Language Predictors of Word-Problem Performance Among Third-Grade Students With Mathematics Difficulty.

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Mathematics Education
• Language and Literacy

Background:

• Students with mathematics difficulty often struggle with word-problem solving.
• Understanding the role of language skills in mathematics is essential for targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the predictive power of generalized and mathematics-specific language skills on word-problem performance.
• To identify which language skills are most critical for students with mathematics difficulty.

Main Methods:

• Utilized unconditional quantile regression with 325 third-grade students performing below the 25th percentile in word problems.
• Assessed generalized language skills (word reading, passage comprehension, vocabulary) and mathematics-specific vocabulary.
• Controlled for computation skills and emergent bilingual status.

Main Results:

• Mathematics-specific vocabulary knowledge significantly predicted word-problem performance across most quantiles (p < .001).
• Passage comprehension also showed a significant relation to word-problem performance (p < .05).
• Generalized vocabulary and word-reading accuracy did not significantly predict performance.

Conclusions:

• Mathematics-specific vocabulary knowledge is a key predictor of word-problem success for students with math difficulties.
• Prioritizing evidence-based mathematics-vocabulary instruction is recommended for educators and researchers.
• Targeted vocabulary interventions can support students in overcoming word-problem challenges.