A Literature Review:

The Elementary School Students: Mathematical Problem Solving Based on Reading

Abilities

Aiza Zaide Daug Tinambacan

Mathematics plays a big role in developing human thoughts, bringing strategic,

systematic reasoning processes used in problem analysis and solving. It helps

people to be able to anticipate, plan, decide, and properly solve each problem in

daily life. Mathematics is also a tool to study technological sciences and such. Thus

mathematics is useful to our living, helping to improve the quality of life (The Basic

Education Core Curriculum, 2008). Moreover, the National Council Teachers of

Mathematics (2012) stated that problem solving skills are the main expectation of

mathematics subject. On the other hand, the main purpose of mathematics teaching

is to enable students to solve daily life problems. Hence, it can be said that

mathematics is a tool to train students to be able to solve problems, and to build

thinking processes that lead to further ability to solve non-mathematical problems.

One of the primary objectives of education is to create individuals who can read

instructions in their daily lives, make decisions about issues requiring social

participation, read media and are able to overcome potential problems to be

encountered in future (Karataş & Güven, 2003; Özsoy & Kuruyer, 2012). In line with

this objective, problem solving and reading comprehension instructions given during

the education process should attach priority to imparting these skills to students and

further developing them. Problem solving refers to the elimination of a problem

through the use of required information and operations in cognitive processes

(reasoning) (Altun, 1995). Reading comprehension, on the other hand, refers to the

construction of meaning by the reader from context through the use of textual cues
(Akyol, 2010; Duffy, 2009). Therefore, like problem solving, reading comprehension

relies on the reader’s recognition and perception of symbols in written language,

grammar, cognitive skills and real life experiences. The most important requirement

for problem solving and reading comprehension is the transfer of solutions to

different situations. Just as problem solving requires more than performing

operations with numbers, using four main operations and symbols, reading

comprehension requires more than word recognition and the accurate vocalization of

words. Problem solving and reading comprehension essentially work together in

order to reach a goal and do so by utilizing different resources for this purpose. In

this regard, reading comprehension skills and problem solving skills are closely

interrelated (Fuentes, 1998; Jordan, Hanich & Kaplan, 2003; Vilenius‐Tuohimaa,

Aunola & Nurmi, 2008). Solving a problem requires establishing a link between

inputs and anticipated outcomes. Reading assigns meaning to a text by determining

a suitable goal and method. No problem or text is self-expressive (Akyol, 2005).

Therefore, an individual’s eagerness, their interest, setting a goal and use of strategy

are of great importance for problem solving and reading comprehension skills.

Evaluation of students’ problem solving skills and reading comprehension skills is as

important as the teaching of these skills (Karataş, 2002; Pearson & Hamm, 2005).

An individual needs to activate his/her information about the use of problem solving

and reading comprehension skills and effect a transfer of information between these

skills. For the evaluation of whether such a transfer takes place, these two skills

must be observed together, while for the development of problem solving and

reading comprehension skills, they need to be observed and evaluated in the long-

run. Problems, including the comprehension of a text, bring about many difficulties

for elementary school students due to the complexity of problem solving processes.
Problems stated within the context of a story seem to be more complex and difficult

for students than problems not embedded in a text (Mayer, Lewis & Hegarty, 1992;

Nathan, Long & Alibali, 2002). It is reported that when compared to similar problems

stated with numbers, students are 30% less successful in solving problems that

include a story (Carpenter, Corbitt, Kepner, Lindquist & Reys, 1980). Even when

they know how to solve problems that does not include a story, when they are

presented with these problems embedded within a story, solving them can be more

challenging, because solving problems that include a story requires the use of

various cognitive processes in an integrated manner. For children that do not have

an adequate knowledge base or have limited memory capacity, these tasks can be

much more challenging (Jitendra, Griffin, DeatlineBuchman & Sczesniak, 2007).

When solving problems that include a story, students are required to understand the

language of the problem and the concrete information presented in the problem, to

properly conceptualize the problem in his/her mind based on the information given

within the problem, to design and follow a plan and to make the calculations required

by the solution process of the problem (Desoete, Roeyers & De Clercq, 2003). In

short, solving narration problems is closely associated with understanding the

relationships involved in the text and the goal stated in the problem. The results of a

set of studies conducted on narration problems that included addition and

subtraction operations revealed that rather than the syntax of the text, meaning or

mathematic structure was viewed to be more important (Carpenter, Hiebert & Moser,

