Linguistic simplification of mathematics items: Effects for language minority students in Germany.

Autor/inn/en	Haag, Nicole; Heppt, Birgit; Roppelt, Alexander; Stanat, Petra
Titel	Linguistic simplification of mathematics items: Effects for language minority students in Germany. Gefälligkeitsübersetzung: Linguistische Vereinfachung mathematischer Items: Effekte für Schüler aus Sprachminderheiten in Deutschland.
Quelle	In: European journal of psychology of education, 30 (2015) 2, S. 145-167Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0256-2928; 1878-5174
DOI	10.1007/s10212-014-0233-6
Schlagwörter	Sozioökonomischer Status; Pädagogische Diagnostik; Test; Grundschule; Schüler; Sprachfertigkeit; Zweisprachigkeit; Mathematik; Item; Leistung; Minderheit
Abstract	Investigated the impact of linguistic simplifications of mathematics test items in Germany with a specific focus on the role of academic language features included in the items. In large-scale assessment studies, language minority students typically obtain lower test scores in mathematics than native speakers. It remains inconclusive whether this performance difference is related to the linguistic complexity of test items or not. The present large-scale linguistic simplification study therefore tested whether the performance gap between language minority students and German monolinguals is smaller when students are assessed with linguistically simplified items. Moreover, it was determined whether students' socioeconomic status (SES) or their language proficiency moderate the effect of linguistic simplification. The study uses data from 17,738 fourth-graders (mean age 10 years), 17 % of whom sometimes or always spoke a language other than German at home. Results show that although differences between language minority students and German monolinguals in mathematics achievement were related to differences in their language proficiency and SES, no significant main effects of linguistic simplification were found. Differential effects for language minority students emerged, however, when the moderator effects of SES and language proficiency were taken into account. It is concluded that some language minority students may profit from linguistic simplification in elementary school. (ZPID).
Erfasst von	Leibniz-Institut für Psychologie, Trier
Update	2026/3