reliability coefficient of 0.80, 0.89, and 0.85 were obtained
for PAT, MAT, and ELPT respectively Cronbach Alpha. Mean and standard deviation was used to
answer the research questions while ANOVA was used to test the hypotheses at a 0.05 alpha level. The
findings of the study showed that: there is a significant influence on mathematical ability [F (1, 198) =
5. 272, p<0.05]. There is a significant influence of English language proficiency on physics achievement
[F (1, 198) = 6.548, p<0.05]. there is no significant influence on combined mathematical ability and
English language proficiency [F (1, 398) = 0.799, p>0.05]. It was concluded that there is a significant
influence of the individual independent variables on physics achievement, that is mathematical ability
and English language proficiency. While there is no significant influence of the combined mathematical
ability and English language proficiency on physics achievement. |
