Abstract for a Paper-presentation; Preconference in ECER (the European Conference on Educational Research) 2008. 8-9 September. University of Gothenburg. Åse Hansson 2008-02-14 Presentation of the proposal for my dissertation. In what way is the mathematical progress influenced by student’s multilingualism? My research is dealing with the importance of multilingualism for students mathematical progress. The doctoral thesis is in the planning phase and is planned to be completed in 2011. My enquiry will be conducted as a secondary multilevel structural analysis of data from large-scale international studies, preferentially TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study). The target group in my inquiry is students in the 8th grade of the compulsory school. The need for developing mathematics education for multilingual students is large (Skolverket, 2004). The Swedish mathematical education is dominated by an instruction that emphasizes students own responsibility for their learning, often called “students own work”. For multilingual students with weakly developed language skills, it could imply less collaboration with linguistically more skilled peers. Differentiation is also brought about between schools by the environmental segregation in the society (Gustafsson, 2006). Even though undifferentiated instruction is prescribed in the curricula, you can ascertain that “language-differentiation” in mathematics education probably exists. The aim of my study is to chart and analyze some features in mathematics education that show to support mathematic learning for multilingual students. The research question is formulated: In what way is the mathematical progress influenced by student’s multilingualism? I intend to investigate in what way structural school issues related to “language-differentiation” possibly can be supportive or restraining for the mathematical progress. Such structural issues are for example framings of the mathematic education and composition of the teaching group. In what way will mathematical progress for these students be influenced by the possibilities to make use of both their language and the possibilities of communication among students with different language skills? Language and culture has a given position in the theory about learning of Vygotskij (Vygotskij, 1978). In this study the interaction between individuals is not to be examined within the context, but rather structures and policy issues about conditions for student’s mathematical progress. A socio-cultural perspective (Bruner, 2002; Säljö, 2000)on learning and teaching will constitute the theoretical framework for my choice of indicators for the analytical model of the TIMSS-data. Some other theories that will constitute a part of the framework are Cummins (1986) theory of threshold effects, code switching (Setati & Adler, 2000) and importance of variation and of exploiting the peer-effects in the education(Barwell & Clarkson, 2004; Hanushek & Wössmann, 2006; Shayer & Adhami, 2007). In the model of analyzing I will use indicators for “language-differentiation” both in performance and organization of the education for highlighting the influence of “hidden differentiation” on the multilingual students mathematics performance. The results of my research could serve as a “guide” for policy makers on different school-levels, aiming to support mathematic education for multilingual students.

The results of my research could serve as a “guide” for policy makers on different school-levels, aiming to support mathematic education for multilingual students. Is mathematic education to be organised in language-heterogeneous groups, are there any teaching performance favouring multilingual students mathematic learning and are there any offered successfull language supportive arrangements?