This study was conducted to determine the effect of keywords approach on solving word problems involving addition of whole numbers with sums up to 99,999 including money following the steps in problem solving. Results revealed that the pre test score was low; the post test score was high. There was a significant difference on the pre test and post test scores of keywords approach. Further, the keywords approach has large effect on the solving word problems involving addition of whole number.

1. KEYWORD APPROACH AND SOLVING WORD PROBLEMS INVOLVING
ADDITION OF WHOLE NUMBER
WENEFREDO S. HIFARVA
Abstract
This study was conducted to determine the effect of keywords approach
on solving word problems involving addition of whole numbers with sums up to
99,999 including money following the steps in problem solving. Results revealed
that the pre test score was low; the post test score was high. There was a
significant difference on the pre test and post test scores of keywords approach.
Further, the keywords approach has large effect on the solving word problems
involving addition of whole number.
Introduction
The term problem solving is used in many disciplines, sometimes with
different perspectives and often with different terminologies. In classroom setting,
teachers always find out that teaching mathematics is not an easy task. It
involves numeracy where pupils struggling to understand mathematical concepts
and principles. Teachers also struggling to discover different approaches to
utilized to absorb by the young learners.Students were excited about math and
have had many opportunities to broaden their math horizons and look outside the
box when doing many of the problem of the day story problems. They are looking
for keywords in story problems and are able to decipher what information they
need and can disregard.
“Learning something new is like adding a thread to a web. For students
with memory challenges or processing disorders, a keywords approach becomes
a tool to build threads from new to old ideas” (American Institute for Research,

2. 2004, p. 1). The daily use of keywords will increase students’ understanding and
retention of key mathematical concepts. By using keywords approach in the
classroom, students be able to retain information and use their understanding of
math concepts to solve new math problems.
Keyword assist with mathematical learning. Students that practice
keyword may retain the math concepts and be able to retrieve them at a later
date. They able to communicate these keyword techniques with fellow
classmates in order to enhance learning and understanding of math concepts.
According to Kathy DeLashmutt in her study, “ when a few of my co- teachers
tried just one of the mnemonic rhymes, they were surprised how quickly the kids
memorized the concepts”. Teachers are under a lot of pressure to have their
students not only understand the concepts, but also be able to retain the
information over a longer period of time.
The study is anchored on the idea of Mastropieri, Scruggs, Levin, Gaffney
and McLoone (1985) which claims that the reason of comprehension scores are
higher for students using mnemonic strategies was that the strategy increased
their ability to recall the factual information needed to answer comprehension
question. In addition, Scruggs & Mastropieri (1989) reminds that pegword
mnemonics has proven useful in teaching students to remember ordered or
numbered information .Similarly, mnemonics instruction is important is because it
appears to be an effective strategy for increasing student comprehension test
scores. Students who have been trained in mnemonic instruction outperform
students without training on comprehensive exams.
In developed countries, mnemonic/keyord strategies were used in a
general education setting by college undergraduateslearning foreign language
vocabulary (Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1989). Later research extended the use of
such instruction into classrooms of younger students and among students with
learningdisabilities. In a recent study, college students used a mnemonic strategy
to study and recall painting-to-artist matchings. All four experiments of the study
repeatedly showed that thosestudents who used mnemonics substantially

3. outperformed those who did not use them on teststhat required recall of artists
and their paintings (Carney & Levin, 1991).
The study aimed to answer the following questions; 1. What is the pre test
scores of pupils in word problems involving addition of whole number with sums
up to 99,999 including money following the steps in problem solving? 2. What is
the post test scores of pupils inword problems involving addition of whole number
with sums up to 99,999 including money following the steps in problem solving?
3. Is there a significant difference in the pre-test and post-test scores of pupils?
4. What is the effect size of keyword approach to the word problems involving
addition of whole number with sums up to 99,999 including money following the
steps in problem solving?
Keyword Approach is a mnemonic strategy that teachers can create to help
students remember content. It is memory aids in which specific words are used
to remember a concept or a list. An example of this approach is to use the first
letter as a cue like My Dear Aunt Sally which means Multiply, Divide, Add,
Subtract mathematical order of operations.
Performance of pupils in solving word problemis refers to the skills of pupils
to manipulate data from English into mathematical sentence.
Method
This study use of the Descriptive-Comparative research design using
paired sample T-test. The respondent of the study were the 30 Grade Four
students. The researcher made use of purposive sampling technique. This study
was conducted at Tambongon Elementary School, Paquibato District Davao City.
The researcher made use of secondary data, specifically the scores in pre-test
and post-test. The statistical tools use were Descriptive Statistics (mean & SD),
paired-sample T-test and ETA2. In this study, the learning keywords approach will
be examined.

4. Results and Discussions
Table 1. Pre-Test Scores
Test n sd mean
Descriptive
Interpretation
Pre-Test 30 1.83 5.43 Low.
Table 1 shows the pre-test scores of pupils. It shows a mean of 5.43 with
a descriptive interpretation of low.
Table 2. Post Test Scores
Test n sd mean
Descriptive
Interpretation
Post-Test 30 1.36 10.83 High
Table 2 shows the post test scores of pupils. It shows a mean of
10.83 with a descriptive interpretation high.
Table 3.Paired Sample T-test on Mnemonic Approach
Test n df t-value
p-
value
Remarks
Pre Test and
Post Test
30 29 -15.833 .000 Significant
Table 3 shows the Paired Sample T-Test on Keyword Approach. It shows
that the pre-test and post-test scores generated a T-value of -15.833 with a p-
value of .000 which is interpreted as significant.
The result of the study corroborates with the study of Carney & Levin,
1991, they proved that mnemonics was a definite aid in retention of factual
information. Keyword approach is an effective tool in the improvement of pupils
performance in problem solving involving addition of whole number with sums up
to 99,999 including money following the steps in problem solving.
Table 4. Effect Size of Mnemonic Approach in Solving Word Problem
N or n t-value Eta2 Remarks
30 -15.833 0.896 Large Effect

5. Table 4 shows the Effect size of Mnemonic Approach. It generated an
ETA2 value of 0.896 which signifies large effect, thus the keyword approach is
effective in improving solving word problems involving addition of whole number
with sums up to 99,999 including money following the steps in problem solving.
Conclusion
The pre test result of grade IV pupils in solving word problems involving
addition of whole number with sums up to 99,999 including money following the
steps in problem solving was low. The post test result of Grade II pupils in
solvingword problems involving addition of whole number with sums up to 99,999
including money following the steps in problem solving was high. There was
significant difference on the pretest and post test scores of keyword approach.
The keyword approach has large effect on the solving word problems involving
addition of whole number with sums up to 99,999 including money following the
steps in problem solving.
Recommendation
Use keywords in math concepts also in the teaching of other subject
areas. Find more mnemonic phrases or chants that would help make
connections between key concepts. Conduct a symposium to orient teachers and
pupils the use of keywords in the teaching process. Make a bulletin board
withmnemonic phrases and chantsto disseminate different forms of mnemonics.
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