The Language of Word Problems ◆ 85- Function matters.
- Math texts are “dense and concept loaded.”
- Math word problems are a distinct genre.
- ELLs need a content goal and a language goal.
Summary
Language is a significant part of word problems. The linguistic complexity
of the word problem affects performance (Martiniello, 2008). Students need
to be able to read, comprehend and translate the specialized language used
in word problems. Math vocabulary is essential to comprehending and
solving word problems (Stahl & Fairbanks, 1986; Blessman & Myszczak,
2001; Pierce & Fontaine, 2009). If children know the words, then they can
better understand the problem. There are so many different aspects of
words that they must be scaffolded for student understanding. We also
need to explicitly teach the words of doing the math and solving the
problems as well. Students need a variety of ways to unpack the “dense
and concept loaded” word problems that they encounter in textbooks every
day. They need to learn how to work through this special “genre” in order
to succeed with word problems.
References
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