Reading mathematical exercises: preliminary results

Abstract

This research on reading comprehension is concerned with linguistic complexity processing and solving of mathematical exercises by 95 Portuguese students aged 9 to 15 years, attending one of the three basic school levels. Exercises were selected from the full set of national examinations (from 2000 till 2007), covering different mathematical areas. Experimental task was to present subjects with an exercise text followed by a possible result which they had to evaluate as a good or bad answer. Preliminary results indicate that although the extension of the exercise text and of the answer influences the time spent reading and solving the problem, it does not necessarily make the resolution of the exercise harder.