Exploring ESL students’ understanding of mathematics in the early years: factors that make a difference

Students living in disadvantaged contexts and whose second language is English (ESL) are at risk of not succeeding in school mathematics. It has been internationally recognised that students’ socioeconomic background and their achievements in mathematics is more pronounced for Australian students (Thomson et al. 2011). This gap is even more prominent for students who also have English as their second language (ESL). This paper explores the impact of the representations, oral language and engagement in mathematics (RoleM) learning experiences on ESL students’ performance in mathematics in the early years (foundation–year 2). All students participating in the study are from disadvantaged contexts (n = 461). The sample comprised 328 students who identified themselves as having English as a second language (ESL) and 133 mainstream students. Pre- and post-tests were conducted at the commencement and completion of each school year. All students demonstrated a significant improvement on their post-test scores, with ESL students displaying greater gains than the mainstream students. Additionally, students’ results were meeting norm-referenced expectations for students of the same age. A hypothesised taxonomy was developed to further investigate which types of test items foundation ESL students displayed greatest gains. ESL students again outperformed the mainstream cohort on all levels of test categorisation, including questions that were linguistically and conceptually challenging for foundation students