Association of language proficiency and performance on mathematics and science assessments : the case of PISA 2015
department or school: Education, Faculty of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Ledesma, Jenilyn
issued: 2021-04-14T18:11:27Z
issued: 2021
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: The purpose of this study is to examine the degree of association between reading proficiency and performance on mathematics and science assessments for students who speak the test language at home (TLH) and those who speak a different language at home (NTLH), in Canada, Singapore and Indonesia. The study also investigates whether this association varies with gender and socio-economic status (ESCS). The findings reveal significant differences in TLH and NTLH performance scores in all three countries; with the TLH group tending to outperform the NTLH group, except for Mathematics in Canada and Science in Indonesia. When statistical adjustments are made for reading proficiency, the adjusted and unadjusted mean scores for both mathematics and science show different patterns of differences for TLH and NTLH. The NTLH adjusted means are higher in both mathematics and science in all three countries compared to the TLH adjusted means. One explanation could be an underestimation of the scores for NTLH due to their lower reading abilities. Further analyses on the interaction between language group and gender reveal that, in Indonesia, female NTLH scores are higher for both subjects, while male NTLH scores are higher only in science, compared to TLH students. These findings point to disparities in score meaning in mathematics and science assessments, as well as limitations in comparing performances of TLH and NTLH students within the three selected countries. Given that numerous studies on youth comparisons across the globe often use the PISA reading literacy test as its basis, this study adds more evidence to the importance of considering cultural and linguistic diversity of students for appropriate comparisons within and across countries.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/77773
note: ASSOCIATION OF LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY AND PERFORMANCE ON MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE ASSESSMENTS: THE CASE OF PISA 2015 by JENILYN A. LEDESMA B.Sc., The University of Santo Tomas, 1990 M.Phil., The University of Hong Kong, 1997 M.Ed., The University of Western Australia, 2002 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Cross-Faculty Inquiry in Education) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April 2021 © Jenilyn A. Ledesma, 2021 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Association of language proficiency and performance on mathematics and science assessments: The case of PISA 2015 submitted by Jenilyn A. Ledesma in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Cross-Faculty Inquiry in Education Examining Committee: Kadriye Ercikan, Professor Emerita, Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia Supervisor Jim Anderson, Language and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia Supervisory Committee Member Kim Koh, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary Supervisory Committee Member Cynthia Nicol, Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of British Columbia University Examiner Susan Gerofsky, Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of British Columbia University Examiner iii ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to examine the degree of association between reading proficiency and performance on mathematics and science assessments for students who speak the test language at home (TLH) and those who speak a different language at home (NTLH), in Canada, Singapore and Indonesia. The study also investigates whether this association varies with gender and socio-economic status (ESCS). The findings reveal significant difference…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2021-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0396700
language: eng
degree discipline: Cross-Faculty Inquiry in Education
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/77773