Journal of Adolescence 40 (2015) 11e13
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Adolescence journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jado
International note: Exploring differences in native and immigrant adolescents' mathematics achievement and dispositions towards mathematics in Qatar Shaljan Areepattamannil*, Michael Melkonian, Myint Swe Khine Emirates College for Advanced Education, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
a b s t r a c t Keywords: Mathematics achievement Intrinsic motivation Instrumental motivation Self-efficacy Self-concept Anxiety
The burgeoning immigrant population in major immigrant-receiving countries in North America and Europe has necessitated researchers and policymakers in these countries to examine the academic success of children of immigration and the factors contributing to their academic success. However, there is sparse research on the academic trajectories of children of immigration in other continents, such as Asia. Hence, the purpose of the present study was to examine first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents' mathematics achievement and dispositions towards mathematics in comparison to their native peers in one of the Middle Eastern countries in Asia, Qatar. The results of the study indicated that both first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents tended to have higher mathematics achievement, intrinsic motivation to learn mathematics, instrumental motivation to learn mathematics, mathematics self-efficacy, and mathematics self-concept than did their native counterparts. Moreover, immigrant adolescents tended to have lower mathematics anxiety than did their native peers. The study also revealed significant differences between first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents with respect to their mathematics achievement and dispositions towards mathematics. © 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Schools in immigrant-receiving societies have been witnessing a rapid increase in the number of children and youth from rez-Orozco, Sua rez-Orozco, & Todorova, 2008). However, research to date on immigrant families for the last few decades (Sua the academic trajectories of immigrant children and youth tend to focus predominantly on immigrant participants hailing from North American and European countries (e.g., Areepattamannil & Kaur, 2013; Areepattamannil & Lee, 2014; Becker, rez-Orozco et al., 2008). There is a dearth of Klein, & Biedinger, 2013; Lansford, Deater-Deckard, & Bornstein, 2007; Sua research on the academic trajectories of immigrant children and youth residing in immigrant-receiving countries on other continents, such as Asia. Moreover, there is growing evidence that immigrant students' academic performance and dispositions towards learning may vary substantially across immigrant-receiving societies (see Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2006). Indeed, in the present era of globalization and unprecedented immigration, ensuring the integration, educational development, and academic success of children of immigration is indispensable for the economic growth and productivity of
* Corresponding author. Emirates College for Advanced Education, P. O. Box 126662, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Areepattamannil). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.12.010 0140-1971/© 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
12
S. Areepattamannil et al. / Journal of Adolescence 40 (2015) 11e13
rez-Orozco, 2007). Therefore, it is of crucial importance to examine how well children immigrant-receiving societies (see Sua of immigration fare in education systems underrepresented in the voluminous literature on immigration as well, and what their learning dispositions are. Hence, the present study aimed to examine first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents' mathematics achievement and their dispositions towards mathematics in comparison to their native counterparts in a West Asian country, Qatar, where 1.6 million migrants represent more than 80% of the total population and 9% of these migrants are aged 5e19 years (United Nations, 2013). Method Data for the study were drawn from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 database (http:// pisa2012.acer.edu.au). A total of 10,966 adolescents from 157 schools took part in the fifth cycle of PISA from Qatar. The Qatari PISA sample comprised 4975 native (male ¼ 2,412, female ¼ 2563; Mean age ¼ 15.78 years; 14.37% and 85.63% attended private