Understanding and solving word problems is described, in line with Anna Sfard's "thinking-as-communicating" approach, as a discursive practice that learners acquire neither autonomously nor through direct instruction, but through initiation into an interactive problem-solving community. Against this theoretical background, this study comparatively examines mathematical modeling and discourse processes in triads under conditions of unguided collaboration and indirectly guided collaboration with script-supported understanding and solving of word problems in dialogue. For this purpose, a category-driven coding of the conversations, which allows for the quantification of qualitative data, is investigated alongside the capture of metadiscursive rules and the analysis of shared focuses and depth of engagement.