The undeniable relationship between reading comprehension and mathematics performance

Anna L. Gomez, Elena D. Pecina, Sara Abi Villanueva and Tonya Huber
Texas A&M International University, USA

In a world driven by literacy, there is still unfortunately a stigma about teachers who are not English, language arts or reading teachers, undertaking teaching of reading skills and/or strategies in their courses. The maths world still does not accept reading as a major component; however, the consequences are too noticeable to ignore. It is time for the education system to accept the importance of implementing reading skills in mathematics classes to curtail the issues that arise with students doing poorly in maths because it is much more than the manipulation of numbers. Fuchs et al. (2015) clarified "[w]ord-problem (WP) solving differs from other forms of mathematics competence because it requires students to decipher text describing a problem situation and derive the number sentence representing the situation" (p. 204). Content-area teachers are becoming aware of the relationship between these two subjects and are adding reading into the mathematics curriculum because of the necessity. Bernadowski (2016) stated "[i]n an era of accountability and standards-based instruction, it is no secret that content area teachers are finding themselves in the throes of literacy instruction" (p. 3). The purpose of this literature review is to identify how reading comprehension contributes to the mathematics performance of elementary and middle school students.
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Authors: Anna L. Gomez is currently in her seventh year of teaching English language arts in a low-income school in South Texas. She holds a bachelors degree in bilingual education EC-6 from Texas A&M International University; in addition, she completed a masters degree in school counselling in 2019 at the same university. Email: annagomez@dusty.tamiu.edu Elena D. Pecina completed a bachelors degree in Bilingual Education EC-6 at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas. In 2019, she obtained a masters degree in school counselling. She is currently in her fifth year of teaching mathematics at the elementary level and her seventh year of teaching experience. Email: elena.pecina@dusty.tamiu.edu Sara Abi Villanueva will be earning a masters degree in special education with a concentration in reading this December from Texas A&M International in Laredo, Texas. She has worked as a secondary English teacher for 14 years. Her areas of research include twice-exceptional students, equitable literacy education, and GCED (Global Citizenship Education). Email: sarabicano@dusty.tamiu.edu Tonya Huber PhD has edited eight books and authored two, more than 125 refereed articles, chapters, and reference book entries, and more than 160 invited recurring newspaper columns, features in university publications, and journal editorials. Professor Huber is committed to critical inquiry, Education 2030 and Freire's liberatory pedagogy. Email: tonya.huber@tamiu.edu Please cite as: Gomez, A. L., Pecina, E. D., Villanueva, S. A. & Huber, T. (2020). The undeniable relationship between reading comprehension and mathematics performance. Issues in Educational Research, 30(4), 1329-1354. http://www.iier.org.au/iier30/gomez.pdf