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To engage with specialized subject content, students must develop adequate reading skills. In mathematics, this includes to integrate information from different semiotic resources. This study elucidates how differences in the structural connections between mathematical symbols and written language in mathematics texts can affect the reading process. With the help of eye-tracking techniques, we investigated differences in focus and navigation when 15-year-olds read task texts in two distinct designs: a traditional design with written language presented in lines and all connections based on semantics; and a design including a graphic emphasizing links between symbols and explanations. While the graphic design was found to facilitate fast interpretation of the symbol–language connections, the traditional design seemed to encourage global reading, involving more text parts. When designing texts for mathematics learning, structural connections may be chosen to adapt texts to various student groups and purposes.

In mathematical text and talk, natural language is a constant companion to mathematical symbols. The purpose of this study is to identify different types of relations between natural language and symbolic language in mathematics textbooks. Here we focus on the level of integration. We have identified examples of high integration (e.g., when symbols are part of a sentence), medium integration (e.g., when the shifts between natural and symbolic language occurs when switching to a new line), and low integration (e.g., when symbols and written words are connected by the layout).

In this study, we examine how the use of natural language varies, considering the symbolic language in procedural and conceptual aspects of mathematics.

This empirical study examines how different types of symbols, familiar and unfamiliar, are processed in working memory; phonologically and/or visuo-spatially.