English Language Learners and Mainstream Students Solving Multiple-Choice Science ‎Items With and Without Vignette Illustrations

• In Event: Cognition and Assessment Paper Session

Abstract

We compared how English language learners (ELLs) and monolingual English students ‎solved multiple-choice items administered with and without a new form of testing ‎accommodations—vignette illustration (VI). Thirty-six native Spanish-speaking English language ‎learners (ELLs), and 36 native-English speaking non-ELLs reported their thinking while ‎answering the items. Results from both qualitative and quantitative analyses show that ELLs ‎used a wider variety of actions oriented to understanding the items than non-ELLs. In contrast, ‎non-ELLs used a wider variety of problem solving strategies than ELLs. An interaction between ‎the characteristics of the students, the items, and the illustrations indicates a considerable ‎heterogeneity in the ways in which students from both linguistic groups thinking about and ‎respond to science test items.‎

Authors

• Rachel R. Kachchaf, TERC

• Guillermo Solano-Flores, University of Colorado - Boulder