Language and modeling word problems in mathematics among bilinguals.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Bilingual Education
• Mathematics Education

Background:

• Bilingualism presents unique challenges and advantages in cognitive tasks.
• Understanding how language influences mathematical problem-solving is crucial for educational strategies.
• Previous research has explored language effects, but findings on abstract mathematical modeling remain debated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of problem language (Filipino vs. English) on mathematical word problem structure modeling in Filipino-English bilinguals.
• To determine if linguistic factors influence the cognitive processes involved in grasping the underlying structure of math problems.
• To explore the role of first language acquisition in bilingual problem-solving.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the problem-completion paradigm, where students infer the question from an incomplete word problem.
• Administered arithmetic word problems in both Filipino and English to bilingual students.
• Compared problem-structure modeling and solution data between students with Filipino as a first language and those with English as a first language.

Main Results:

• No significant difference was found in problem-structure modeling based on the language of the word problem.
• Both problem-completion and solution data indicated language had no effect on abstract mathematical modeling.
• Linguistic factors did not impede the understanding of the mathematical structure, only potentially reading comprehension aspects.

Conclusions:

• The language of math word problems does not appear to affect the abstract structural modeling of problems in Filipino-English bilinguals.
• Cognitive processes for mathematical structure are relatively insulated from linguistic variations in bilinguals.
• Future research should differentiate between linguistic influences on abstract mathematical reasoning versus comprehension-based components.