Mathematics Assessment for Children with English as an Additional Language

The research reported in this paper was carried out to establish whether children in England who spoke English as an additional, rather than a first language performed significantly less well in mathematics than their counterparts whose first language was English. An evaluation of the two National Curriculum Mathematics Assessment instruments for Year 2 children in England provided the context. The sample consisted of over 600 children, mainly of Asian origin, who spoke English as an additional language. Their mathematics results were compared to those of children who spoke English as a first language, and it was established that, overall, mean scores were significantly lower for children with English as an additional language. This was true for all four of the most highly represented additional language groups, and for both assessment instruments. An item analysis of the written test indicated that the difference was not constant across all items.