Mathematical Problem Solving Strategies in Plain English

Infinity Journal

This study aims to know the effect of language literacy and basic Mathematics competence toward students’ ability to solve word problems. The research was done by giving three sets of questions; language literacy (LL) set, basic Mathematics competence (BM) set, and word problems (WP) set; to the research sample. Research sample was 315 tenth grade students from five schools in Jakarta. Score of students in each set was analyzed as research data. Score of LL set was treated as data of independent variable 1, score of BM set was treated as data of independent variable 2, and score of WP set as data of dependent variable. Preliminary data analyses, such as normality, validity, and reliability test, were done. Then, data was analyzed using Wilcoxon test and calculation of R-square. The result shows that each of independent variable affects dependent variable with BM variable has more effect on WP variable.

LACLIL - Latin American Journal of Content and Language integrated Learning, 2019

The purpose of this study is to investigate to what extent the use of L2 in mathematic tests has an influence on bilingual education learners’ process of word problem solving in an obligatory secondary education school with CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning). Reading comprehension level of the students was analysed using a standardized-based assessment, and the questions used in PISA tests. The word problems were selected according to the students’ level of reading-comprehension and mathematical competence. A questionnaire was also passed to learners in order to analyse if contextual factors were affecting the mathematical performance in L2. To this end, the questionnaire included some questions related to the bilingual history of the students and their perception about solving word problems in English. Data were analysed performing ANOVA tests (one-way or two-way) to find out which factors were relevant. Results show that solving word problems is not only affected by the use of L2, but it also depends on mathematical difficulty irrespective of the students’ level of language proficiency. The findings, hence, imply that interaction between linguistic difficulty and mathematical complexity is at the centre of the issues affecting word problem solving.

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The study recognizes that word problems are the necessary part and a key component of mathematics education. Knowing that mathematics, language as a means, and the situation context are never separable, the study was designed to identify the effect of language (L1, L2) and the context on problem solving in mathematics for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grader English as a second language (ESL) learners. For this, four achievement tests with possible variations of language and context were utilized as instrument to investigate three research questions. 867 students from three existing scenarios of school mathematics learning in Pakistan participated in the study. The data were analyzed through SPSS utilizing both descriptive as well as inferential methods. The results revealed that language and context have significant effect on problem solving. The study exposed that mathematical problem-solving assessments cannot be called valid if the factors of language and context are not taken into consider...

This is a qualitative research which aims to describe and analyze students' ability in word problem solving based on Polya's steps. The problem-solving abilities of the students were analyzed based on gender. To support this research, descriptive analysis is used on 35 senior school students. The instrument for data collection is Mathematics Word Problem Test (MWPT) consisting of four items. The items were selected to evaluate students understanding and ability to interrelate between mathematical concepts (the use of formula and properties of plane shapes), and formation of equations/equation involving fractions (to find the unknown). The results show that, senior school students have difficulty making connections between mathematical concepts, have difficulty solving mathematical problems involving fractions and difficulty determining the mathematical formula/concepts to use. The findings also revealed difficulty making connections between mathematical concepts, transformation difficulty and reviewing the correctness of answers with questions. The study therefore recommended that a realistic mathematical problem-based approach, and other approaches that provide students with opportunities to solve mathematical problem should be adopted in learning word problems.

1988

The use of English or a second language in teaching mathematics is one of the major factors that discourage teachers from teaching problem solving. My personal experience has been that about half of the pupils completing primary schools in Ghana today have not had any grasp over the basic mathematical concepts in either their first language or the official medium of instruction. They can rarely relate the mathematical knowledge gained from school to solving problems involving situations outside the classroom. This unfortunate situation can be attributed to some extent to the fact that many teachers tend to ignore the problem of language in mathematics. In order to help teachers to reduce the language barriers in children's efforts to solve problems, this presentation examines mathematics teaching in a second language and its associated difficulties. It also considers proposals that will reduce pupils' difficulties in solving problems in basic schools.

