Antonius Atosökhi Gea

The Use of English in Learning Mathematics for Grade 7 Junior High School

There are still many people think that learning Mathematics in English causes students difficulty in obtaining a good score. Therefore, the authors conducted research related to the use of English in teaching Mathematics, for grade 7 junior high school in a private national plus school. The purpose of this study is for the reader to open up further insights related to the topic above. This research was carried out with experimental design, by doing different treatment between classes in the same level. The subjects of the study consisted of 63 students spread into 3 classes, 7 Amos, Esther 7 and 7 Jonah. Class 7 Jonah is a control group, using Bahasa Indonesia (mother tongue) in learning Mathematics. Class 7 Amos and 7 Esther is the experimental group, where 7 Amos in English and 7 Esther used bilingual (English and Indonesian). Results of the study include the following: the use of English is not detrimental to the students in score acquisition, is evident from the class treated differently, giving an average final score of Mathematics that are not significantly different. The obstacles that arise in learning Mathematics needs to be reviewed from the process, readiness, independence, motivation of students and needs to be followed up critically so that students can achieve good results. Programs of short and long term needs to be created and observed in order to support the learning process of Mathematics for students, such as training teachers to be able to speak English, training teachers to teach Mathematics, especially for young children, to support action research by teachers, managed by the school.