and public schools, respectively), 1780 second-generation immigrant (male ¼ 921, female ¼ 859; Mean age ¼ 15.76 years; 37.42% and 62.58% attended private and public schools, respectively), and 3566 first-generation immigrant (male ¼ 1,833, female ¼ 1733; Mean age ¼ 15.79 years; 74.26% and 25.74% attended private and public schools, respectively) adolescents. The majority of the native and second-generation immigrant students spoke Arabic at home, and approximately half of the first-generation students as well spoke Arabic at home. Data on the countries of origin of immigrant students were not available in the PISA data set. Adolescents who did not indicate their immigration status were excluded from the current study (n ¼ 645). The measures included the PISA 2012 mathematics achievement scale (see OECD, 2014), and five other measures based on the PISA 2012 student questionnaire data (see OECD, 2013), such as intrinsic motivation to learn mathematics (4 items; e.g., “I do mathematics because I enjoy it”; Cronbach's a ¼ .89, .87, and .87 for native, second-generation, and first-generation, respectively), instrumental motivation to learn mathematics (4 items; e.g., “I will learn many things in mathematics that will help me get a job”; Cronbach's a ¼ .89, .87, and .88, respectively), mathematics self-efficacy (8 items; e.g., “I feel confident in understanding graphs presented in newspapers”; Cronbach's a ¼ .90, .86, and .85, respectively), mathematics self-concept (5 items; e.g., “I learn mathematics quickly”; Cronbach's a ¼ .71, .74, and .76, respectively), and mathematics anxiety (5 items; e.g., “I get very nervous doing mathematics problems”; Cronbach's a ¼ .82, .82, and .83, respectively). Results and discussion Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni post-hoc tests were conducted to address the purpose of the study (see Table 1). The post-hoc analyses indicated that first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents had statistically significantly higher mathematics achievement (p < .001, d ¼ 1.22; p < .001, d ¼ .65, respectively), intrinsic motivation to learn mathematics (p < .001, d ¼ .32; p < .001, d ¼ .22, respectively), instrumental motivation to learn mathematics (p < .001, d ¼ .36; p < .001, d ¼ .28, respectively), mathematics self-efficacy (p < .001, d ¼ .46; p < .001, d ¼ .21, respectively), and mathematics selfconcept (p < .001, d ¼ .18; p < .001, d ¼ .18, respectively) than did their native peers. In contrast, first- and secondgeneration immigrant adolescents had statistically significantly lower mathematics anxiety than did their native peers (p < .001, d ¼ .36; p < .001, d ¼ .21, respectively). Moreover, first-generation immigrant adolescents had statistically significantly higher mathematics achievement (p < .001, d ¼ .58), intrinsic motivation to learn mathematics (p ¼ .004, d ¼ .10), instrumental motivation to learn mathematics (p ¼ .016, d ¼ .09), and mathematics self-efficacy (p < .001, d ¼ .26) than did their second-generation counterparts; whereas they had statistically significantly lower mathematics anxiety than did their second-generation counterparts (p < .001, d ¼ .15). However, no statistically significant differences were found between first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents with respect to their mathematics self-concept. The findings of the present study with respect to first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents' mathematics achievement contradict the findings of hitherto research on immigrant adolescents' mathematics achievement in Western immigrant-receiving countries (e.g., OECD, 2006). However, the findings of the study with respect to first- and secondgeneration immigrant adolescents' dispositions towards mathematics in comparison to their native peers are in congruence with the findings of research conducted in Western immigrant-receiving countries (e.g., OECD, 2006). Table 1 Mean differences in mathematics achievement and dispositions towards mathematics. Mathematics achievement
Native Second-generation immigrant First-generation immigrant
Intrinsic motivation
Instrumental motivation
Mathematics self-efficacy
Mathematics self-concept
Mathematics anxiety
M
SE
M
SE
M
SE
M
SE
M
SE
M
SE
334.75a 387.82b 441.71c
1.11 2.11 1.47
2.63a 2.81b 2.89c
.02 .02 .02
2.99a 3.20b 3.26c
.02 .02 .01
2.80a 2.95b 3.11c
.01 .02 .01
2.68a 2.80b 2.80b
.01 .02 .01
2.70a 2.54b 2.43c
.02 .03 .01
Note. Mean scores for their respective domains with different subscripts are statistically significantly different from one another.
