[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-588702-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-588702-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","the-intricacies-of-assessing-numeracy-investigating-alternatives-to-word-problems","The Intricacies of Assessing Numeracy - Investigating Alternatives to Word Problems","","Word problems are widely used to assess numeracy, yet evidence shows learners often struggle due to how tasks are presented through verbal descriptions. This Netherlands-based study examines whether changing the representation of numeracy problem situations from verbal to image-rich improves adult performance. A controlled randomized trial compared adults with results from a similar trial in primary and secondary education. Results showed slight improvement overall, especially in measurement and geometry, with effects comparable across ages.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-intricacies-of-assessing-numeracy-investigating-alternatives-to-word-problems/588702/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-intricacies-of-assessing-numeracy-investigating-alternatives-to-word-problems/588702.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Rizky","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-04","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",8,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why do word problems create difficulties in numeracy assessment?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The study highlights that difficulties are often influenced by the verbal presentation of problem situations, leading to problems in sensemaking for many learners.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What did the study change in the problem representations?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"It compared verbal word problems with image-rich representations that combine pictures and words for the same numeracy situation.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What were the main findings about adults and task types?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Adult participants showed slight performance gains with image-rich representations, particularly for tasks in the measurement and geometry content domain, and the effect was similar to results seen in younger student groups.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},588702,1792960907,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":55,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},962085564807,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","Hoogland K., & Pepin, B. (2016) The intricacies of assessing numeracy: Investigating alternatives to word problems. Adults Learning Mathematics: An International Journal, 11(2), 14-26  \nThe Intricacies of Assessing Numeracy: Investigating Alternatives to  \nWord Problems  \nKees Hoogland  \nSLO-Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development \u003C[k.hoogland@slo.nl](k.hoogland@slo.nl)>  \nBirgit Pepin  \nEindhoven School of Education, Eindhoven University, the Netherlands  \n\u003C[b.e.u.pepin@tue.nl](b.e.u.pepin@tue.nl)>  \nAbstract  \nWord problems are often used to assess numeracy, despite the growing number of reports on difficulties students encounter with this genre of mathematical problems. These reports contend that a large number of difficulties are influenced by the way the problems are presented, that is, with verbal representations of the problem situations. These difficulties are said to be associated with a form of suspension of sensemaking. In this study, conducted in the Netherlands, we investigated the effect on adult participants’performances of changing the representation of the problem situation, from verbal to image-rich. A controlled randomised trial was the main part of this investigation. Furthermore, we compared the results of adult participants with the results of a similar trial which was held with students from primary and secondary education. The study showed that adult participants’ performances improved slightly with the change in representation, particularly on tasks in the content domain of measurement & geometry. These results were comparable with the results found of students from primary and secondary education, indicating that the effect is not related to age. The results could be of interest, however, for all practitioners involved in the work of numeracy task design.  \nKey words: numeracy, assessment, word problems  \nIntroduction  \nIn most recent approaches in adult numeracy research, adult numeracy is defined as a complex, multifaceted, and sophisticated construct, incorporating the mathematics, communications, cultural, social, emotional and personal aspects of each individual in context (American Institutes for Research, 2006; Coben, 2003; Geiger, Goos, & Forgasz, 2015) . As a consequence, learning and assessing numeracy in authentic situations is often advocated (Frankenstein, 2009) . A closer look at lesson or test materials used in numeracy education in many countries, however, reveals that most assessment materials consist of word problems or of items assessing procedural arithmetic skills. The same is the case in the Netherlands where, despite the country’s high rankings in international comparisons, there are persistent complaints about the literacy and numeracy levels of young adults in vocational education and in the workplace. As a result, in 2010 a Literacy and Numeracy Framework (LaNF) was introduced in the Netherlands, with a compulsory numeracy examination at the end of the vocational educational tracks  \n14 Adults Learning Mathematics – An International Journal  \n(Hoogland & Stelwagen, 2012) . After a lively debate on the assumed value of procedural skills for (young) adult learners, a compulsory numeracy examination has been implemented which consists of 45 mathematical problems of which 15 are strictly procedural problems and 30 arecontextual problems. Many teachers and mathematics educators have questioned the relevance of assessing vocational students this way, and they perceive a gap between the numeracy used by their young adult students in everyday life and (future) work, and numeracy as operationalised in the final examinations (Hoogland, 2006; Hoogland & Pepin, in press) . A study in 2011 and 2012 in the Netherlands focused on the idea that using image-rich numeracy problems contributes to bridging the gap between common classroom practice in numeracy and more sophisticated numeracy concepts (Hoogland, 2016) . Part of this study was a controlled randomised trial with almost 32,0","cbCaijNGy4cI2I1g","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijNGy4cI2I1g","pdf",4994629,13,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n# Theoretical perspectives","[{\"question\":\"Why do word problems create difficulties in numeracy assessment?\",\"answer\":\"The study highlights that difficulties are often influenced by the verbal presentation of problem situations, leading to problems in sensemaking for many learners.\"},{\"question\":\"What did the study change in the problem representations?\",\"answer\":\"It compared verbal word problems with image-rich representations that combine pictures and words for the same numeracy situation.\"},{\"question\":\"What were the main findings about adults and task types?\",\"answer\":\"Adult participants showed slight performance gains with image-rich representations, particularly for tasks in the measurement and geometry content domain, and the effect was similar to results seen in younger student groups.\"}]","The Intricacies of Assessing Numeracy - Investigating Alternatives to Word Problems | PDF",1792065773,33]