Learning situations that concentrate on conceptual understanding are particularly challenging for learners with limited proficiency in the language of instruction. This article presents an intervention on fractions for Grade 7 in which linguistic challenges and conceptual mathematical challenges were treated in an integrated way. The quantitative evaluation in a pre-test post-test control-group design shows high effect sizes for the growth of conceptual understanding of fractions. The qualitative in-depth analysis of the initiated learning processes contributes to understanding the complex interplay between the construction of meaning and activating linguistic means in school and technical registers.

To what degree can multilingual students profit from bilingual tea ching approaches, even when they lack experience in the academic or technical register in their home languages? This study explores this research question in a mixed methods design for a German/Turkish bilingual intervention aimed at The sample consisted of German/Turkish bilingual students (n = 128) in Grade 7 in German schools without prior formal mathematics education in Turkish. In a randomized control trial, the bilingual intervention was compared to the corresponding monolingual intervention and a control group. A repeated ana lysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that students in both interventions had significantly higher learning gains than in the control group, and in fact profited equally from both interventions, although some time and effort was required for overcoming initial barriers in the home language and especially in the academic register. A qualitative analysis of the videotaped bilingual learning processes revealed insights into specific obstacles and chances of connecting both languages in order to foster conceptual understanding. The students with some formal language proficiency in Turkish seemed to profit even more from the bilingual intervention, but a rigid technical register was not necessary.

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Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has become a major health threat to university students. This study evaluated a peer-led AIDS intervention program with university students (1) increase knowledge of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission and infection; (2) change attitudes to reflect scientific information on AIDS-related facts; and (3) change behavioral intentions to correspond with safer sexual practices. Subjects were students (N = 142) from four undergraduate classes and were predominantly female (65%), white (82%), and sexually active (86%). A non-equivalent control group design was used, with two classes receiving the intervention and two classes receiving no information. For the intervention, peer educators presented AIDS-related information, modeled ways to use condoms safely and ways to discuss condom use with sexual partners, and led discussions on HIV infection and use with sexual partners, and led discussions on HIV infection and AIDS, relationships, sexuality, and condom use. A questionnaire was administered to assess differential changes in AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions between the intervention and control groups. The results showed significant improvements among intervention subjects on the knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions scales compared with the control group.