The Key to Enhancing Students’ Mathematical Vocabulary Knowledge

Vol. 4 No. 1

Year: 2008

Issue: Jun-Aug

Title: The Key to Enhancing Students’ Mathematical Vocabulary Knowledge 

Author Name: Paul Riccomini, Sharon Sanders 

Synopsis: 

The importance of learning mathematical vocabulary is vital for the development of proficiency in mathematics. In an effort to improve students’ mathematical performance, educators must use research-validated instructional methods to teach important mathematical vocabulary. Mnemonic instruction is a set of evidenced-based strategies used to improve achievement and attitudes toward learning by helping students connect new information to prior knowledge. One especially effective mnemonic instructional approach is the keyword strategy. Using a keyword strategy, students connect familiar words with new vocabulary words and an illustration to help learn the new vocabulary word meanings. The purpose of this article is to describe the instructional procedures required to implement the keyword strategy to improve learning of essential mathematical vocabulary.