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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Mathematics is a key subject necessary to the promotion

of economic development, particularly in developing

countries. Achievement in Mathematics is a fundamental

indicator of the performance of a school system of any

country (Reddy, 2005).

Mathematics is a fundamental science that is needed for

the understanding of most fields in the sciences and

technological education. Therefore, mathematics is a

necessary tool needed to be able to function effectively in

the present technology age (Aremu, 1998).

Moreover, it is a key subject for countries with

emerging economies, since Mathematics enables learners to

enroll for careers in the fields of engineering, the natural

sciences, accountancy, and many others crucial to support

economic development (Makgato & Mji, 2006).

Research studies on learning styles have shown that

learning can be enhanced through consideration of personal

characteristics in design and delivery of the instruction

(Dziuban, Moskal, & Hartman, 2004; Fearing & Riley, 2005).

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The researchers find it interesting to determine the

preferred learning strategy of the Junior High School

student in solving answering Mathematics module.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine the learners’ learning

strategy in Mathematics. Specifically, this study seeks to

answer the following:

1. What is the learners’ learning strategy in

Mathematics?

2. What is the learners’ learning strategy in

Mathematics when classified as to sex and year level?

3. Is there a significant difference in the learners’

learning strategy in Mathematics when classified as to sex

and year level?

Hypothesis

Based on the aforementioned problems, the null

hypothesis set at 0.05 alpha level of significance is

advance:

1. There is no significant difference in the learners’

learning strategy in Mathematics when classified as to sex

and year level.

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Theoretical Framework

This study is anchor on the Theory of Self-

activity conceptualized by John Dewey which states that one

learn by experiencing or rejecting. An individual’s learning

may be imprinted on his mind if he tries to do or perform

things that he must learn. This theory recognizes the

principle of individual differences. This concept calls for

adjusting the activities and method of assessing learning to

the abilities, interests and needs of the learners (Llasus,

2013). The learners learn in different ways and different

paces.

This study is also anchor on the concept of man and his

behavior as a dynamic organism (Zulueta, 2012) that human

mind is inherently endowed with natural capacities, e.g. the

faculties of reasoning, remembering, and imagining which

grow with exercise and man is an energy of system – a system

of dynamic forces attempting to maintain equilibrium in

response to other energy system in the physical world

(Zulueta, 2012). Likewise, this study was anchored on the

theory of Albert Bandura (in Ligasan, 2013). Bandura

believed that people can learn through observation and that

intellectual mental states are essential part of this

process.
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Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework of the study is presented in

figure 1.

The framework presents the interplay of the variables

of the study. The independent variables are the sex and year

level while the dependent variable is the learners’ learning

strategy in Mathematics

Independent Variables Dependent Variable

Personal
Attributes: Learners’
Learning Strategy
Sex in Mathematics
Year level

Figure 1. Schematic Diagram of the Study

Significance of the Study

The result of the study will be beneficial to the

following:

Administration. The result of this study will give an

idea to the administration on the preferred learning

strategies in solving answering Mathematics module of the

students. Thus, they can appropriate funds for the purchase

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of instructional materials to be used by mathematics

teachers.

Faculty. The findings of this study will be an input to

the faculty and can re-assess the appropriateness of the

instructional strategies they use in teaching the

Mathematics subject.

Students. The findings of the study will help the

students know their preferred learning strategy, in order

for them to answer their module as ready and easy as they

can. Through this, the student may further improve their

learning strategy in Mathematics.

Parents. This finding will serve as an eye opener to

them to encourage their children to study harder in order to

improve strategy of solving in their Mathematics

performance.

Future Researchers. The result of this study will serve

as a reference and can open other avenues for research.

Scope and Limitation

This descriptive-survey study will be limited in

finding out the learners’ learning strategy in Mathematics

in the District of San Enrique. The respondents of the study

are the Junior High School students who were conveniently

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available in the chosen area. The learners’ learning

strategy in mathematics will be determine by the 5-point

Likert scale questionnaire. There are five (5) strategies in

mathematics and every strategies composed of ten (10)

statements. The level of significance is set at 0.05 alpha

level. The study will be conducted on March, 2021.

Definition of Terms

For better understanding of the study and in order to

provide a frame of reference for the readers, the following

terms use in the study will be define conceptually and

operationally:

Learning Strategy. Refer to a range of competing and

contested theories that aim to account for differences in

individuals learning.

In this study, learning strategy is referred to the

learners’ used in dealing problems in mathematics during

this pandemic.

Sex. The sum of the structural, functional, and

behavioural characteristics of organism that are involve in

reproduction marked by the union of gametes and that

distinguish males and females.

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In this study, sex refers to the independent variable of

the study.

Year Level. Educational stages are subdivisions of

formal learning, typically covering early childhood

education, primary education, secondary education and

tertiary education.

