THE ROLE OF L1 AND L2 READING COMPREHENSION IN SOLVING MATHEMATICAL WORD PROBLEMS: A CASE IN A DELAYED PARTIAL IMMERSION PROGRAM. Emine Erktin Ayse Akyel Bogazici University Bogazici University Faculty of Education Faculty of Education Department of Department of Primary Education Foreign Language Education INTRODUCTION: Students’ problem solving skills have been one of the major concerns in language, science and mathematics education. There are two major approaches for the study of word problems (Cummins et. al., 1988): the logico-mathematical approach and the linguistic approach. The logico-mathematical approach, usually associated with Piagetian ideas, emphasizes the role of conceptual knowledge in solving word problems. This approach suggests that difficulties in solving word problems result from improper or immature logico-mathematical mental structures. In contrast, the linguistic approach suggests that difficulties in solving word problems result from linguistic forms that appear in the text and are not known to the students (Nathan, Young & Kintsch, 1992). The influence of the linguistic approach on algebra word problems research has become a favored approach because it explains differences in performance and in memory when manipulating the syntax of the problem formulation (Neuman & Schwarz, 2000). 1