Teaching and Learning Statistics in Multilingual Classrooms: A Collaborative Study

Abstract

The purpose of this collaborative study was to explore what language practices appear to enhance the statistical understanding of Year-12 multilingual students. Data was collected from audio recordings of teacher reflections while students were carrying out an investigation of existing data sets. The teachers in the study demonstrated a range of specific strategies consistent with research-based effective language learning practice. Whether this was by virtue of prior learning in teacher education or by experience in the collaborative setting cannot be determined here, but this could be an area for future investigation. The paper will generate more interest in language challenges and strategies in statistics education and collaborative research where teachers are regarded as key stakeholders in all aspects of the research process.