The language contained in math word problems is often abstract, causing difficulty for students with language deficits. It is essential that students realize the mathematical operation that these words signal. Although I am not a math tutor, I have spent many an hour working with clients on the setting up of word problems.
First, they need to learn these concepts--which is hopefully being done in a multi-sensory manner by the math instructor. We, as language educators, SLPs and parents can reinforce these concepts, moving from hands-on materials, to representative methods, using paper and/or technology. I usually start by creating pictorial representations, discussing with the student what is happening in the language "story" (word problem). After this, we set the problem up using numbers.
As students move into higher elementary and middle school years, this pictorial step is often omitted; the assumption being that this step is unnecessary. Next week, I will share how to use Notability to easily draw, duplicate, combine, etc., which is difficult to do using paper.
This chart of words and operations was accessed from the purplemath website, which is a helpful site for math:
Stapel, Elizabeth. "Translating Word Problems: Keywords." Purplemath. Available from
http://www.purplemath.com/modules/translat.htm. Accessed 05 November 2014
Copyright © Elizabeth Stapel 2000-2011 All Rights Reserved
| Addition | increased
by more than combined, together total of sum, plus added to |
| Subtraction | decreased
by minus, less difference between/of less than, fewer than |
| Multiplication | of times, multiplied by product of increased/decreased by a factor of (this type can involve both addition or subtraction and multiplication!) |
| Division | per,
a out of ratio of, quotient of percent (divide by 100) |
| Equals | is,
are, was, were, will be gives, yields sold for |
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