Students' errors in solving ethnomathematics word problems using the newman procedure: A perspective from learning styles

Abstract

Some students had difficulty solving ethnomathematics word problems, indicating the need for further research to address this issue. This study aims to identify the types of errors made and the factors causing them. It applies Newman's Error Analysis, which includes reading errors, comprehension errors, transformation errors, process skill errors, and writing errors in the final answer. It incorporates the role of ethnomathematics as an innovation in contextual learning that introduces Indonesian culture to students. This study uses a qualitative method with six eighth-grade students as research subjects. Data were collected through learning-style questionnaires, ethnomathematics story problem tests, and interviews. Subjects were selected using purposive sampling, and data analysis employed the Miles and Huberman model. The results of the study showed that students with a visual learning style made comprehension errors and errors in writing the final answer, students with an auditory learning style made comprehension errors, process skill errors, and errors in writing the final answer, and students with a kinesthetic learning style made comprehension errors and errors in writing the final answer. Factors contributing to errors among students with visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles include a lack of attention to detail when processing information, rushing through tasks, and the carryover of errors from previous stages.