Influence of Writing Ability and Computation Skill on Mathematics Writing

Abstract

Mathematics standards expect students to communicate about mathematics using oral and written methods, and some high-stakes assessments ask students to answer mathematics questions by writing. Assumptions about mathematics communication via writing include (a) students possess writing skill, (b) students can transfer this writing skill to mathematics writing, and (c) mathematics writing is representative of a mathematics knowledge. We conducted a study in which we investigated the connections among general writing ability, mathematics computation skill, and mathematics writing. With 155 fourth-grade students in two regions of the United States, we administered a measure of essay writing, a measure of mathematics computation skill, and two mathematics-writing prompts. Results indicate moderate correlations among general writing ability, computation skill, and mathematics writing. Additionally, general writing ability and computation skill are significantly related to mathematics-writing outcomes.

Piloting a Mathematics‐Writing Intervention with Late Elementary Students At‐Risk for Learning Difficulties

“…The treatment and control groups in the current study received mean total scores of 1.21 ( SD = 0.25) and 2.27 ( SD = 0.54), respectively. In a previous study by Powell and Hebert (), students at the 25th percentile or below on the Wide Range Achievement Test‐4 math computation subtest scored received mean scores of 1.6 on ( SD = 2.07) on the same math‐writing measure, whereas students above the 25th percentile received mean scores of 5.89 ( SD = 3.76). In another study by Hebert, Powell, Bohaty, and Roehling (under review), students in grades 3–5 with a grade equivalent score of one or more grades below their current grade level on the Woodcock Johnson‐III (WJ‐III) Mathematics Fluency subtest received mean scores of 1.09 ( SD = 1.81), whereas students who had grade equivalent scores on the WJ‐III that were more than a grade level below their current grade level had scores of 3.32 ( SD = 3.01).…”

“…We designed this study to explore the effects of a MW intervention on the MW of students completing grades 3, 4, and 5, who were also at‐risk for a learning disability. It was expected that students with low‐writing skills may also have difficulty writing about mathematics, due to moderate correlations between writing scores and MW scores in previous studies (Hebert & Powell, ; Powell & Hebert, ). There were no significant correlations between pretest writing scores and pretest scores of MW.…”

“…At pre‐ and posttest, students also completed an MW assessment developed by the authors and validated in previous studies (see Hebert & Powell, ; Powell & Hebert, ). In the prompt, students see a multistep word problem completed by a pseudo‐student, “Sam,” who solved the word problem in four steps.…”

“…In sum, prior research in the elementary grades about MW assessments utilized different methods for scoring MW: rubric scoring (Kostos & Shin, ), awarding points for features of writing or mathematics (Cohen et al., ; Powell & Hebert, ), or scoring by category (Evens & Houssart, ). Each of these scoring methods shared similarities with scoring of general writing samples (Koutsoftas & Gray, ; Olinghouse & Wilson, ).…”

Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Schema Intervention

“…Elementary mathematics can pose challenges for ELLs due to the linguistic complexity of instruction and assessment. In mathematics classrooms, students are expected to not only understand and solve problems but also explain their problem-solving process in written and verbal forms (Moschkovich, 1999; Powell & Hebert, in press). Many mathematical terms are new to learners (e.g., rhombus, subtract ), and others may be familiar sounding (e.g., sum, value, product ) but have specific and complex mathematical definitions (Freeman & Crawford, 2008).…”