S. Areepattamannil et al. / Journal of Adolescence 40 (2015) 11e13
13
In short, the results of the present study document that both first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents in Qatar, unlike their counterparts in several Western immigrant-receiving countries, tend to perform significantly better than do their native peers, and that first-generation immigrant adolescents tend to exhibit stronger learning prerequisites than do their second-generation counterparts. First- and second-generation immigrant adolescents' strong learning dispositions may partially explain why they tend to perform better than do their native peers on the mathematics assessment. However, further research is warranted to better understand the factors that contribute to underachievement in mathematics among the native students in Qatar. It is also equally important to explore why first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents tend to have relatively stronger learning dispositions towards mathematics. References Areepattamannil, S., & Kaur, B. (2013). Factors predicting science achievement of immigrant and non-immigrant students: a multilevel analysis. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 11, 1183e1207. Areepattamannil, S., & Lee, D. H. L. (2014). Linking immigrant parents' educational expectations and aspirations to their children's school performance. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 175, 51e57. Becker, B., Klein, O., & Biedinger, N. (2013). The development of cognitive, language, and cultural skills from age 3 to 6 a comparison between children of Turkish origin and children of native-born German parents and the role of immigrant parents' acculturation to the receiving society. American Educational Research Journal, 50, 616e649. Lansford, J. E., Deater-Deckard, K., & Bornstein, M. H. (Eds.). (2007). Immigrant families in contemporary society. New York, NY: Guilford. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2006). Where immigrant students succeed: A comparative review of performance and engagement in PISA 2003. Paris, France: Author. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2013). PISA 2012 results: Ready to learn: Students' engagement, drive, and self-beliefs. Paris, France: Author. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2014). PISA 2012 results: What students know and can do: Student performance in mathematics, reading, and science. Paris, France: Author. rez-Orozco, M. M. (2007). Learning in the global era: International perspectives on globalization and education. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Sua rez-Orozco, C., Sua rez-Orozco, M. M., & Todorova, I. (2008). Learning a new land: Immigrant students in American society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Sua University Press. United Nations. (2013). Trends in international migrant stock: the 2013 revision. Retrieved from http://esa.un.org/unmigration/TIMSA2013/ migrantstocks2013.htm.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Adolescence journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jado
International note: Exploring differences in native and immigrant adolescents' mathematics achievement and dispositions towards mathematics in Qatar Shaljan Areepattamannil*, Michael Melkonian, Myint Swe Khine Emirates College for Advanced Education, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
a b s t r a c t Keywords: Mathematics achievement Intrinsic motivation Instrumental motivation Self-efficacy Self-concept Anxiety
The burgeoning immigrant population in major immigrant-receiving countries in North America and Europe has necessitated researchers and policymakers in these countries to examine the academic success of children of immigration and the factors contributing to their academic success. However, there is sparse research on the academic trajectories of children of immigration in other continents, such as Asia. Hence, the purpose of the present study was to examine first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents' mathematics achievement and dispositions towards mathematics in comparison to their native peers in one of the Middle Eastern countries in Asia, Qatar. The results of the study indicated that both first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents tended to have higher mathematics achievement, intrinsic motivation to learn mathematics, instrumental motivation to learn mathematics, mathematics self-efficacy, and mathematics self-concept than did their native counterparts. Moreover, immigrant adolescents tended to have lower mathematics anxiety than did their native peers. The study also revealed significant differences between first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents with respect to their mathematics achievement and dispositions towards mathematics. © 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Schools in immigrant-receiving societies have been witnessing a rapid increase in the number of children and youth from rez-Orozco, Sua rez-Orozco, & Todorova, 2008). However, research to date on