comparative study of attitude and achievement in physics and English

Comparative study of attitude and achievement in physics and English
The quality of students’ performance remains at top priority for educators. In the
Philippines the status of science education particularly in the basic education level, seems to lag behind other countries in the world in various occasions. Results of the Second
International Science Study (SISS) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science
Study (TIMSS-Advanced) in 2008 showed that among the ten (10) countries that participated in the study, placed the Philippines at the bottom which is ranked 10 th. In the
SISS, the Philippines ranked almost at the bottom of the list of seventeen (17) nations which took part in the large-scale evaluation of the educational achievement. Similar outcomes were revealed in the 1995, 1999 and in the 2003 TIMMS (Orleans, 2005). In the
2003 and 2008 TIMMS, among the science subject areas achievement in physics of Filipino students were below the International Standards according to US Department of Education
National Center for Education Statistics, 2000, which lead to the same conclusion of low students’ achievement in physics. (International Association for the Evaluation of
Education of Educational Achievement, 2004)
In addition to International measures of proficiency, there is also a national competency for high school students that the DepEd administer every year. The National
Achievement Test also known as NAT have been posting disappointing results over the last six years in Science and English (Department of Education 2008b).The NAT results for the high school levels reveal that the mean percentage scores in English and Science since 2003 have not exceed 53%. The DepEd identifies the mastery level as being 75% and above.

Following this rubrics then, one may conclude that Filipino students have not achieved mastery of Science and English (National Statistical Coordination Board 2007).
The abovementioned observations of the poor student achievement triggered educational researchers worldwide to continuously determine factors that theories reveal to have relevance to academic outcomes in the classroom. In order to improve education, one need to understand what is happening in the classroom. In
Particular, what are students doing and learning when they learn Physics? In addition, students’ view about a subject influences their understanding and learning of the subject.
Many students think and say “Physics is difficult.” Angell et.al (2004) probed the views of high school students and physics teachers about physics. They found that students find physics difficult because they have to content with different representations such as experiments, graphs and conceptual explanation at the same time. According to Talisayon
Communication –listening, speaking, writing and reading which are the basic skills that are needed and further developed in subject like physics. Students’ reading comprehension of physics is often assumed, but the technical writing style and the presence of equations, graphs and tables lower the readability understanding of the text. If students come to a physics class ill-equipped to understand physics text, development of reading comprehension skills for physics text needs to be a concern of the physics teacher
(Talisayon, 2005). The act of speaking and writing is something not often consciously thought about. Physicist are aware of some students’ difficulties may be caused by confusing language, but only a small amount of research has been done in this area.
Convinced by the afore cited authorities and writers, the writer has decided to undertake this study with the earnest hope that in a little way could find some clues to the solution of

some problems and difficulties encountered by students attitudes and achievement in
English and Physics.