Effect of Linguistic Modification of Math Assessment Items on English Language Learner Students
Regional need and study purpose
It may be challenging for students learning English to show what they know and can do in mathematics if the test items that assess this knowledge also test their English language skills. The complexity of the language, or language load, in a mathematics test item may interfere with the ability of English language learner students to demonstrate their understanding of mathematics concepts on achievement tests (Rivera and Collum 2004; Rivera and Stansfield 2001). Mathematics test items can be reworded to minimize their language load without altering the content assessed (Abedi, Courtney, and Leon 2003).
For English language learner students, minimizing language load can provide students access to the tested content in a way that will help them better demonstrate their content knowledge and skills. Because the effectiveness of practices for making high-stakes assessments accessible remains unclear, this study investigates how research-based changes to the language of test items can increase English language learner students' access to test content—yielding a more valid and reliable measure of what these students know and can do and more meaningful comparisons with scores of other students. Generalizable to other Spanish-speaking populations of similar grade levels, the study results may shed new light on prior research.
This study has one primary research question:
- Is the difference between the mean scores of the unmodified and linguistically modified item sets for English language learner students comparable to that for non–English language learner students?
- Is the difference between mean scores on the linguistically modified and unmodified item sets greater for non–English language learner students at low reading levels than for those at high reading levels? That is, does reading ability mediate the effect of linguistic modification for non–English language learner students?
- When comparing English language learner and non–English language learner students of similar mathematics achievement levels, does the probability of their answering individual items correctly differ by item set—linguistically modified compared with unmodified?
- Are the underlying dimensions measured by the unmodified and linguistically modified items the same for both student groups? Do the relationships between latent factors such as mathematics achievement and verbal ability differ for English language learner and non–English language learner students—or between latent factors and test items?
- For non–English language learner students do scores on the linguistically modified and unmodified item sets correlate similarly to standardized tests of mathematics achievement?
Several secondary questions also guide it: