Relations between semiotic resources in mathematics tasks: a source of students' difficulties

ABSTRACT

Tackling mathematics tasks often involves reading and interpreting different semiotic resources such as natural language (words), mathematical notation, and images. This study aims to enhance knowledge of how meaning relations, in the form of “cohesive ties” between and within different semiotic resources, are related to how difficult it is to read and solve mathematics tasks. Using 133 tasks from PISA mathematics tests and 354 tasks from the annual Swedish National Test in mathematics, statistical analyses found relations between the presence of different types of cohesive ties and measures of how difficult the tasks were to read and solve. The results reveal a difficulty aspect related to the extent to which a task has cohesive ties, of any kind, and that non-mathematics-specific reading demand is not part of this difficulty aspect. An implication is that mathematics teaching should also focus on the identification of cohesive relations in the text of tasks.

KEYWORDS:

• Cohesion
• diagram
• language

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 A task showing DIF against a particular student group is a task for which students with equal mathematical capacities but from different groups have an unequal probability of solving the task correctly.

2 When referring to students’ likelihood to solve a task, that is said to depend on students capa­cities or competencies. That is, not unchangeable traits but qualities that can be developed. In the variable “demand on reading ability” (DRA) however, ability (which may indicate a non-dynamic view) is used, to be consistent with previous articles where the same variable is used.