English-language learners’ problem solving in Spanish versus English

  1. Ambrose, R. 2
  2. Molina, M. 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Salamanca
    info

    Universidad de Salamanca

    Salamanca, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02f40zc51

  2. 2 University of California, Davis
    info

    University of California, Davis

    Davis, Estados Unidos

    ROR https://ror.org/05rrcem69

Actas:
Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Understanding complex ecologies in a changing world

Año de publicación: 2010

Congreso: Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Understanding complex ecologies in a changing world (2010. Denver, Estados Unidos)

Tipo: Aportación congreso

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Resumen

To explore the role of language in English Language Learners (ELLs)´ problem solving, we compare the performance of a group of Latino first graders when working in Spanish and in English on two equivalent sets of story problems. We contrast our results with others from previous studies with bilingual and monolinguals children by focusing on students´ performance in problems with the same semantic structure. This comparison leads us to discuss some factors influencing students´ problem solving. The findings support the use of problem solving in teaching ELLs. Students’ performance was slightly higher in English, even in problems of higher language complexity, but lower than monolingual students from other studies.

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