Influence of Language of Instruction on Students’ Performance in Mathematics: A Diagnostic Study of Public Rural Elementary Schools in Madagascar

The purpose of this study is to apprehend the influence of the language of instruction on grade five students’ performance in mathematics in the form of wordproblems in rural public elementary schools in Madagascar. Despite the existence of Malagasy - a wide spread and developed language of communication throughout the country, students are taught mathematics in French from grade three onward, which might impede their performance and put at risk the quality of their education. A total of 54 grade five students from rural public elementary schools were given mathematics word-problems tests in Malagasy then in French to compare their performances in both languages. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test results indicated statistically significant difference between students’ mathematics scores in favour of Malagasy. Results suggest that even if students were not yet taught mathematics in their mother-tongue, their scores were better in Malagasy than in French - the usual language of instruction.