Using reading strategies to support math teaching and learning does not mean that mathematics teachers need to become reading specialists. However, it is essential that students learn strategies for understanding math vocabulary and word problem solving. This is really nothing new for math teachers, because they have always been teaching reading. On the other hand, there are some strategies that work better than others.
Students need help by being asked questions they do not understand, as opposed to direct instruction that involves reading and interpreting math for them. Unfortunately, far too often direct instruction leads to reading strategies taught to students that are more procedural than conceptual such as:
- of means times
- total means to add
- difference means to subtract
These are examples of math being interpreted and analyzed for students.
Teaching Strategies: Reading Requirements
Although math textbooks are written for the appropriate grade level, they typically have more concepts per paragraph than other types of textbooks. These textbook pages are so packed with information that students become distracted and confused. Modern math textbooks also do not follow the normal reading strategy of left-to-right.
Students today are technological gurus, so to speak. They use the Internet for almost everything. Many of these students have developed the familiar “F” reading pattern that online readers use to scan information on a page (Jakob Neilsen’s Eye Tracking Study, 2006). This pattern has three components:
- First is a horizontal eye movement across the upper part a page.
- Move down the page a bit, then more horizontal eye movement.
- Third, they use vertical movement down the left side of the page to scan for important information.
Teaching Reading: Developing Good Reading Habits
Recognizing this reading pattern is important for helping students read math textbooks. Students need to be taught to look around the page, search for important information. For example teaching students to:
- Preview a page by looking at the subtitles and the pictures to stimulate prior knowledge and experiences with related math concepts.
- Check for understanding by paraphrasing the author's words in their own words.
- Use context clues to figure out unknown words through inference and prediction.
- Make connections between new concepts and existing knowledge through summaries of the information.
Reinforcement of a math concept needs to make sense. This can be accomplished by using scaffolding experiences to help students connect new information with their prior knowledge and to build new knowledge, while considering the “F” reading pattern.
Looking for Explicit Clues – students were asked to write “5 x 5 x 5 x 6 x 6 x 7 x 7 x 8” in exponential notation by their textbook. The important clue here is notation and students with prior experiences with this concept will be able to write out the answer correctly. Students who do not recognize the significance of this term will simply multiply.
Examples of questions to ask students to avoid explicitly telling them what the term means, include:
- What information is available that might help solve the problem?
- Does the fact that this is an exponential problem help determine what needs to be accomplished?
- An additional reading strategy is to teach students to read the aloud to themselves or read the problem to someone else. This is especially important when reading information that has multiple parts.
One example problem is – “What is the cost of one bucket of paint, how many buckets of paint are needed, and what is the total cost of the paint?.” In this case, students need to develop one of several strategies by taking the main question apart and listing the individual questions separately (i.e., rewriting the question).
Guided Reading: Developing an Understanding of Math
Guided reading involves students reading their math textbook in small segments, being sure to process each segment before going on to the next one. Guided reading is best used when students are encouraged to think of their own questions as they read.
After reading, students make two columns on a piece of paper, one headed Math Concept and the other headed Questions. For example:
- Math Concept – Area of Geometric Figures
- Questions – What does the title mean?
An additional strategy in guided reading is to use a class Wiki to study math , because students use their reading and writing skills to develop a better understanding of mathematics.
Reading strategies used to support teaching math, recognize that part of the job is helping students become autonomous and self-directed learners of mathematics. This includes being aware that students have prior knowledge and experiences, including reading in an “F” pattern, that affect their comprehension in math.
David R. Wetzel - Dr. David Wetzel's experience includes more than 25 years in continuing, adult, and teacher education.
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