Language Proficiency and Mathematics Achievement

Prediger, Susanne; Wilhelm, Nadine; Büchter, Andreas; Gürsoy, Erkan; Benholz, Claudia

doi:10.1007/s13138-018-0126-3

Cited by 40 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Language context All participating teachers in the study were volunteers in the PD courses and mostly monolingual Germans. At the time of the study, they taught secondary mathematics classes which often include more than 60% immigrants (under 2% newly arrived immigrants) and many mono-or multilingual students with limited academic language proficiency, but fluency in everyday German language (Prediger et al 2018). German was the language of instruction; students' home languages were usually permitted in group work.…”

Section: Methods Of Data Gatheringmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigating and promoting teachers’ expertise for language-responsive mathematics teaching

Prediger

2019

Math Ed Res J

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In spite of the widely accepted need for language-responsive subject-matter teaching, few teachers are prepared for this challenge due to the lack of empirically founded subject-specific professional development (PD) programs for language-responsive classrooms. The design research study presented in this article pursues the dual aim of (a) promoting teachers' expertise in language-responsive mathematics teaching using PD courses and (b) investigating teachers' developing expertise in qualitative case studies. Both aims are pursued based on a conceptual framework for teacher expertise in language-responsive mathematics teaching, starting from typical situational demands that teachers face in language-responsive mathematics teaching and the orientations, categories, and pedagogical tools they need to cope with these situational demands, especially the demand to identify mathematically relevant language demands. For language-responsive teaching, the interplay of categories for mathematical goals and language goals turns out to be of high relevance. Keywords Teacher expertise. Language-responsive mathematics. Individual use of categories. Design research for teachers For nearly 40 years, research has pointed to challenges in linguistically diverse classrooms (Austin and Howson 1979; Ellerton and Clarkson 1996). Until now, language proficiency in school academic language has been a crucial factor with a high impact on mathematics achievement (Secada 1992; Haag et al. 2013; Marshman

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Section: Methods Of Data Gatheringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…et al 2015). The language gap exists not only for multilingual students but also for monolingual students from socially underprivileged families, and mainly refers to conceptual understanding rather than procedures (Prediger et al 2018;Meaney et al 2012).…”

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confidence: 99%

Investigating and promoting teachers’ expertise for language-responsive mathematics teaching

Prediger

2019

Math Ed Res J

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“…A recent study assessing undergraduate mechanical engineering and mathematics-physics students reported that verbal and numerical abilities were associated with students' achievements on most physics and mathematics courses (Berkowitz and Stern 2018). A wide range of research has already shown that verbal abilities are of great importance for mathematical thinking and learning (e.g., Aiken 1972;Fuchs et al 2006;Jordan et al 2013;Leung 2017;Morgan et al 2014;Prediger et al 2018;Seethaler et al 2011). They may further gain importance with increasing linguistic complexity of the mathematical content that has to be processed.…”

Section: Verbal Numerical and General Reasoning Abilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of spatial, verbal, numerical, and general reasoning abilities in complex word problem solving for young female and male adults

et al. 2020

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This study analyzed the relative importance of different cognitive abilities for solving complex mathematical word problems (CWPs)-a demanding task of high relevance for diverse fields and contexts. We investigated the effects of spatial, verbal, numerical, and general reasoning abilities as well as gender on CWP performance among N = 1282 firstyear university engineering students. Generalized linear mixed models unveiled significant unique effects of spatial ability, β = 0.284, verbal ability, β = 0.342, numerical ability, β = 0.164, general reasoning, β = 0.248, and an overall gender effect in favor of male students, β = 0.285. Analyses revealed negligible to small gender effects in verbal and general reasoning ability. Despite a gender effect in spatial ability, d = 0.48, and numerical ability, d = 0.30-both in favor of male students-further analyses showed that effects of all measured cognitive abilities on CWP solving were comparable for both women and men. Our results underpin that CWP solving requires a broad facet of cognitive abilities besides mere mathematical competencies. Since gender differences in CWP solving were not fully explained by differences in the four measured cognitive abilities, gender-specific attitudes, beliefs, and emotions could be considered possible affective moderators of CWP performance.

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“…Cummins, 1996, Axelsson, 1999, Hyltenstam & Lindberg, 2004. Prediger et al (2018) identifierar, från studier om matematik, att språklig förmåga är viktigt och att elever med ett annat modersmål ofta har svårigheter att klara även de delar av matematikprov som kräver kunskap om mer grundläggande ämnesbegrepp. Det kan vara så att längre texter och resonemang är frågetyper som inte enbart sätter hinder för elever med ett annat modersmål än majoritetsgruppen.…”

Section: Tidigare Forskningunclassified

Vilka typer av uppgifter gynnar elever som följer kursplanen i svenska som andraspråk? En undersökning med data från de nationella proven i geografi.

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2018

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Elever med utländsk bakgrund tenderar att prestera sämre än svenskfödda elever i skolan primärt på grund av sämre kunskaper i det svenska språket. Utifrån statistisk analys (Differential item functioning) identifieras uppgifter från de nationella proven i geografi (2014 – 2017) där elever som följer kursplanen i svenska som andraspråk klarar sig avsevärt mycket bättre - eller sämre - än förväntat. Tidigare forskning har visat att geografiska begrepp är särskilt svåra för elever som inte har svenska som modersmål, vilket också påvisas i denna studie. Den visar att det särskilt är uppgifter med lite text som handlar om geografiska begrepp som uppvisar större skillnader i prestationer mellan elever som följer kursplanen i svenska respektive svenska som andraspråk. Resultaten kan stödja såväl lärare som provkonstruktörer att bättre anpassa undervisning och prov genom att undvika att skapa uppgifter som mäter irrelevanta bakgrundsfaktorer som påverkar elevernas möjligheter att besvara uppgifter på ett adekvat vis utifrån deras kunskapsnivåer.Nyckelord: Nationella prov i geografi, uppgiftsformat, elever med utländsk bakgrund, svenskfödda elever, DIF-analysWhat types of test items benefit students who follow the syllabus in Swedish as a second language? A study using data from the Swedish national assessments in geography.AbstractPupils born outside Sweden are likely to accomplish less in comparison to native pupils, primarily as a result of inferior knowledge of the Swedish language. Based on a statistical analysis (Differential item functioning) of questions given at national tests in geography (2014-2017), it was possible to identify questions where pupils following the syllabus of Swedish as a second language attain either considerably better or more inferior results than expected. Earlier research has shown that pupils whose native language is not Swedish find it particularly hard to comprehend geographic concepts, which was confirmed by the present study. This study furthermore revealed that in particular questions containing a limited amount of text concerning geographic concepts resulted in larger differences than expected between native pupils following the syllabus in Swedish and foreign born pupils following the syllabus in Swedish as a second language. These findings could aid teachers and test constructors in their efforts to adjust teaching and tests by not formulating questions that measure irrelevant background factors, which might affect the pupils’ ability to answer questions adequately, based on their level of knowledge.Keywords: National tests in geography, question format, pupils born outside Sweden, Swedish-born pupils, DIF-analysis

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Language Proficiency and Mathematics Achievement

Cited by 40 publications

References 22 publications

Investigating and promoting teachers’ expertise for language-responsive mathematics teaching

Investigating and promoting teachers’ expertise for language-responsive mathematics teaching

The role of spatial, verbal, numerical, and general reasoning abilities in complex word problem solving for young female and male adults

Vilka typer av uppgifter gynnar elever som följer kursplanen i svenska som andraspråk? En undersökning med data från de nationella proven i geografi.

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