Taking Language Out Of The Equation: The Assessment Of Basic Math Competence Without Language

Although numeracy, next to literacy, is an essential skill in many knowledge based societies of the 21st century, between 5 and 10 % of the population suffer from more or less severe mathematics learning disorders or dyscalculia. However, mathematical ability is not a pure construct. Instead, mathematical ability maintains a complex relationship with linguistic abilities. This relationship has significant implications for the assessment of a person’s mathematical ability in multilingual contexts. The hereby presented research project addresses the consequences of that relationship in the context of Luxembourg, a highly multilingual country at the center of Europe. The aim of the project was to tackle psychometric issues that arise when the test taker does not master the language of the test sufficiently and to offer an alternative solution to available assessment batteries based on verbal instructions and tasks. In the first study, we demonstrate the role of reading comprehension in the language of instruction on third grader’s performance in mathematics in Luxembourg and show that non-native speaker’s underachievement in mathematics can be largely or entirely explained by their lacking reading comprehension in the language of assessment. In the next study we report on the two first pilot studies with NUMTEST, an assessment battery that aims to measure children’s basic mathematical competence by replacing verbal instructions and task content with video instructions and animated tasks. The findings of these studies show that children’s basic mathematical competence can indeed be reliably assessed using this new paradigm. Opportunities and limitations of the paradigm are discussed. The third and final study of this project addresses the psychometric characteristics of this newly developed assessment battery. Its findings show that the NUMTEST battery provides for good reliability and concurrent validity all while being language neutral. In summary, the presented project provides for an encouraging proof of concept for the video instruction method while offering preliminary evidence for its validity as an early screener for math learning difficulties.