Identifying Students’ Difficulties in Mathematics Word Problem Solving in Elementary School

Abstract

This study aimed to identify students' difficulties in solving mathematical word problems. The research method employed in this study was descriptive exploratory. The subjects were 86 fifth grade students of state elementary school in Bandung. Six of them were interviewed deeper since they came from different schools. The data were collected through test and interview. The results of the study indicated that students have difficulties in: (1) comprehending the language used in the word problems, such difficulty in understanding the meaning of the problem, translating problems into mathematical sentences, and answering too long questions; (2) understanding the concept, for example in number operations; and (3) representing, such as representing writing or text to other representation. Finding and classifying the difficulties of students in solving Mathematics word problems in elementary school can help researchers and teachers to improve the learning process.