Word problems are a question type commonly seen in math tests and exams. Since word problems are an integral part in teaching and learning of mathematics in schools, understanding what factors that would affect students' ability to solve math word problems may help students understand where their weaknesses lie and help teachers adopt effective…

In this study, how the learning process designed with mathematical modeling activities affects the mathematical modeling competencies of middle school students who are at different levels in terms of reading comprehension skills. In the study, nested (embedded) pattern was preferred among mixed method research designs. The participants of the…

This dissertation investigates the ways that natural languages evolve and what it means in the overall cultural evolution of society. Computational and modeling advances have made possible to explore large-scale text data and test hypothesis of language evolution. Similar to biological systems, natural languages are evolving systems with words as…

To solve mathematical modelling problems, students must translate real-world situations, which are typically presented in text form, into mathematical models. To complete the translation process, the problem-solver must first understand the real-world situation. Therefore, reading comprehension can be considered an essential part of solving…

Solving reality-based tasks is an important goal in mathematics instruction and is anchored in education standards determined by mathematical modeling skills. These tasks demand a serious examination of the real-world as well as text comprehension to successfully solve them. Therefore, this study empirically reconstructed the comprehension process…

Although proof comprehension is fundamental in advanced undergraduate mathematics courses, there has been limited research on what it means to understand a mathematical proof at this level and how such understanding can be assessed. In this paper, we address these issues by presenting a multidimensional model for assessing proof comprehension in…

A quasi-static learning model was proposed to describe the interaction of factors believed to be involved in the development of reading comprehension abilities. Reading comprehension was viewed as an extension of general language learning and subject to many of the same factors and complexities as is the development of language. There are five…

This article proposes an extension to Kintsch's Construction-Integration (CI) model of text comprehension, which changes its mathematical implementation and emphasizes the connectionist features of the model. Specifically, the extension proposed here (a) simulates the learning process in a connectionist manner by making explicit changes in the…

Literature in the area of measurement of comprehensibility is reviewed as it relates to the utilization of mathematical models for English. A number of mathematical language models are presented and explained, and evidence of their usefulness is given where available. In nonmathematical research, studies concerned with measurement of letter…

Measurement is prescriptive in that the model required to produce the numbers from the phenomena is known in advance. Statistical theory is descriptive because the model required to explain the numbers is inferred from the numbers and any other information the researcher can bring to bear. There are well-known families of measurement models and…

A comparison is made between Elementary Secondary Education Act Title I normal curve equivalent (NCE) gains derived from the norm-referenced test (NRT) Model A1 and Title I NCE gains derived from the criterion-referenced test (CRT) Model A2. In addition, four equating methods (normalized, curvilinear, linear, and abbreviated equipercentile) for…

An approach to scoring reading comprehension based on the concept of the testlet is described, using models developed for items in multiple categories. The model is illustrated using data from 3,866 examinees. Application of testlet scoring to multiple category models developed for individual items is discussed. (SLD)

Structural equation modeling procedures were used to verify a causal relationship between the phonological, word recognition, reading rate, and comprehension components of the reading process. Results indicated proficiency in phonological skills was important for development of word recognition ability, a major contributor to reading…

To determine if Rasch Model procedures have any utility for equating pre-existing tests, data from the equating phase of the Anchor Test Study (ATS) were reanalyzed. This management report summarizes the work completed in the project, describes the differences in this project and that of the ATS, and presents recommendations and conclusions to the…

This study investigates whether or not the factor structure of reading comprehension is invariant across large, nationally representative samples of 14-year-old students from four different countries. The data from French-speaking Belgium, Hungary, Italy, and the United States were collected as part of the Reading Literacy Study of 1990-91,…