My 2? in Education: Does reading ability affect Math achievement in ...

Does reading ability affect Math achievement in High School students?

?Reading is fundamental in predicting Math achievement in 10th graders? is an article written by Karen H. Larwin from Youngstown State University. It is a comprehensive study on the needs of high school students, and the relationship between math achievement - specifically with respect to solving word problems - and reading ability. The author starts by giving some background on the research and studies that had already been performed in the past regarding math performance.Studies done by Schacter (1999) found that Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) had a positive impact on students? achievement of math ? improving their percentile from 50th to 73rd. Studies done by Rangappa (1994) had ?found significant differences in mathematics achievement for students with high, normal, and low self-concepts? (Larwin, 2010, p. 132). In other words, students with higher self-esteem performed better. In the same way, research done by Mason and Scrivani (2004) had investigated students? attitudes and self-evaluations, and how they affected students? math achievement. They had concluded that these mathematical beliefs do affect in a significant way the achievement of students in this area. On the other hand, Majumder (2003) had found that reading comprehension was a defining factor in students? ability to solve word problems.
In spite of all these studies, little research had been done to examine the relationship between reading ability and math performance. This led to the need of a new study of the data set from the Education Longitudinal Study: 2002 (ELS-2002) ? a data set that monitors students from 10th through 12th grade and beyond. Initially 752 schools had been selected randomly from a pool of 27,000 schools that represented ethnic diversity. Out of the 752 schools, 442 10th grade participants were selected based on completion of the preliminary requirements ? completion of teacher surveys as well as students? tests. And of these 442 students, 240 were female and 202 male. The study?s goal was to test the following hypotheses: 1) were there any differences between male and female performances? 2) Does reading ability indeed predict math achievement? And 3) do the variables of CAI, teacher?s expectation, and student math self-efficacy have a stronger influence on Math achievement than reading ability?
The study was composed of two models. The first model took into consideration only reading proficiency as a factor, and the results indicated ?that reading achievement is a significant predictor of the student?s level of mathematics achievement? (Larwin, 2010, p. 139). The second model, on the other hand, took into consideration the three independent variables mentioned above ? CAI, teacher?s expectation and student math self-efficacy. The results of this model found a direct correlation between math self-efficacy and teacher?s expectation and students? math success. In regards to male and female differences in performance, no significant differences were revealed.
I believe it was wise to do a study of 10th graders as opposed to 8th graders, since the stage in life does indeed affect the performance of students in school. Eighth grade was a rough year, and Social Studies was never my strong subject in school. My head was full of butterflies, and school was not in my mind. At the end of that year, I did not pass Social Studies class, which forced me to go to summer school. That was a hard lesson to learn, after being a straight A student for a while. One of the suggestions mentioned in the conclusion was that math coursework should be postponed for English Language Learner (ELL) students until they have acquired the reading skills necessary to solve word problems. I believe that suggestion is too general and dismisses the fact that some ELL?s might be very proficient in math. I believe a combination of guided bilingual instruction and challenging coursework would meet the needs of these students.
References:
1. Larwin, K. PhD. (2010). Reading is Fundamental in Predicting Math Achievement in 10th Graders. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 5 (3), 131-145.
2. Picture taken from Google

Source: http://my2centsineducation.blogspot.com/2012/10/does-reading-ability-affect-math.html

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