Значај језичке компетенције за постигнуће ученика из математике и природних наука

Abstract

If observed in the school context in the first place, overall student achievement could depend on relation between language, mathematical and science literacy. For that matter, the aim of the research presented in this chapter is the examination of language features of students’ answers to certain mathematical and science text-based problems in the TIMSS 2015. The sample was formed by a random choice of one hundred students (50 students whose answers referred to a certain mathematical question and 50 students who answered to a certain question concerning science) from 160 schools that took part in the TIMSS 2015. For this paper we have chosen two text-based problems (mathematics and science) from two different booklets. The descriptive and the analytical method were used in this exploratory research. The students’ language competences, that is, language features of the answers given to mathematics and science text-based problems were rated on the following levels: normative, lexical, and syntactic. Within each of these levels, the most frequent examples, which cannot be regarded as writing mistakes, and they indicate a systematic error or adeviation from a language standard, were singled out. The research results show that language deviations which referred to students’ underdeveloped language literacy (language competence), as well as its influence on how students formulated solutions to the problems, were noticed on all observed levels. The most noticeable are the deviations in regard to the normative aspect, that is, those related to the use of spelling rules, as the students showed wavering and insufficient functional knowledge in the domain of Serbian language ortography. Also, the analysis of sentence syntax features and lexical level of the language formulations point to a more direct relationship between language competences and student achievements because their limited vocabulary and underdeveloped skill for producting clear and precise sentence constructions contributed to inadequate student achievements. Students’ inability to handle the sentence construction, a dominant use of lexical units from the colloquial language and their limited vocabulary lead to insufficiently meaningful answers and lower student achievement. Based on the analysis of students’ answers in TIMSS 2015, we can talk affirmatively about the mutual relationship of language, mathematical and science literacy, which is in accordance with various examinations of connections among the three mentioned aspects of students’ functional literacy. The findings of our research indicate, among other things, that greater attention should be paid to the quality of linguistic expression during class teaching in the primary school.