THE EFFECT OF SCAFFOLDED MODEL-BASED INSTRUCTION ON WORD PROBLEM-SOLVING PERFORMANCE OF ENGLISH LEARNERS WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES IN MATHEMATICS

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 LDM. The participants received instruction on scaffolded COMPS strategies using culturally responsive scaffold, linguistic scaffold, visual scaffold, and interactive scaffold. Using a multiple-probe design, the study evaluated the effect of the scaffolded COMPS program on participating students’ performance when solving a range of additive word problems. Through analyses of the students’ problem-solving processes, teachers developed a specific profile of students’ strengths and weaknesses in solving mathematics word problems and, thereby, provided appropriate and timely instructional scaffoldings for ELs with LDM. It was found that all three participants improved their performance on the researcher-developed criterion tests as well as the generalization test following the intervention. Further, this study explored the relationship between students’ performances of word problem solving accuracy and process, which has the potential to pinpoint the difficulties ELs with LDM experience and, therefore, guide practitioners in teaching ELs with LDM.