The researcher would like to find out whether the usage of mixed language test in problem solving tests in every Mathematics subject can be useful when presented to a sample of student participants. With the use of an experimental between-subject design, in order to see whether the presentation of language affected the scores of the student participants, through purposive sampling, the researcher gathered 16 college student participant, who are fluent in English or Filipino has a good math problem solving skill, and a grade of 90 or above on Filipino, English, and Mathematics. The researcher used a self-made 20-item math problem solving tests in gathering data for both control condition or the pure language and the experimental condition or the mixed language. It was found out that fluent-English participants outperformed the fluent-Filipino participants on both control and experimental conditions and it was found out that there's no significant difference between the scores of fluent-Filipino and fluent-English participants on the experimental condition Keywords: mathematics, problem-solving, between-subjects design, purposive sampling, fluent-Filipino, fluent-English, mixed language test. Language can be affecting mathematical performance throughout the world due to difference in language being used. As stated by Schleppegrell (2010) every school subject is constructed in language, but the forms and patterns varies from discipline to discipline, like in mathematics there are abstract and written concepts. Even if every students are fluent by their native language or fluent with the use English language, they both get an equal learning opportunity, but the reality is in order to effectively teach mathematics among students who learn English as their second language basically needs hard work (Winsor, 2007). The Philippines has a long history and experience with the bilingual educational system. However, English as the medium of instruction became a dominant language of instruction in the Philippine academic setting. This probably affected the performance of the students in every academic subject. English as a medium of instruction in Mathematics became mandatory with DECS Order No. 52 during the time of former President Corazon Aquino (Dawe, 2014). In the Philippines, there are different languages spoken throughout which is referred to as the dialects, however it causes double-jeopardy among those in the minorities especially when they attempt to translate the written problem into Filipino and translate it into their own dialect. Word Problems in Mathematics Word problems in mathematics are the most commonly used in any forms of mathematics subjects, that each students must interpret before they are able to compute for the answers (Langenes, 2011). Word problems often pose a challenge because they require that students read and comprehend the text of the problem, identify the question that needs to be answered and finally create and solve a numerical equation (Krick-Morales, 2006). Solving Math Problems through English Language As Filipinos we study the English language as our second language but, we may have difficulties in reading and understanding the content of the problem. Problem solving in Mathematics involves the process of combination of one's knowledge of sentence structures, mathematical relations, basic numerical skills and mathematical strategies in order to solve a mathematics problem presented in sentence or paragraph structure (Griffin & Jitendra, 2009). Mathematical problem skills requires the ability to read, interpret, and transform the words into the mathematical form before doing strategies on how to compute for the unknown

Word problems are topics in Algebra which are abhorred by most students. The study aimed at identifying the correlation that contribute to problem solving capabilities of freshmen college students who were enrolled in Algebra of De La Salle Lipa. It was anchored on three groups of correlates that contributed to problem solving capabilities of students; personal, cognitive, and social factors. The respondents' entrance examination result in Math; word problem solving scores were considered in the findings of the study. Results showed that respondents' attitude towards problem solving had affected their capabilities to a large extent. Study strategies have been affected to a large extent, while only one affected their capabilities to a small extent. There is a significant relationship between the problem solving capabilities of the students in the three factors. The common problems exhibited were wrong representation, wrong computation, and use of trial and error method, misinterpretation, forgotten formulas, and forgotten concepts. The cognitive and the social factors had a

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the correlation between students’ reading levels and mathematical problem solving skills. The present study was conducted in line with a qualitative research method, i.e., the phenomenological method. The study group of the current research is composed of six third grade students with different reading levels. The data of the study were collected through the reading of texts, the Ekwall/Shanker oral reading inventory and the problem solving think-aloud protocol. The collected data were evaluated using a descriptive analysis method. Once the study had been completed, it was concluded that problem solving skills varied according to reading level. Keywords: Reading, reading level, mathematical problem solving

Dirāsāt. Al-'ulūm al-insāniyyaẗ wa-al-iǧtimā'iyyaẗ/Dirāsāt. Al-ʻulūm al-insāniyyaẗ wa-al-iǧtimāʻiyyaẗ, 2024

Objectives: The study aimed to explore mathematical word problem solving abilities among Grade 9 learners in Tshwane North District Schools. It highlighted how language plays a pivotal role in learning mathematics and understanding mathematical word problems. Moreover, it showed how language inadequecy and incorrect translation affect Grade 9 learners' solutions to mathmatical word problems in schools around Tshwane North District. Methods: The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods. It also made use of contextual, exploratory, and descriptive statistical data. The study involved 26 nineth-grade learners in Tshwane North District secondary schools in Gauteng Province. Data collection was based on learners' written work (a questionnaire) and analysing the results of the administered test. Data was analysed to detect the language difficulties that learners' face when translating and solving mathematical word problems. The analysis process involved developing initial insights, coding, interpreting, and drawing conclusions to determine whether there is a connection between language proficiency and solving mathematical word problems. Results: The study showed that learners face difficulties in mathematical processes such as inadequate language comprehension when translating words into mathmatical symbols. It also revealed that there is a strong connection between vocabulary knowledge and word problem solving, resulting in learning challenges related to understanding the meaning associated with mathmatical word problems. Conclusions: Evidence from the word problem test for Grade 9 learners revealed that mathematical vocabulary and syntactic features are the main factors causing difficulties in understanding and solving mathmatical word problems.

