FLIPPING BETWEEN LANGUAGES? AN EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS OF THE USAGE BY SPANISH-SPEAKING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER TERTIARY STUDENTS OF A BILINGUAL PROBABILITY APPLET

Authors

  • LAWRENCE M. LESSER The University of Texas at El Paso
  • AMY E. WAGLER The University of Texas at El Paso
  • BERENICE SALAZAR Northwest Early College High School

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52041/serj.v15i2.245

Keywords:

Statistics education research, Representativeness heuristic, Simulation, Equiprobability bias, Resources

Abstract

English language learners (ELLs) are a rapidly growing part of the student population in many countries. Studies on resources for language learners—especially Spanish-speaking ELLs—have focused on areas such as reading, writing, and mathematics, but not introductory probability and statistics. Semi-structured qualitative interviews investigated how a purposeful sample of six (Spanish-speaking) ELLs experienced a bilingual coin-flipping simulation applet (NLVM, 2015) and how students might use such resource to confront content misconceptions and language misunderstandings related to probability concepts covered in college introductory statistics courses. We discuss findings, limitations, directions for future research, and implications for teaching, such as handling the phrases “in the long run” and “longest run”.

First published November 2016 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

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Published

2016-11-30

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 2 (2016): SPECIAL ISSUE: RESEARCH ON LEARNING AND TEACHING PROBABILITY WITHIN STATISTICS

Section

Regular Articles