In this study, year level refers to the independent

variable of the study and which the learner’ classified in

grade 7, grade 8, grade 9 and grade 10.

San Enrique, Iloilo. Is one of the 3rd class town in the

province of Iloilo.

In this study, San Enrique, Iloilo refers to where the

study conducted.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

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This chapter deals with the literature and studies

relevant to the present research.

This chapter aims to provide strong foundation to this

study which contains gathered research works of different

literature and references by the researchers. It covers the

review of relevant literatures which is explained

accordingly. These are presented to determine the connection

of various findings and theories in relation to the

independent and dependent variables.

Learning Strategies in the Classroom

Current cognitive theories of learning point to the

important role students' thought processes play in

learning.  Students need to be mentally active processors of

information if learning is to occur.  In these formulations,

several criteria must be met if learning is to occur. 

First, students must attend to information to be learned. 

Second, students must create an understanding of the

material by creating or identifying relationships amongst

the to-be-learned ideas.  Third, students need to relate new

ideas to prior knowledge.  Fourth, students need to

understand that learning requires mental effort - good

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learners are strategic and poor learners are not, and that

strategy use is the means by which learning occurs.

 When students attend to information, try to see how new

ideas relate to each other, or try to relate new information

to prior knowledge they are engaged in strategy use.  A

strategy is a mental event carried out by the learner to

achieve some desired goal (such as remembering some fact). 

For example, if the teacher announces there will be a test

next Thursday, the student may repeat that fact over and

over (rehearsal) until the student is confident he/she

remembers it.

 While much research has been conducted on problem-solving

and learning strategies, many of those strategies are

domain-specific and not generalizable across the

curriculum.  For example, considerable research has been

devoted to remedial reading strategies (such as

backtracking, vocabulary recognition, and inference) and

mathematics problem-solving.  In most cases, these

strategies have been demonstrated to enhance performance of

students requiring remedial assistance (such as low ability

or LID students) and have been used with students across a

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wide age range, from as young as eight years (grade three)

to university undergraduates.

Learning Strategies

The term learning strategy was originally a military

term that referred to procedures for implementing the plan

of a large-scale military operation. The more specific steps

in implementation of the plan were called tactics. It has

since been applied to non-adversarial situations where it

has come to refer to “the implementation of a set of

procedures (tactics) for accomplishing something” (Schmeck,

1988:5). The logical consequence of this definition is that

strategies are a sequence of procedures for accomplishing

learning.

Researchers have referred to learning strategies in a

variety of ways: “thinking skills” (Swing,Stoiber,&

Peterson,1988); “self-regulated behaviour” (Pressley,

Borkowski,& Schneider,1987); cognitive and metacognitive

skills (Collins, Brown,& Newman,1989); “learning skills

(Levin,1986); “learning tactics” (Derry,1990b); “cognitive

processes” (Peterson et al., 1984); “met strategies”

Dansereau (1985); and “mediating processes” (Marland,

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Patching, Putt,1992a). With such an array of terms it is not

surprising that a precise definition of learning strategies

is lacking. ”The concept of learning strategies appears to

be fuzzy, not unlike metacognition” (McKeachie, Pintrich,&

Lin 1985:153). Brown, Bransford,Ferrara, and Campione

(1983:85) comment “some systematic activities that learners

use are referred to as strategies, although what is

strategic and what is not has not been made particularly

clear in the literature”.

Some researchers limit the concept of learning

strategies to “mental processing techniques” (Derry &

Murphy, 1986). However, it is clear that most researchers

now include learning behaviours that are used to control and

regulate the learning process (Galloway & Labarca,1990).

Weinstein and Mayer (1986) provide a more broad definition

of learning strategies to include cognitions or behaviours

that the learner engages in during learning,that are

intended to influence the encoding process, and facilitate

acquisition and retrieval of new knowledge.

Learning strategies can be categorized according to

their specific goal: Cognitive strategies, such as

elaboration or rehearsal, are related to individual learning

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tasks, operating directly on incoming information,

manipulating it in ways to make cognitive progress (O’Malley

& Chamot, 1990). Metacognitive strategies, such as planning

and evaluation, are invoked to control and monitor the

learning process. Affective strategies, such as self-talk

are employed to enhance one’s concentratin. Resource

management strategies (Pokay & Blumenfeld,1990), such as

help seeking or modifying the task, are employed to operate

on the learning environment so as to indirectly enhance

learning performance.

Detailed taxonomies of learning strategies in domain of

reading (Lorch, Lorch & Klusewitz,1993) and foreign language

learning (White,1993) have been proposed, as well as more

general learning strategies inventories (Weinstein &

Mayer,1986: Zimmerman & Martnez- Pons, 1986), but no

specific taxonomies of learning strategies for mathematics

learning are widely available.

