Evaluating the Design of an Online Module on Students’ Understanding of Word Problem Genre in a Multilingual Grade 6 Mathematics Classroom

Abstract

This study examined how Grade 6 multilingual learners in Lebanon interacted with an online mathematics module on integers designed using a word problem genre approach and incorporating translanguaging features. The module was structured according to principles of cognitive apprenticeship, progressing through modeling, scaffolding, and fading phases of instructional support. Fifteen Grade 6 students from a Lebanese private school, whose first language is colloquial Lebanese Arabic and who study mathematics in English, participated in the study. Multiple sources of data were collected, including individual students’ clicking histories and time-on-task data within the module, written responses to scaffolded and fading tasks, and semi-structured interviews. Students’ interaction with the module was analyzed using frequency, performance, profile, and mean performance–variability analyses to capture both overall trends and participant-level response patterns across five genre-focused sections of the module. Findings show that students were generally successful in identifying key information in word problems and interpreting language that describes numerical changes and positions (such as increases, decreases, and location relative to a reference point) during fading phases, when instructional support was gradually withdrawn. However, increased difficulty emerged in later sections that required interpreting relationships between quantities, making assumptions not explicitly stated in the text, and understanding comparative and directional expressions (such as higher than, deeper than, or farther from). Profile analyses revealed that variation in performance was tied to specific language and reasoning demands of the word problems rather than uniform differences in student ability. Interview data further indicated that students perceived the module as accessible and supportive, valued structured guidance, and reported increased confidence when engaging with word problems. While explicit use of translanguaging features was limited, their availability appeared to support access to meaning and reduce language-related barriers.