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Language, Comfort Speaking, and Collaboration: A QuantCrit Analysis of Multilingual Students’ Experiences in Introductory College Mathematics Courses

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Abstract

Active learning practices, like groupwork, are becoming more widely used in post-secondary mathematics classrooms. These practices are often talk-intensive and require interpersonal interactions. As such, it remains an open question the extent to which practices like groupwork equitably support students with different social identities, including identities that center language. The goal of this paper is to use critical quantitative methodology to analyze the experiences of students in introductory college mathematics courses, particularly in courses that require peer collaboration. The data for this paper stems from surveys completed by 464 undergraduate students with different language backgrounds. The analysis identifies relationships that existed between the identities students brought to the classroom and the identities they developed in introductory mathematics courses. Using linear regression models, the study found that students’ comfort speaking during class and the language they preferred to do mathematics in were associated with practice-linked identities, like sense of belonging among peers. Findings also suggest an interaction between these variables and the frequency that students engaged in peer collaboration. This study contributes to the growing body of literature documenting how students with marginalized identities may have differential experiences with active learning practices, like groupwork.

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Notes

  1. Social identities refer to identities that are based on membership to socially constructed categories like race, gender, language status, and so forth (Langer-Osuna & Esmonde, 2017).

  2. While honoring how individual students choose to identify, I use the term Latino to describe this community. I recognize that Spanish is inherently gendered. It privileges male identities and is problematic for people who do not ascribe to binary gender roles. At the same time, the term Latinx primarily originated from universities in the United States and uses Anglo roots to 'fix' the Spanish language (García, 2020). For these reasons, I use the term Latino to describe the entire community and feel that pushes to make the Spanish language more inclusive should stem from the Spanish speaking world.

  3. Multilingual student is used to refer to students whose home languages differ from the language of instruction. It strives to be asset-affirming compared to terms like English language learners (Translanguaging Study Group, 2020).

  4. A Hispanic Serving Institution is a designation in the United States given to university where at least 25% of the student population identify as Hispanic or Latino/a/x.

  5. Being multilingual was determined based on students’ responses to the following questions: selecting a language other than English as their home language, selecting a language other than English as their preferred language for doing math in, or reporting to be perceived by their peers as a nonnative speakers of English at least 50% of the time during interactions with others.

  6. The correlation between factor scores estimated using weighted metrics and using average of response items were highly correlated with correlation coefficients \(>\) 0.9.

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Acknowledgement

The author wishes to thank Dr. Xueying Tang, Dr. Aditya Adiredja, and Dr. Marta Civil for their suggestions and support in developing this work.

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  1. Department of Mathematics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

    Jocelyn Rios

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Appendix. Demographic Information for Survey Respondents

Appendix. Demographic Information for Survey Respondents

Table 7 Mean Mathematics Identity Score for Different Sample Populations
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Table 8 \(2\times 2\) Table with the Count of Students Based on Home Language and Preferred Language for Mathematic
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Table 9 Descriptive Statistics for all Students (n=464) and Multilingual Students (n=75)
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Rios, J. Language, Comfort Speaking, and Collaboration: A QuantCrit Analysis of Multilingual Students’ Experiences in Introductory College Mathematics Courses. Int. J. Res. Undergrad. Math. Ed. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40753-023-00230-2

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