Fourth-Grade Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Students' Concepts of Number Line

Abstract

This study examined the understanding of number line concepts by 4th grade culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with disabilities who were in bilingual special education classes. Performance levels and strategies used by CLD students with disabilities (n = 30), students with learning disabilities (SLD, n = 23), and general education students (SGE, n = 21), were examined on number line based on word problems. CLD students with disabilities demonstrated difficulty due to several factors beyond lack of language competence, including failure to apply number line to the problems and limited range of strategies. Students with disabilities were less likely to attempt mental computation or guessing, and more likely to make paper and pencil computational errors than students in general education.

Early numeracy in low‐performing young children

“…Several avenues of exploration are suggested in the literature in developing support for low-performing children. Some authors make statements about what type of knowledge the support system should target: both Secada (1991) and Rodriguez et al (2001), for instance, suggest that these children need stimulation to develop their general mathematical thinking, which should include challenging problem-solving tasks and not only the drilling of basic facts that is so common in special education. One alternative would be to treat mathematics as a language, in which case the challenge would be to provide the children with as rich a mathematical vocabulary as possible (see Secada, 1991).…”

“…In some sense it would have been possible to call the multi-language group bilinguals (e.g. Secada, 1991) or culturally and linguistically diverse (Rodriguez et al, 2001), but since there were children with more than two languages, and because no information was collected about the home culture, these terms were not applied.…”

“…Schittekatte et al , 2003). An immigrant background has been considered a risk factor in academic, and thus also in mathematical, development (Rodriguez [2002], but see conflicting results in Landgren et al [2003]). The reasons for immigrant children's poor performance may originate in deficient language skills in test and learning situations, the use of a language other than the instruction language at home, differing educational culture and values at home and at school (Windrass & Nunes, 2003), certain school features such as peer‐group composition (Borman & Overman, 2004), or in the family's socio‐economic status (Schittekatte et al , 2003).…”

Meeting the Needs of English Language Learners With Disabilities in Urban Settings

“…Although the urban education knowledge base is consistent and substantial, there is a need to continue research on effective and successful practices in urban education for ELLs with disabilities. The literature on bilingual special education demonstrates that ELLs with disabilities participating in bilingual education programs do succeed and show gains in linguistic, academic, and cognitive growth (Carrasquillo & Rodriguez, 2002;Paneque & Barbetta, 2006;Rodriguez, Parmar, & Signer, 2001). For ELLs with disabilities to succeed in bilingual special education programs, they need to be part of a school that promotes bilingualism and provides students with exemplary instructional practices.…”

The Impact of Setting Accommodation on Large-scale Assessment of English Language Learners with and without Learning Disabilities: Balanced vs. Unbalanced Data in Latent Class Analyses

“…More specifically, Rodriguez, Parmar, and Signer (2001) reported that a group of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (Spanish native speakers) with LD and non-ELL students with LD only have more limited number line concepts (such as relative position of numbers and connecting number to quantity) than students without disabilities. The interactive effect of setting accommodation, LD, ELL, and this important numerical concept is still unknown, and that is why the current study focuses on these factors.…”