Linguistic complexity of elementary mathematics word problems and their translations

Because word problems present mathematical information through a scenario, they are language-intensive and require mathematical and reading comprehension skills to solve them. In addition, they are linguistically complex, which makes them challenging for all learners, especially multilingual learner...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Language and education 2025-01, Vol.39 (1), p.37-53
Main Authors: Domke, Lisa M., Cerrato, María A., Sanders, Elizabeth H., Vo, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bilingual education
bilingual education/dual-language education
Comprehension
Content analysis
Curricula
Elementary school students
English language
French language
Language
Language acquisition
Linguistic complexity
Linguistics
Mathematical problems
Mathematics
mathematics curriculum
Multilingualism
Reading comprehension
Sociolinguistics
Spanish language
Teachers
Tense
Translation
word problems
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Summary:Because word problems present mathematical information through a scenario, they are language-intensive and require mathematical and reading comprehension skills to solve them. In addition, they are linguistically complex, which makes them challenging for all learners, especially multilingual learners. Given the rising number of dual-language bilingual programs in the United States-which have the goal of simultaneously supporting content and language learning-it is important to understand the linguistic complexity of word problems and their translations. Therefore, we adopted a sociolinguistic perspective to recognize the inextricable relationship between language and mathematics and conducted a linguistic content analysis of Grades 1 and 4 addition/subtraction word problems in a widely used U.S. elementary curriculum. We analyzed the ways in which word problems were linguistically complex and how complexity differed between English, French, and Spanish translations. We found that word problems were complex due to vocabulary inconsistencies, assumed cultural knowledge, verb tenses, and errors. The French and Spanish translations also had more errors and inconsistencies than the English source text. Findings have implications for curriculum and assessment developers related to multilingual editing and linguistic and contextual consistency, as well as for teachers to support students' engagement with language and mathematics.
ISSN:0950-0782
1747-7581
DOI:10.1080/09500782.2024.2375619