Daroczy G, Wolska M, Meurers WD, Nuerk HC. Word problems: a review of linguistic and numerical factors contributing to their difficulty.
Front Psychol 2015;
6:348. [PMID:
25883575 PMCID:
PMC4381502 DOI:
10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00348]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2014] [Accepted: 03/11/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Word problems (WPs) belong to the most difficult and complex problem types that pupils encounter during their elementary-level mathematical development. In the classroom setting, they are often viewed as merely arithmetic tasks; however, recent research shows that a number of linguistic verbal components not directly related to arithmetic contribute greatly to their difficulty. In this review, we will distinguish three components of WP difficulty: (i) the linguistic complexity of the problem text itself, (ii) the numerical complexity of the arithmetic problem, and (iii) the relation between the linguistic and numerical complexity of a problem. We will discuss the impact of each of these factors on WP difficulty and motivate the need for a high degree of control in stimuli design for experiments that manipulate WP difficulty for a given age group.
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