A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. December 2014. / The National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement document (CAPS) (Department
of Basic Education, 2012: 4) outlines some of the salient skills related to the modelling of
word problems that Mathematics learners are expected to acquire during the course of their
learning. One such critical skill is the learners' ability to represent and describe situations in
algebraic language, formulae and expressions. In line with this broad objective, the present
study investigated learners' linguistic knowledge and skills in translating from word to linear
algebraic representations. Particularly focussing on errors learners made during the translation
process, a class of 40 Grade 11 learners at one school in Gauteng West District were selected
and given a written test on word problems. To gain access to learner misunderstandings
leading to the observed errors and their sources, five learners were selected for interviews that
were audio recorded. A Mixed-method Sequential Explanatory Design was used in the study.
The major finding of this present study was that learners committed more semantic errors than
syntactic and schematic errors suggesting that they (learners) had challenges in understanding
the language used in the word problems. The major sources of semantic errors were found to
be learners' lack of vocabulary knowledge, inexperience in interacting with expository text
structures and their lack of syntax awareness. In addition to the above finding, learners
exhibited limited metacognitive skills essential in word problem solving as well as their
inability to reflect on the appropriateness of their written algebraic representations for all
categories of word problems. The study concludes by providing recommendations on how errors committed in word problem solving can be attended to
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/17633 |
| Date | 06 May 2015 |
| Creators | Madzorera, Andrew |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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