1983). Similar research findings have shown that the problems experienced by

students regarding narration problems are related to an accurate comprehension of

the text, rather than numbers or operations (Gökkurt & Soylu, 2013)
Students need Language skills to understand mathematical symbols. Language is

the key of cognitive development because language is a communication tools among

people. Problem solving means engaging task in which the solution method is known

in advance. Mathematics as a language which uses symbols is used to facilitate a

person in doing the analysis so that it can solve the problems of life associated with

the use of mathematics. A person will be able to solve math problems if supported by

a language understanding with known situations and using previously familiar

symbols. In order to find the solution, student must illustrate on their knowledge and

through the process to solve the problem; they will often develop new mathematical

understandings. Solving problem is not only a goal of learning mathematics but also

a major means of doing it. Students should have frequent opportunities to formulate,

grapple with, and solve complex problem that require a significant amount of effort

and should then be encourage reflecting on their thinking [8]. Model of the problem

solving process identifies four sequential phases: problem translation (i.e., utilizing

linguistic skill to comprehend what the problem is saying), problem integration (i.e.,

mathematics interpretation relationships among the problem parts to form a

structural representation), solution planning (i.e., determining which operations to

use and the order in which to use them), and the solution execution (i.e., carrying out

the planned

computations to solve the problem) [5].

Findings from the analysis of

mathematical problem solving
difficulties among elementary school
students
suggest that students do not like to
read very long problems. When
students do not understand a problem,
they are
like to make a guess without having
any mathematical thinking process.
This result is in accord once with the
studies of Lamb (2010) and Jiban &
Deno (2007) that states that the level
of reading skill is a significant
indicator to
mathematics achievement. In the
same way, a study of Sombat
Phothong (1996) says that students
lack analytical
and reading skills, and are unable to
analyze the problems given. They
also lack mathematical thinking
processes.
Another study of Bruckner &
Grossnickle (1947) that says students
lack interest to do mathematical
problems
because they are too long and
complex, hence not motivating
students to feel like doing them.
Another finding shows that when
students do not understand a problem,
they are likely to make a guess
without
using any mathematical thinking
process, and are unable to figure out
what to assume and what information
from
the problem is necessary to solving it,
and have difficulties in understanding
the keywords appearing in problems
thus cannot interpret them into
symbols. This is in accord with
Bruckner & Grossnickle (1947) who
say students
cannot understand what the text
implies, and cannot start the thinking
process to solve the problem.
Students know
only limited keywords or technical
terms. This also supports Suydam &
Weaver (1977) who say the reason
why
students do mathematical problems
wrong is because they lack
knowledge about principles, rules,
and processes.
Calculation and comprehension skills
are also lacking. Thus they cannot
interpret the meaning of some words
correctly and fail to catch smaller
details. This research still goes along
with a study by Uthai Petchuay
(1998) that
claims teachers tend to make students
memorize only "keywords" in
problems just to make formulae.
Findings from the analysis of
mathematical problem solving
difficulties among elementary school
students
suggest that students do not like to
read very long problems. When
students do not understand a problem,
they are
like to make a guess without having
any mathematical thinking process.
This result is in accord once with the
studies of Lamb (2010) and Jiban &
Deno (2007) that states that the level
of reading skill is a significant
indicator to
mathematics achievement. In the
same way, a study of Sombat
Phothong (1996) says that students
lack analytical
and reading skills, and are unable to
analyze the problems given. They
also lack mathematical thinking
processes.
Findings from the analysis of mathematical problem solving difficulties among

elementary school students suggest that students do not like to read very long

problems. When students do not understand a problem, they are like to make a

guess without having any mathematical thinking process. This result is in accord

once with the studies of Lamb (2010) and Jiban & Deno (2007) that states that the

level of reading skill is a significant indicator to mathematics achievement. In the

same way, a study of Sombat Phothong (1996) says that students lack analytical

and reading skills, and are unable to analyze the problems given. They also lack

mathematical thinking processes. Also the result of the analysis of problem solving

difficulties taken from the interview of mathematics teachers shows that, 1) Students

cannot read text or have difficulties in reading, leading to difficulties in mathematics

problem solving, 2) Students always misinterpret the text, 3) Students dislike long

problems, 4) When students do not understand a problem, they are like to make a

guess without using any mathematical thinking process, 5) Students are impatient

and do not like to read problems, 6) Students are unable to figure out what to

assume and what information from the problem is necessary to solving it, and 7)
Students have difficulties in understanding the keywords appearing in problems, thus

cannot interpret them into symbols.

References:

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Skills in Relation to their Reading Levels International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education 8

pp 113-132

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[8] National Council of Teacher of Mathematics 2012 Principles and Standards for School

Mathematics (Reston V.A: NCTM) p 67

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