Students with mathematics difficulty, especially students with disabilities and emergent bilinguals, require careful consideration during word-problem instruction. Word problems that include relational terms such as more but are not easily solved using the implied operation (i.e., addition) can be particularly challenging. First, we summarize a…

Foreign language anxiety has influenced reading achievement in English as a second language learning (ESL). However, less is known about how foreign language anxiety affects Chinese students learning English as L2 and the interplay between foreign language anxiety and cognitive-linguistic factors on L2 reading performance. This longitudinal study…

This study explores opportunity to learn (OTL) during mathematics activities for a nine-year-old student girl with difficulty in mathematics. We conducted a teaching experiment comprising 15 instructional sessions. To better understand the student's OTL, our qualitative analysis focused on how she student demonstrated self-regulation in response…

Mathematical word problems present various challenges for students, including English learners. Research on word problem-solving interventions for elementary English learners with or at risk for mathematics disabilities/difficulties was reviewed. A systematic search of studies conducted between 2012 and 2022 yielded a total of 14 research studies…

There is a growing awareness that many children are not developing fast and accurate retrieval-based strategies for solving single-digit addition problems. In this study we individually assessed 166 third and fourth grade children to identify a group of children (called accurate-min-counters) who frequently solved simple single-digit addition…

The purpose of the present study is to examine the effectiveness of the Conceptual Model-based Problem-Solving intervention program (COMPS) along with instructional scaffolds to enhance the performance of English learners (ELs) with learning difficulties in mathematics (LDM) to solve word problems. The participants were three third-grade ELs with…

This study examined how mathematics anxiety, trait emotional intelligence, and mathematics self-concept predict calculation fluency, numerical operations, and mathematical reasoning in students with and without mathematics learning difficulties (MLD). Participants (N = 326) were third- to fifth-grade students from China who completed standardized…

We examined how generalized and mathematics-specific language skills predicted the word-problem performance of students with mathematics difficulty. Participants were 325 third-grade students in the southwestern United States who performed at or below the 25th percentile on a word-problem measure. We assessed generalized language skills in word…

This study examined the effect of comprehension strategy instruction on third-grade English Learners' word-problem-solving performance. The supplemental intervention included modeling how to read the word problem to identify and restate the question, distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information, and collaborating with peers on applying the…

The present study used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2011 (ECLS-K:2011) to examine the bidirectionality and co-occurrence between math achievement and behavioral outcomes of upper elementary school students. We analyzed the cross-lagged relations across four groups of students who had different initiating statuses…

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health disorders among children and adolescents. In addition, anxiety is strongly connected to academic performance, poor social functioning, and specific learning disabilities. The current study aimed to explore anxiety in new first-fourth grade students identified with learning difference(s) after 1…

Increasingly, students must demonstrate knowledge in mathematics through mathematics writing, yet research lags in understanding how students engage in mathematics-writing tasks. Most available research on mathematics writing focuses on typically achieving students without considering students with mathematics difficulty (MD). In this study, we…

The purpose of this study was to examine the word-problem performance and strategies utilized by 3rd-grade students experiencing mathematics difficulty (MD). We assessed the efficacy of a word-problem intervention and compared the word-problem performance of students with MD who received intervention (n=51) to students with MD who received general…

Learners' foundational math skills obtained in the elementary grades profoundly impact their preparation for learning math in the upper grades. However, there is a deficiency in the foundational math skills necessary to be proficient in math and equivalent with their peers at grade level (Burton, 2018). In the elementary classrooms of kindergarten…

This study examined how word-problem characteristics influenced students' learning and retention of word-problem knowledge during and after an intervention. The participants were 221 fourth-grade students (average age at pretest = 8.8 years) who experienced word-problem difficulties (WPD) and had received a word-problem intervention in third…