PISA Content Quantity-Standardized Test: Exploring Vocational Student’s Mathematical Communication Skills

This study aims to describe the mathematical communication skills of vocational school students and to find out their weaknesses in mathematical communication skills in solving the PISA standardized test on quantity content. 28 Indonesian vocational school students participated in this study, and four representing each level of communication skills were chosen as participants. This study was framed by a qualitative approach with data collected through interviews and tests, analyzed using mathematical communication skills indicators, and validated by methods triangulation. The results show that students across different levels were able to articulate known information and the concepts related to the context of the problems. Students at level 0 and 1 demonstrated basic problem-solving strategies, albeit incomplete, while those at levels 2 and 3 exhibited better performance by applying reasoning and drawing conclusions. Furthermore, students' written communication skills are not as good as their oral communication skills. The findings highlight the need to enhance students' written communication and systematic problem-solving strategies through habituation of problem-solving teaching and learning.