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Differential item functioning between ethnic groups analysed in the context of multimodal learning
Author
Chiang, Lian Hwa
Supervisor
Lam, Tit Loong
Abstract
This paper was an attempt to study differential item functioning in Mathematics between two groups of students from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Three different statistical methods were employed to flag items that were differentially functioning. The three methods were :
1. The Mantel-Haenszel Method
2. A Logistic Regression Method
3. An IRT-LR method, namely the one as implemented by BILOG-MG
It was found that the methods did not always agree on the items flagged as exhibiting DIF. Disagreement tended to occur where the DIF was non-uniform over the range of abilities measured.
Even though there was not always unanimous agreement by all three methods on the items exhibiting DIF, fairly distinct patterns of DIF occurrence were discernible when the test items were ordered by structural complexity using Biggs and Collis' Theory of Multimodal Learning which also incorporated the SOLO Taxonomy.
One interesting result was that one group of students tended to perform better than the other group on school-taught Mathematics at and beyond the concrete-symbolic mode of the Theory of Multimodal Learning. On the other hand, there was DIF in favour of the second group on an item whose solution was best arrived at using intuitive methods rather than standard school-taught algorithms.
Apart from the trends that surfaced when DIF and the Theory of Multimodal Learning were combined to examine the test items, some terms such as "meal", "change", "left" and "older than" seemed to have caused those items in which they appeared to also behave differentially between the two groups. Thus, although the focus of this study was on the differential level of skill attainment in mathematical problem solving between the two groups of students, some language interference was also detected.
Nevertheless, one question that came out of the present study and that may be worth further exploration is whether our school mathematics curriculum has managed to educate all groups of students, irrespective of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, so that they are able to operate with facility among the various modes of learning as proposed in the Theory of Multimodal Learning by Biggs and Collis.
1. The Mantel-Haenszel Method
2. A Logistic Regression Method
3. An IRT-LR method, namely the one as implemented by BILOG-MG
It was found that the methods did not always agree on the items flagged as exhibiting DIF. Disagreement tended to occur where the DIF was non-uniform over the range of abilities measured.
Even though there was not always unanimous agreement by all three methods on the items exhibiting DIF, fairly distinct patterns of DIF occurrence were discernible when the test items were ordered by structural complexity using Biggs and Collis' Theory of Multimodal Learning which also incorporated the SOLO Taxonomy.
One interesting result was that one group of students tended to perform better than the other group on school-taught Mathematics at and beyond the concrete-symbolic mode of the Theory of Multimodal Learning. On the other hand, there was DIF in favour of the second group on an item whose solution was best arrived at using intuitive methods rather than standard school-taught algorithms.
Apart from the trends that surfaced when DIF and the Theory of Multimodal Learning were combined to examine the test items, some terms such as "meal", "change", "left" and "older than" seemed to have caused those items in which they appeared to also behave differentially between the two groups. Thus, although the focus of this study was on the differential level of skill attainment in mathematical problem solving between the two groups of students, some language interference was also detected.
Nevertheless, one question that came out of the present study and that may be worth further exploration is whether our school mathematics curriculum has managed to educate all groups of students, irrespective of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, so that they are able to operate with facility among the various modes of learning as proposed in the Theory of Multimodal Learning by Biggs and Collis.
Date Issued
1997
Call Number
LB3060.62 Chi
Date Submitted
1997