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This paper reports on a third study in a series aimed at investigating the issues surrounding the learning of mathematics at The University of Auckland by students who have English as an Additional Language (EAL students). As well as summarizing the earlier studies, it presents some new data showing that the problems experienced by EAL students are not experienced by first language English students (L1 students). The consequences of these studies for undergraduate mathematics at The University of Auckland are explored using English language proficiency data for the whole of the 2005 undergraduate mathematics cohort. This data shows that the consequences of having large numbers of EAL students in an undergraduate mathematics cohort are likely to be much more important than expected, and that recent initiatives to raise literacy entrance levels are having some effect.

With the proliferation of new affordable recording technologies, many universities have begun offering students recordings of live lectures as a part of the course resources. We conducted a survey to investigate why some students choose to attend lectures in person rather than simply watching the recordings online, and how students view the two types of lectures. Students attending live lectures in five large undergraduate mathematics lecture streams were invited to respond to the survey. A significant number of respondents viewed recorded lecture as superfluous to their needs which were met upon attending live lecture. Surprisingly, however, an equally large number of students described compelling reasons for watching both live and recorded lectures. A number of factors were identified as determining students' perceptions of live and recorded lectures as competing or complementary: personal learning styles, study habits, esteem for the lecturer, and the possibility of interaction in the lecture.

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