Teaching statistics and academic language in culturally diverse classrooms

Coutis, P; Wood, LN

Teaching statistics and academic language in culturally diverse classrooms

Coutis, P Wood, LN

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Publisher:: John Wiley & Sons
Publication Type:: Conference
Citation:: Coutis, P. and Wood, L. 2002 'Teaching statistics and academic language in culturally diverse classrooms', 2nd International Conference on the Teaching of Mathematics, John Wiley & Sons, University of Crete, Greece, pp. NA-NA.
Issue Date:: 2002

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Coutis, P	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Wood, LN	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	Vakalis I	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2009-11-09T02:47:21Z
dc.date.available	2009-11-09T02:47:21Z
dc.date.issued	2002	en_US
dc.identifier	2004003543	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Coutis, P. and Wood, L. 2002 'Teaching statistics and academic language in culturally diverse classrooms', 2nd International Conference on the Teaching of Mathematics, John Wiley & Sons, University of Crete, Greece, pp. NA-NA.	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0-471-46332-9	en_US
dc.identifier.other	E1	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/2162
dc.description.abstract	The last decade has seen a substantial increase in the cultural and academic diversity of commencing tertiary education cohorts. The challenge for mathematics and statistics educators is the development of curriculum measures which address the language related difficulties of language minority students (Cocking & Mestre, 1988) and improve learning outcomes for all students. Our focus in this paper is on enhancing language and communication skills in culturally diverse undergraduate statistics cohorts. Most students have difficulty adjusting to the formal language requirements of academia. Non-English speaking background (NESB) students can have particular difficulty with the reading and assessment demands of Western universities if they are not adequately supported (e.g. Ballard & Clanchy, 1997). This is especially problematic when discrepancies between verbal and written expression and true intellectual ability result in assessment penalties. What is required are curriculum models which focus on what students do as opposed to deficit models which focus on who students are (Biggs, 1999). We describe curriculum development in two subjects designed to teach language skills in statistics. Both subjects require students to engage with academic language and to develop statistical discourse skills relevant to modern professionals in the quantitative sciences. Methods used to encourage this include explicitly teaching academic reading techniques, and group research projects that are peer assessed. The projects are designed to develop statistical concepts within the context of professional practice and to address key competency requirements of relevant professional associations. We will present data that suggest that NESB students have more difficulty than ESB students on "traditional" statistics assessment tasks and describe curricula interventions that assist those students to achieve their academic potential. The reaction of students to these developments has been very positive. The quality of the work is impressive and students improve both their statistical knowledge and their reading and writing skills.	en_US
dc.publisher	John Wiley & Sons	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on the Teaching of Mathematics	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	2nd International Conference on the Teaching of Mathematics	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	http://www.math.uoc.gr/~ictm2/	en_US
dc.title	Teaching statistics and academic language in culturally diverse classrooms	en_US
dc.type	Conference
utslib.location	New Jersey, USA	en_US
utslib.citation.startpage	NA	en_US
utslib.citation.endpage	NA	en_US
utslib.identifier.org	Science	en_US
utslib.location.activity	University of Crete, Greece	en_US
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access

Abstract:

The last decade has seen a substantial increase in the cultural and academic diversity of commencing tertiary education cohorts. The challenge for mathematics and statistics educators is the development of curriculum measures which address the language related difficulties of language minority students (Cocking & Mestre, 1988) and improve learning outcomes for all students. Our focus in this paper is on enhancing language and communication skills in culturally diverse undergraduate statistics cohorts. Most students have difficulty adjusting to the formal language requirements of academia. Non-English speaking background (NESB) students can have particular difficulty with the reading and assessment demands of Western universities if they are not adequately supported (e.g. Ballard & Clanchy, 1997). This is especially problematic when discrepancies between verbal and written expression and true intellectual ability result in assessment penalties. What is required are curriculum models which focus on what students do as opposed to deficit models which focus on who students are (Biggs, 1999). We describe curriculum development in two subjects designed to teach language skills in statistics. Both subjects require students to engage with academic language and to develop statistical discourse skills relevant to modern professionals in the quantitative sciences. Methods used to encourage this include explicitly teaching academic reading techniques, and group research projects that are peer assessed. The projects are designed to develop statistical concepts within the context of professional practice and to address key competency requirements of relevant professional associations. We will present data that suggest that NESB students have more difficulty than ESB students on "traditional" statistics assessment tasks and describe curricula interventions that assist those students to achieve their academic potential. The reaction of students to these developments has been very positive. The quality of the work is impressive and students improve both their statistical knowledge and their reading and writing skills.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/2162