ABSTRACT
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. Researchers have found that the language of word problems is "dense and concept-loaded." There is a whole lot of information in a small amount of text, and therefore the text must be read carefully, thoroughly and attentively so that students comprehend what the problem is about. Students need a variety of ways to unpack the "dense and concept loaded" word problems that they encounter in textbooks every day. Because math word problems are "dense and loaded," teachers need to teach special reading comprehension strategies to successfully understand and solve them. Several researchers have argued that math texts are a distinct genre and that students have to learn how to unpack that type of genre.