International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications (IJSRP)

The study was conducted to determine the difficulties encountered in mathematical word problem solving in Butuan Central Elementary School. Descriptive type of research through survey questionnaire was used in the study. The researchers used quota sampling with a random selection in order to limit researcher's choice of sample. Each selection of Grade 6 class had the number of respondents that were randomly selected with the help of corresponding teachers. The researchers had 100 respondents as a sample size. The difficulties encountered by the pupils were categorized into children's attitude towards problem solving in Mathematics, teaching skills among teachers and instructional materials used by the teacher. Based on the data gathered, the overall mean for the children's attitude towards word problem solving is 3.44 showed that the children should develop a positive attitude in dealing word problem solving. The overall mean of the level of teaching skills among teachers was 2.41and it was found out that the teacher executed teaching skills in teaching word problem solving. For the instructional materials, it obtained the mean of 3.03 which showed that the most instructional materials used by the teachers were the textbooks, worksheets, chalk, and board. In answering word problem solving, the pupils got the correct answer when it was already given in the problem but most of them got the wrong answer when they had to translate word problem into mathematical symbol. Furthermore, it implied that the problem was not with the teaching skills and the instructional materials used, but with the attitude of the pupils towards mathematical word problem solving.

Journal of Education and e-Learning Research, 2020

It is agreed that, if instruction in mathematics takes place in the students' first language, understanding abstract concepts and ideas in that subject can be challenging for them. However, many Jordanian students must master mathematics only via a second language or side by side with mastering it in Arabic, depending on their school system. The present study investigated the effect of using a second language to teach mathematics in international Jordanian schools. The study conducted a contrastive analysis of the strategies used in teaching mathematics in Jordanian schools. The researchers prepared a mathematics test with the assistance of a mathematics teacher. The test consisted of three-word questions whose complexity ranged between simple calculations to complex calculations. Data were collected from eighty students in Grade 7. Forty of the students were from a school which starts teaching mathematics only in Arabic-the students' first language-and then in Grade 7, it introduces mathematics in English; alternatively, the other forty were from a school which teaches mathematics in English straight from Grade 1. The result shows that the language medium has an essential role in the teaching process. The study reveals significant differences between the two groups; the students who are taught mathematics in Arabic first tend to be more skillful and accurate answering the mathematical problems than those who are taught mathematics in English from Grade 1.

2018

This research was mix method with sequential explanatorydesign. This research aimed to describe the abilitiesto solve mathematics word problems based on their verbal abilities. The data were obtained through gave verbal ability test, mathematics word problem test on the topic of system of linear inequality of two variables, and interview. Subjects of research were 6 students of Class XI Mipa 1 SMA Negeri 8 Makassar. Students were grouped into 3 category of verbal abilities, category of high, medium, and low. Data collection was conducted by analyzing the results of verbal abilities test and written test of mathematics word problems. Generally, mathematics word problem were solved by 4 steps according to Polya (1973) namely understanding the problem, planning the completion, carrying out the completion and looking back and interpreting the results. The results shows that students with high verbal ability and medium verbal ability solved mathematics word problems well. Their verbal ab...

Abstract This paper presents a qualitative and quantitative study on the response to word problems of bilingual Arab students in a preparatory year math program, in an English medium university. Dichotomous and polychotomous grading schemes were used in order to investigate the students' responses to word problems. Among the results, it was found that the more linguistically loaded a word problem is the more likely students may try to avoid them.

Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2020

Communication is an important ability for every human being to have. In this research, the focus of communication is on students’ mathematical communication skills. Mathematical communication is divided into two parts, namely written communication and verbal communication. If students have good verbal and written mathematical communication skills, then they are easier to express ideas and strategies and are able to write the stages of problem solving well, especially word problem. This is because word problem requires special attention in their solution. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze mathematical communication errors experienced by students in solving mathematical word problem. This study aims to describe the students’ written and oral mathematical communication skills in solving word problem. This type of research is qualitative-descriptive. The research subjects were three junior high school students. Based on the results of the study, there were still students who could n...