The present study was designed to examine students' comprehension and problem representation when reading and solving algebra word problems in their first language (L1: Spanish) and their second language (L2: English). The main interest was to investigate the role of the L2 in performing the task. It was hypothesized that difficulty in understanding and solving word problems is a function of carrying out the task in the L2 and discourse factors inherent to the specific type of text. / The sample consisted of 31 grade 9 students who attended a private bilingual school in a Colombian city. Students were asked to think aloud as they solved four problems that dealt with the topics of ratio and percentage. Problem presentation was counterbalanced with respect to topic, but the language of presentation was kept fixed; i.e., the first set of ratio and percentage problems were in English and the other set in Spanish. Students were allowed to use either language when solving the problems. There was a short post-task semi-structured interview. Students' think aloud protocols and answers to problems were analyzed. / The results support the role that language plays in performing this type of task, although not in the way that it was initially predicted. The results suggest that the language of instruction plays a more important role than whether the task is performed in L1 or L2. Thus, the hypothesis that completing the task would be more difficult in the L2 was not supported. The results suggest that the difficulty with word problems resides in the mismatch between text comprehension, the situation presented in the text and the mathematical representation. The evidence is discussed within the framework of current explanations for performance in word problems in the L1 as they apply to the bilingual case, and theories of text comprehension. It is argued that current explanations for performance in word problems in the L1 apply to the bilingual case, but with the caution that the interaction between the content of the subject domain, and the knowledge students have of the language of instruction and their first language must be taken into account.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.84473 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Berdugo Oviedo, Gloria |
| Contributors | Donin, Janet (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002084293, proquestno: AAINQ98206, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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