Pressley’s (1986: 140) description of strategy as a

“broad term and, in fact, almost synonymous with the term

‘procedural knowledge’ “in which “mathematical algorithms

and problem-solving routines qualify as strategies” alludes

to a need to clarify the distinction between learning and

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problem-solving strategies in mathematics education.

Problem-solving strategies such as reflection, monitoring

understanding, and evaluating processes affect problem-

solving performances (Schoenfeld,1985: Garofalo &

Lester,1985). Thus the use of these strategies affects the

learning performance and are pertinent to this study. But,

whether a student employs a specific a specific algorithmic

strategy, such as using the quadratic formula, or

factorizing when solving a quadratic problem, will not be a

focus in this study.

Interactive Model of Learning Mathematics

To situate the model in the cognitive psychology

research over the last decade one needs to review the

changing beliefs about learning in general, and the

mathematics learning in particular. Currently many

educational theorists conceive of learners as ‘architects

building their own knowledge structures’ (Wang et al.,

1993). The view of the learner has changed from that of a

recipient of knowledge to that of a constructor if knowledge

with metacognitive skills for controlling his or her

cognitive processes (Candy, 1989; Confrey,1990;

Fennema,1989).
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Three important assumptions (Biggs,1989;

Resnick,1989b;Shuell,1986) related to this view have a

direct impact on the role of learning strategies and the

development of our model of learning. Firstly, learning is a

process of knowledge construction , not of knowledge

recording or absorption. Secondly, learning is knowledge-

dependent; people use current knowledge to construct new

knowledge. Thirdly, the learner is aware pf the process of

cognition and can regulate them; this self-awareness, or

metacognition (Flavell,1976) significantly influences the

course of learning.

Metacognition

The term metacognition was introduced by two

development psychologists, John Flavell and Ann Brown, in

the mid 1970s, to describe the understanding individuals

have their thinking and learning activities. Metacognition,

which literally means ‘transcending knowledge’, was defined

by Flavell (1976: 232) as: knowledge concerning one’s own

cognitive processes and products or anything related to

them, e.g., the learning-relevant properties of information

or data. Metacogntion refers, among other things, to the

active monitoring and consequent regulation objects on which

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they bear, usually in the service of some concrete goal or

objective.

In later literature Flavell (1987:21) suggested the

concept of metacognition be “broadened to include anything

psychological, raher than just anthing cognitive. Any kind

of monitoring might also be considered a form of

metacognition”. This interpretation of metacognition was

expanded into more functional categories:

1. The regulation and control of cognition;

2. Knowledge and beliefs about cognition;

3. and ‘metacognitive experiences and their effects on

performance

Classification Learning Strategies

Cognitive Strategies

Cognitive strategies are necessary to encode new

concepts and make them understandable. They relate to

individual learning task by operating directly on incoming

information and manipulating it in ways to enhance learning

(O’Malley & Chamot,1990).Galloway and Labarca’s (1990:145)

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definition of cognitive strategies encapsulates the

characteristics of learning strategies discussed. Cognitive

strategies are characterized by:

1. The active mental engagement of the learner I the

purposeful establishment of new functional knowledge

through contextualized practice and

2. The information of stable and meaningful connections

between prior knowledge and new information.

Weinstein and Mayer (1986) suggest that cognitive strategies

can be subsumed under three broad groups: rehearsal,

elaboration and organization. Dansereau’s(1985:219) primary

strategies, which include “strategies for acquiring and

storing information ( comprehension/ retention strategies),

and strategies for subsequently retrieving and using this

stored information (retrieval/utilization strategies)” are

of similar nature the cognitive strategies proposed by

Weinstein and Mayer (1986).

Metacognitive Strategies

Regulation of learning, as distinguished from knowledge

about learning, uses metacognitive strategies (sometimes

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referred to as higher-order or executive strategies).

Metacognitive strategies involve thinking about the learning

process, planning for learning, monitoring comprehension or

production while it is taking place, and self-evaluation

after the learning activity has been completed.

The use of metacognitive strategies is often seen as

major factor distinguishing active or intentional learners

from passive learners (Anthony,1991; Biggs,1987;Galloway &

Labarca,1990; White,1993).Students who have not yet learned

how to plan, direct and asses their learning, often equate

learning with ‘being taught’; they are content to do what

the teacher and teaching materials say to do. In contrast,

student who use metacognitive strategies effectively re able

to self-regulate their learning by diagnosing their learning

needs, formulate goals, identify resources necessary for

learning, chose and implement appropriate learning

strategies, and evaluate learning outcomes.

