How the data addressed the research question

Question 1: What are the themes of the mathematics contextual word-problems posed in the FET examinations of IEB and NSC?

The study identified 20 themes for IEB contextual word-problems and 16 themes for NSC contextual word-problems.

As noted in section 4.2, the themes for IEB contextual word-problems are trade (sales, purchases, and prices), buildings (street lights, towers, walls, pyramids, playhouses, roller-coasters, and stadiums), loans and investments, sport and recreation, age (height and body mass index), and academic marks. Other themes include bridges and tunnels, maps, animals and physical features, development indicators (number of children per family, income, population, population density),

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food and nutrition, and transport (airlines, airbuses, ships, hot-air balloons, satellites, cars, missiles, and car accidents). Additional themes for IEB are blood alcohol level and tractors, logos and signs, hotel bookings, HIV and AIDS, drinking glass, cans, water tanks, soccer balls, earth’s orbit, battery lifespan and light bulb lifespan, social networking sites, manufacturing (machines and production), and clock.

As also noted in section 4.2, the themes for NSC are manufacturing (machines and production), transport (airlines, airbuses, ships, cars, hot-air balloons, missiles, satellites, car accidents, blood alcohol level and tractors), and loans and investments. Other themes for NSC are movement (distance, particle movement, water flow, time, travelling time, wheel rotation and speed), sport and recreation, academic marks, and buildings (street lights, towers, walls, pyramids, playhouses, roller-coasters, and stadia). Further themes for NSC include trade (sales, purchases, and prices), drinking glass (cans, water tanks and soccer balls), planting maize and potatoes, age (height, weight and body mass index), clock, battery lifespan and light bulb lifespan, HIV and AIDS, logos and signs, and recycling.

In terms of the contextual subjects of mathematics contextual word-problems posed in the FET examinations of IEB and NSC. The study uncovered 11 contextual subjects for IEB contextual word-problems and 8 for NSC contextual word-problems. As also noted in section 4.5, the contextual subjects for IEB contextual word- problems are statistics, financial mathematics, trigonometry, functions, linear programming, number patterns, calculus, transformation, co-ordinate geometry, circle geometry, and surface area and volume, as noted in section 4.3.

The contextual subjects for NSC contextual word-problems are statistics, linear programming, financial mathematics, trigonometry, surface area and volume, calculus, number patterns, and transformation, as also noted in section 4.3.

Question 2: What percentage of total marks is allocated to mathematics contextual word-problems in the FET examinations of IEB and NSC?

In IEB, 509 out of 1 800 marks, or 28.28% of the total marks, were allocated to mathematics contextual word-problems, as noted in section 4.1. Conversely, in NSC, 473 out of 1 800 marks, or 26.28% of the total marks, were allocated to mathematics contextual word-problems, as noted in section 4.1.

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It was interesting to note that linear programming, which has been removed from the CAPS syllabus, enjoyed more attention in the NSC than IEB. In the sense that it was allocated 10.61% of contextual word-problems’ marks in the IEB examinations as compared to 19.87% of contextual word-problems’ marks allocated to it in the NSC examinations.

Question 3: What is the balance between the vertical mathematization and the horizontal mathematization of mathematics contextual word-problems posed in the FET examinations of IEB and NSC?

The highest amount of marks is allocated to progressive mathematization followed by vertical mathematization and then horizontal mathematization. More marks are allocated to vertical mathematization as compared to horizontal mathematization – positive selective mathematization. As a result there is positive selective, mathematization which is leaning towards vertical mathematization.

Question 4: What are the similarities and/or differences between the mathematics contextual word-problems posed in the FET examinations of IEB and those of NSC?

Differences relate mainly to the number of themes and contextual subjects. Other differences pertain to the amount of marks allocated to contextual word-problems. While many themes and contextual subjects are present in IEB and NSC examinations, a few themes and contextual subjects are specific to each of these two examinations. Nevertheless, in both examinations, the highest amount of marks is allocated to level 3 mathematics contextual word-problems, followed by level 2 mathematics contextual word problems and then level 1 mathematics contextual word problems. In addition, both examinations have statistics as the contextual subject with the highest amount of marks.

NSC has 8 contextual subjects whereas IEB has 11 contextual subjects. Functions, co-ordinate geometry and circle geometry are contextual subjects only found in IEB examinations. These 3 contextual subjects are not found in NSC examinations. All the remaining 8 contextual subjects namely, statistics, financial mathematics, linear programming, transformation, calculus, surface area and volume and number patterns are common to both IEB and NSC examinations. Consequently, all contextual subjects found in NSC examinations are also found in IEB examinations.

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IEB examinations have a wider variety of themes as compared to NSC examinations. IEB examinations have 20 themes whereas NSC examinations have 16 themes. In general, NSC examinations have more marks per theme as compared to IEB examinations. For NSC, the mean per theme is 29.57 whilst the mean per theme for IEB is 25.45.

There are differences in the presentation of the question papers and the presentation of mathematics contextual word problems. NSC mathematics question papers have attractive cover pages but contextual word problems are predominantly presented in black and white. On the other hand, IEB question papers have black and white cover pages but contextual word problems are presented in other colours in addition to black and white.