Enhancing the Mathematics Foundational Skills of Grade VII Students of Sabang National High School Using Recitation Counting (RC) Approach

PISA 2022 report showed that Filipino students still among the lowest scorers in terms of numeracy. Mastery of the foundational skills is one of the challenges encountered by Department of Education (DepEd). Recitation Counting (RC) approach was explored that provides valuable insights into whether this method can effectively address the perennial issue. Pretest-posttest design was used. The participants were sixty-eight (68) Grade VII students during the School Year 2023-2024. To determine the least mastered skills, numeracy level, and significant difference, the scores from the tests were tabulated into SPSS 27 and analyzed using the item analysis, numeracy scale, and dependent t-test, respectively. Operations involving fractions have been the consistent least mastered skills of students. The numeracy indicates a positive shift in student performance moving from the lower to the higher level of performance. Paired samples t-test revealed that students scored higher in Posttest scores (29.93±9.891) than in pretest (23.47±7.915), a statistically significant increase of 6.456 (95% CI, 5.543 to 7.369) points, t(67)=14.117, p<0.0005, d=1.71. This means the observed improvement is very unlikely due to chance and rejected the null hypothesis. Recitation Approach as a teaching strategy significantly improved students’ mathematics foundational skills.Persistent difficulties in mastering fraction operations can be used for future research. The concept of Recitation Counting signifies a deviation from the conventional paradigm which can be used as holistic teaching strategy regardless of grade level and subject matter.