The Word-Problem Solving and Explanations of Students Experiencing Mathematics Difficulty: A Comparison Based on Dual-Language Status

In mathematics, the expectation to set up and solve word problems emerges as early as kindergarten; however, many students who experience mathematics difficulty (MD) and dual-language learners often present with specific challenges in this area. To investigate why these populations experience word-problem difficulty, we examined the word, problem solving and oral explanations of third-grade dual-language learners (DLLs; n = 40) and non-DLLs (n = 40), all of whom were identified as experiencing MD. Students solved five additive word problems and provided oral explanations of their work, which were transcribed and coded for the number of words in each explanation, type of mathematics vocabulary terms used, inclusion of correct numbers in explanations, and descriptions of addition or subtraction. We identified no significant differences in word-problem scores between DLLs and non-DLLs with MD. For both DLLs and non-DLLs, students who answered problems correctly used more words in each explanation and used more mathematics vocabulary terms within their explanations. For incorrectly answered problems, the most common mistake for both DLLs and non-DLLs involved using the incorrect operation to solve the problem.