THE CURRENT STATUS OF MATHEMATICAL COMPETENCY AMONG GRADE 9 STUDENTS FROM SIX SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN HO CHI MINH CITY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18173/2354-1075.2026-%25xKeywords:
mathematical competency; secondary school students; mathematical comprehension; mathematical execution; Ho Chi Minh CityAbstract
This study aims to investigate secondary school students’ mathematical competency across its two components of mathematical comprehension and mathematical execution. Employing a mixed-methods design, the quantitative phase used a survey with Likert-scale items and empirical performance-based tasks to collect data from 384 Grade 9 students from six secondary schools in Ho Chi Minh City. Descriptive and inferential statistics show that students’ overall mathematical competency reached the Satisfactory level, with mathematical comprehension higher than mathematical execution. Reasoning and mathematical modeling were among the lowest components. Significant differences were found by school location, interest in learning mathematics, and parental expectations, but not by gender, age group, private tutoring, thinking games, or family economic status. The study contributes a two-dimensional framework that distinguishes students’ internal mathematical understanding from their external task performance, highlighting the need to strengthen the transition from comprehension to execution in competency-based mathematics assessment.
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References
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