THE IMPACT OF READING COMPREHENSION ON MATHEMATICS WORD PROBLEM SOLVING

Abstract

Word problem constitutes an important part of the mathematics curriculum of the elementary school. Different studies have argued that the understanding of the problem is the most difficult part for students, because of the lack of understanding of the 'keywords' used in the problem contexts. Thus, because the process of word problem solving is related to reading comprehension, as a most important factor in this study it was examined the impact of reading comprehension for improving student's skills for mathematics word problem-solving. Participants in the study were fifty-fourth-grade students and their teachers. The methodology of the study is the collaborative action research. The researchers (authors) have worked together with two class teachers and have used the Reciprocal Teaching method as an intervention for eight weeks aimed to improve the student's skills for reading comprehension. The Reciprocal Teaching method includes prediction, clarifying, questioning and summarizing strategies. The data collection instruments used in this study were teachers' reflections and pre and post-test. The results from this study show that the improvement of student's skills for reading comprehension has a positive impact on the improvement of student's skills for mathematics word problem-solving.