Affective Strategies

Affective factors play a central role in mathematics

learning. A major source of affect is from metacognitive

experiences when solving problems or trying to comprehend a

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new information. Since interruptions and blockages are an

inevitable part of learning mathematics students will

experience both positive and negative emotions. These

metacognitive experience are more noticeable when the tasks

are novel (McLeod,1991).Additionally, students will develop

positive and negative attitude towards different topics in

mathematics, as they move through the secondary school. The

purpose of affective strategies is to change or control the

students’ attitudes and orientation towards learning. They

can be used to motivate, encourage and reward the learning,

to reduce or counter anxiety, frustration and fatigue, to

focus attention and maintain concentration, and to manage

time effectively. For example, the exercise of self-talk’,

or the redirecting of negative thoughts about one’s

capability to perform a task with assurances that the task

performance is within reach, will reduce anxiety about a

task.

Resource management strategies

Resource management strategies are those which students

use to promote learning indirectly, such as task management

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and controlling the learning environment (Pokay &

Blumenfeld,1990). Rohrkemper and Corno (1988) argue strongly

that resource management strategies are particularly

important elements of “adaptive learning”. To perform tasks

efficiently students need to see both the approach they

take, and the task itself, as malleable. For example, to

reduce excessive task demands a learner may simplify or

streamline a task, seek assistance from a book, remove

distractions from the environment.

Social interaction with other people (e.g., cooperative

learning, asking questions for clarification from the

teacher or peer, or eliciting additional explanation) are

important resource management strategies. Traditionally,

help-seeking was “viewed as a manifestation of dependence,

immaturity, and even incompetence” (Newman &

Schwager,1992:123). More recently, help-seeking has been

considered as a characteristics of self-regulated learning

and high achievement (Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, 1986).

However, like many of the other strategies, not all help-

seeking activities are desirable. Newman (1991) contrasts

desirable adaptive help-seeking behaviours, strategic posing

of direct questions for the purpose of acquiring information

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for learning or mastering a task, with dependency-based

help-seeking behaviours.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY
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This chapter presents the methods that the researcher

used in the conduct of the study. This includes the (1)

research design, (2) locale of the study, (3) respondents of

the study, (4) sampling techniques, (5) research instrument,

(6) data gathering procedure, and; (7) data analysis

procedure.

Research Design

This study will utilize descriptive-survey method of

research. This is design which different variables are

related to each other within the population of interest. The

critical distinguishing characteristic is the effort to

estimate a relationship, as distinguished from simple

description (Fox, 1969). In this study, one can ascertain

how much variation was caused by one variable in relation

with the variation caused by another variable.

Locale of the Study

This study will be conducted in the municipality of San

Enrique. San Enrique is a third class municipality in the

province of Iloilo, Philippines. This town is located 55 km

from the province's capital.

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Respondents of the Study

The respondents of the study will be the conveniently

chosen learners in the municipality of San Enrique. The

students who are enrolled in the different high school in

the municipality in the school year 2020-2021.

Sampling Technique

This study will made use of the convenience sampling

technique. Convenience sampling (also known as availability

sampling) is a specific type of non-probability sampling

method that relies on data collection from population

members who are conveniently available to participate in the

study (Saunders, 2012).

Research Instrument

The data will be collected using the 5-point Likert

scale questionnaire. Part I of the questionnaire is the

personal data of the respondents, Part II is the Learners’

Learning Strategies in Mathematics.

The instrument will be validated by the experts in the

field and pilot test to suit the respondents’ culture.

The respondents will be asked to check the column that

correspond to their honest assessment as indicated in the

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descriptive scale with the corresponding weight: 5 –Strongly

Agree, 4 – Agree, 3 – Neither Agree nor Disagree, 2 –

Disagree, and 1 – Strongly Disagree.

“Strongly agree” means that the respondents are

strongly in favor of the idea conveyed by the item.

“Agree” means that the respondents are in favor of the

idea conveyed by the item.

“Neither Agree nor Disagree” means the respondents are

unsure of the idea conveyed by the item.

“Disagree” means that the respondents are not in favor

of the idea conveyed by the item.

“Strongly Disagree” means that the respondents are

strongly not in favor of the idea conveyed by the item.

Data Gathering Procedure

In the conduct of the study, the researchers will

prepare a letter duly signed by the Campus Administrator. It

will be forwarded to the principal of the different high

school in the municipality of San Enrique. Likewise,

permission from the respondents to answer the questionnaires

will be secure. The data gathering instruments will be

distributed among the students in the municipality of San

Enrique on January, 2021. The researchers will retrieve and

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check the accomplished instruments to ensure that all the

items are answered appropriately. The data collected will be

recorded, analyzed, and interpreted using the Statistical

Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.

Data Analysis Procedure

The data gathered will be subjected to descriptive and

inferential statistical tests.

Mean. This will be used in determining the learners’

learning strategy in mathematics.

The formula for mean is:

Mann Whitney U-test. This will be apply in determining

the significant differences in the learning strategies of

the respondents in terms of sex.

Kruskal Wallis. This will be apply in determining the

significant differences in the learning strategies of the

respondents in terms of year level.

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