Mathematics vocabulary and word problems: Exploring how they contribute to maths learning diffi culties

Students come to know that they are entering a realm in which common-sense and real world knowledge are not needed. Students learn to ignore contexts and work only with the numbers.

(Boaler, 2009: 46-47)

Word problems do create diffi culties for many children, particularly those with mathematics weaknesses. In their study of the characteristic behaviours of such children, Bryant et al.’s ( 2000 ) the top three characteristics (out of 33) were:

● Has diffi culty with word problems. ● Has diffi culty with multi-step problems. ● Has diffi culty with the language of mathematics.