The association between mathematical word problems and reading comprehension

This study aimed to investigate the interplay between mathematical word problem skills and reading comprehension. The participants were 225 children aged 9–10 (Grade 4). The children’s text comprehension and mathematical word problem‐solving performance was tested. Technical reading skills were investigated in order to categorise participants as good or poor readers. The results showed that performance on maths word problems was strongly related to performance in reading comprehension. Fluent technical reading abilities increased the aforementioned skills. However, even after controlling for the level of technical reading involved, performance in maths word problems was still related to reading comprehension, suggesting that both of these skills require overall reasoning abilities. There were no gender differences in maths word problem‐solving performance, but the girls were better in technical reading and in reading comprehension. Parental levels of education positively predicted children’s maths word problem‐solving performance and reading comprehension skills.

[1]  Roscoe A. Dykman,et al.  Reading‐disabled students with and without comorbid arithmetic, disability , 1995 .

[2]  James G. Greeno,et al.  On The Nature of Competence: Principles for Understanding in a Domain© , 2018, Knowing, Learning, and Instruction.

[3]  P. Bentler,et al.  Comparative fit indexes in structural models. , 1990, Psychological bulletin.

[4]  Jane Oakhill,et al.  Profiles of children with specific reading comprehension difficulties. , 2006, The British journal of educational psychology.

[5]  L. Holopainen.  Development in reading and reading related skills : a follow-up study from pre-school to the fourth grade , 2002 .

[6]  Nancy C. Jordan,et al.  Cognitive Arithmetic and Problem Solving , 1997, Journal of learning disabilities.

[7]  Annemarie S. Palincsar,et al.  Examining the Context of Strategy Instruction , 1991 .

[8]  Philip B. Gough,et al.  Decoding, Reading, and Reading Disability , 1986 .

[9]  Kaisa Aunola,et al.  Development of Reading and Spelling Finnish From Preschool to Grade 1 and Grade 2 , 2006 .

[10]  E. Corte,et al.  The Effect of Semantic Structure on First Graders' Strategies for Solving Addition and Subtraction Word Problems. , 1987 .

[11]  Mary K. Hoard,et al.  Numerical and arithmetical cognition: a longitudinal study of process and concept deficits in children with learning disability. , 2000, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[12]  P. David Pearson.  Handbook of reading research. , 1990 .

[13]  Francesca Pazzaglia,et al.  A comparison of updating processes in children good or poor in arithmetic word problem-solving , 2005 .

[14]  Priscilla L. Griffith,et al.  Acquisition of literacy: A longitudinal study of children in first and second grade. , 1986 .

[15]  Barry Cooper,et al.  Children's Responses to Contrasting `Realistic' Mathematics Problems: Just how realistic are children ready to be? , 2002 .

[16]  Arthur C. Graesser,et al.  The Construction of Causal Inferences While Reading Expository Texts on Science and Technology , 1998 .

[17]  Douglas Fuchs,et al.  Responsiveness to Mathematical Problem-Solving Instruction , 2004, Journal of learning disabilities.

[18]  R. Plomin,et al.  Generalist genes and learning disabilities. , 2005, Psychological bulletin.

[19]  Nancy C. Jordan,et al.  Mathematical Thinking in Second-Grade Children with Different Forms of LD , 2000, Journal of learning disabilities.

[20]  G. Guo,et al.  Gender Differences in Mathematical Trajectories , 2001 .

[21]  K. Aunola,et al.  Developmental Dynamics of Math Performance From Preschool to Grade 2 , 2004 .

[22]  Herbert P. Ginsburg,et al.  Mathematics Learning Disabilities , 1997, Journal of learning disabilities.

[23]  David C. Geary,et al.  Cognitive Addition: Strategy Choice and Speed-of-Processing Differences in Gifted, Normal, and Mathematically Disabled Children. , 1991 .

