Chapter 3

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Linguistic Complexities Incurred by the Respondents

The main objective of this study was producing a content-based instructional

material based on linguistic complexities of the respondents encountered in the test

questionnaire given. Prior to the selection of topics included in the said material, Table 1

below shows the sum and percentage of incorrect answers committed by the respondents

in the test questionnaire given for each linguistic complexity involved in each item.

Table 1. Sum and Percentage of Linguistic Complexities Committed

Item Numbers Sum of
Linguistic
(based from Incorrect
Complexity
TOS) Answers Percentage of Incorrect Answers

Structural Complexities
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11,
1.       Prepositional Phrase 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 1593 70.80%
19, 20

2.       Subordinate Clause 1, 4, 9 294 78.40%

3.       Relative Clause 4i 106 84.80%

Semantic Complexities
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
1.       Noun Phrases 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 1590 74.82%
20

2.       Verbal Cues 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 15, 17, 19 879 87.90%

1, 2, 4, 6, 11, 12, 14, 16,

3.       Terminology 733 58.64%
18, 19
2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
4.       Mathematics Register 1424 71.20%
13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20
 As seen in Table 1, the linguistic complexity the respondents had the most trouble

answering were items that involved verbal cues. Having a sum of 879 incorrect answers,

a result, which is 87.90 % of the total population, this linguistic complexity was surely

included as a topic to discussed in the content-based instructional material. In addition,

we could also see in the table that the second linguistic complexity the students had a

hard time answering were items that involved relative clauses; with a sum of 106

incorrect answers, a result, which is 84.60% of the population, this topic was also given

attention in the material produced.

Furthermore, with the threshold of 60% as the basis for the inclusion of a

linguistic complexity in the material produced, only terminology was not included for it

only had a sum of 733 incorrect answer, a result, which is only 58.64% of the population.

Instructional Material based on Findings

Determining the linguistic complexities in mathematical word problems was the

key in identifying the content put in the material produced. In line with this, the material

produced is based on the linguistic aspects of mathematical examples and word problems

which will be discussed thoroughly. Through the test questionnaire given, it was clear

that most of the respondents still struggle in translating words to equations which led to

their incorrect answers in each respective item. The results in Table 2 shows the exact

sum and percentage of incorrect answers the respondents committed in the mathematical

word problems to be discussed of its linguistic factors in the content-based material

produced.
 Table 2. Sum and Percentage Incorrect Answers per Topic

Sum of Percentage of
Item Numbers
Topic Incorrect Incorrect
(based from TOS)
Answers Answers

1.       Linear Equation 1, 4, 7, 10 426 85.20%

2.       Real Numbers 2, 3, 8, 16, 20 397 63.52%

3.       Polynomials 5, 9, 15, 18 351 70.20%

4.       Probability 6 116 92.80%

5.       Linear Inequality 11, 12, 17 203 54.13%

6.       Rational Algebraic Expression 13, 14 171 68.40%

7.       Exponential Functions 19 117 93.60%

As seen in Table 2, most of the respondents find word problems in exponential

functions and probability most challenging. With a total of incorrect answers of 117 and

116 respectively, these findings are 93.60% and 92.80% of the entire population. These

types of word problems would be given more examples on the material produced.

Moreover, it could be also etched from the table that the least, yet more than 50%

got it wrong, are word problems in linear inequality. Having a total of 203 incorrect

answers, this result is 54.13 of the population. Though more than half of the population

got it correct, examples of this word problem will still be included in the material.