TY - JOUR
T1 - Enhancing the accessibility of chemistry assessments for multilingual learners
T2 - understanding challenging features in assessment items
AU - Lee, Eshani N.
AU - Orgill, Mary Kay
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Royal Society of Chemistry. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024/8/9
Y1 - 2024/8/9
N2 - Multilingual learners face significant challenges when navigating the linguistic complexities of chemistry assessments. This study, employing the Equitable Framework for Classroom Assessment, identified these specific challenging features in general chemistry assessment items on the topics of limiting reactant and percent yield. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with multilingual students, we discovered critical barriers to comprehension: lack of metacognitive support, complex vocabulary and syntax, dense text layout, and extraneous information. These findings emphasize the need to better understand and alleviate these types of linguistic features in assessment items to more accurately measure chemistry knowledge, rather than linguistic proficiency. By addressing these challenges, instructors can design more accessible assessment items for a diverse group of students. The results also offer valuable insights and practical guidance for writing equitable assessment items.
AB - Multilingual learners face significant challenges when navigating the linguistic complexities of chemistry assessments. This study, employing the Equitable Framework for Classroom Assessment, identified these specific challenging features in general chemistry assessment items on the topics of limiting reactant and percent yield. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with multilingual students, we discovered critical barriers to comprehension: lack of metacognitive support, complex vocabulary and syntax, dense text layout, and extraneous information. These findings emphasize the need to better understand and alleviate these types of linguistic features in assessment items to more accurately measure chemistry knowledge, rather than linguistic proficiency. By addressing these challenges, instructors can design more accessible assessment items for a diverse group of students. The results also offer valuable insights and practical guidance for writing equitable assessment items.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85201867283&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85201867283&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1039/d4rp00187g
DO - 10.1039/d4rp00187g
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85201867283
SN - 1109-4028
VL - 26
SP - 126
EP - 140
JO - Chemistry Education Research and Practice
JF - Chemistry Education Research and Practice
IS - 1
ER -