[24]  P. Räsänen,et al.  Arithmetic disabilities with and without reading difficulties: A comparison of arithmetic errors , 1995 .

[25]  Nancy C. Jordan,et al.  Number sense growth in kindergarten: a longitudinal investigation of children at risk for mathematics difficulties. , 2006, Child development.

[26]  Stephen J. Chinn,et al.  Mathematics for Dyslexics: A Teaching Handbook , 1993 .

[27]  A. Smedler,et al.  Verbal Intelligence: a key to basic skills? , 1996 .

[28]  James G. Greeno,et al.  Developmental analysis of understanding language about quantities and of solving problems. , 1988 .

[29]  D. Geary.  Mathematics and Learning Disabilities , 2004, Journal of learning disabilities.

[30]  C. Gallistel,et al.  The Child's Understanding of Number , 1979 .

[31]  T. Shanahan,et al.  Reading and Writing Relations and Their Development , 2000 .

[32]  J. H. Steiger.  Structural Model Evaluation and Modification: An Interval Estimation Approach. , 1990, Multivariate behavioral research.

[33]  D. Fergusson,et al.  Early reading difficulties and later conduct problems. , 1997, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[34]  Jane Oakhill,et al.  Inference making ability and its relation to comprehension failure in young children , 1999 .

[35]  Lynn S. Fuchs,et al.  Examining the Reading Difficulty of Secondary Students with Learning Disabilities , 2002 .

[36]  P. H. Blaney.  Affect and memory: a review. , 1986, Psychological bulletin.

[37]  Arthur C. Graesser,et al.  Strategic processing during comprehension. , 1999 .

[38]  Robert J. Stevens,et al.  The effects of cooperative learning and direct instruction in reading comprehension strategies on main idea identification. , 1991 .

[39]  D. Geary,et al.  Learning Disabilities in Arithmetic : Problem-Solving Differences and Cognitive Deficits , 2003 .

[40]  L. Resnick,et al.  Knowing, Learning, and Instruction , 2018 .

[41]  M. Snowling,et al.  Assessing children's inference generation: what do tests of reading comprehension measure? , 2005, The British journal of educational psychology.

[42]  David C. Geary,et al.  Cognitive addition: A short longitudinal study of strategy choice and speed-of-processing differences in normal and mathematically disabled children. , 1991 .

[43]  Nancy C. Jordan,et al.  A longitudinal study of mathematical competencies in children with specific mathematics difficulties versus children with comorbid mathematics and reading difficulties. , 2003, Child development.

[44]  Stephen J. Pape,et al.  Middle School Children's Problem-Solving Behavior: A Cognitive Analysis from a Reading Comprehension Perspective , 2004 .

[45]  William H. Rupley,et al.  Content, domain, and word knowledge: Relationship to comprehension of narrative and expository text , 1996 .

[46]  H. Van Keer,et al.  Effects of Explicit Reading Strategies Instruction and Peer Tutoring on Second and Fifth Graders' Reading Comprehension and Self-Efficacy Perceptions , 2005 .

[47]  Douglas Fuchs,et al.  Mathematical Problem-Solving Profiles of Students with Mathematics Disabilities With and Without Comorbid Reading Disabilities , 2002, Journal of learning disabilities.

[48]  J. Oakhill.  Children's difficulties in reading comprehension , 1993 .

[49]  Nancy C. Jordan,et al.  Achievement Growth in Children With Learning Difficulties in Mathematics: Findings of a Two-Year Longitudinal Study , 2002 .

[50]  J. B. Wyman,et al.  What is reading ability , 1921 .

[51]  Jack M Fletcher,et al.  Predicting Math Outcomes , 2005, Journal of learning disabilities.

[52]  Linnea C. Ehri,et al.  Learning To Read and Learning To Spell: Two Sides of a Coin. , 2000 .

[53]  J. Defries,et al.  Comorbidity of Reading and Mathematics Disabilities , 1995, Journal of learning disabilities.