immigrant families for the last few decades (Sua the academic trajectories of immigrant children and youth tend to focus predominantly on immigrant participants hailing from North American and European countries (e.g., Areepattamannil & Kaur, 2013; Areepattamannil & Lee, 2014; Becker, rez-Orozco et al., 2008). There is a dearth of Klein, & Biedinger, 2013; Lansford, Deater-Deckard, & Bornstein, 2007; Sua research on the academic trajectories of immigrant children and youth residing in immigrant-receiving countries on other continents, such as Asia. Moreover, there is growing evidence that immigrant students' academic performance and dispositions towards learning may vary substantially across immigrant-receiving societies (see Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2006). Indeed, in the present era of globalization and unprecedented immigration, ensuring the integration, educational development, and academic success of children of immigration is indispensable for the economic growth and productivity of
* Corresponding author. Emirates College for Advanced Education, P. O. Box 126662, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Areepattamannil). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.12.010 0140-1971/© 2015 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
12
S. Areepattamannil et al. / Journal of Adolescence 40 (2015) 11e13
rez-Orozco, 2007). Therefore, it is of crucial importance to examine how well children immigrant-receiving societies (see Sua of immigration fare in education systems underrepresented in the voluminous literature on immigration as well, and what their learning dispositions are. Hence, the present study aimed to examine first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents' mathematics achievement and their dispositions towards mathematics in comparison to their native counterparts in a West Asian country, Qatar, where 1.6 million migrants represent more than 80% of the total population and 9% of these migrants are aged 5e19 years (United Nations, 2013). Method Data for the study were drawn from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 database (http:// pisa2012.acer.edu.au). A total of 10,966 adolescents from 157 schools took part in the fifth cycle of PISA from Qatar. The Qatari PISA sample comprised 4975 native (male ¼ 2,412, female ¼ 2563; Mean age ¼ 15.78 years; 14.37% and 85.63% attended private and public schools, respectively), 1780 second-generation immigrant (male ¼ 921, female ¼ 859; Mean age ¼ 15.76 years; 37.42% and 62.58% attended private and public schools, respectively), and 3566 first-generation immigrant (male ¼ 1,833, female ¼ 1733; Mean age ¼ 15.79 years; 74.26% and 25.74% attended private and public schools, respectively) adolescents. The majority of the native and second-generation immigrant students spoke Arabic at home, and approximately half of the first-generation students as well spoke Arabic at home. Data on the countries of origin of immigrant students were not available in the PISA data set. Adolescents who did not indicate their immigration status were excluded from the current study (n ¼ 645). The measures included the PISA 2012 mathematics achievement scale (see OECD, 2014), and five other measures based on the PISA 2012 student questionnaire data (see OECD, 2013), such as intrinsic motivation to learn mathematics (4 items; e.g., “I do mathematics because I enjoy it”; Cronbach's a ¼ .89, .87, and .87 for native, second-generation, and first-generation, respectively), instrumental motivation to learn mathematics (4 items; e.g., “I will learn many things in mathematics that will help me get a job”; Cronbach's a ¼ .89, .87, and .88, respectively), mathematics self-efficacy (8 items; e.g., “I feel confident in understanding graphs presented in newspapers”; Cronbach's a ¼ .90, .86, and .85, respectively), mathematics self-concept (5 items; e.g., “I learn mathematics quickly”; Cronbach's a ¼ .71, .74, and .76, respectively), and mathematics anxiety (5 items; e.g., “I get very nervous doing mathematics problems”; Cronbach's a ¼ .82, .82, and .83, respectively). Results and discussion Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni post-hoc tests were conducted to address the purpose of the study (see Table 1). The post-hoc analyses indicated that first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents had statistically significantly higher mathematics achievement (p < .001, d ¼ 1.22; p < .001, d ¼ .65, respectively), intrinsic motivation to learn mathematics (p < .001, d ¼ .32; p < .001, d ¼ .22, respectively), instrumental motivation to learn mathematics (p < .001, d ¼ .36; p < .001, d ¼ .28, respectively), mathematics self-efficacy (p < .001, d ¼ .46; p < .001, d ¼ .21, respectively), and mathematics selfconcept (p < .001, d ¼ .18; p < .001, d ¼ .18, respectively) than did their native peers. In contrast, first- and secondgeneration immigrant adolescents had statistically significantly lower mathematics anxiety than did their native peers (p < .001, d ¼ .36; p < .001, d ¼ .21, respectively). Moreover, first-generation immigrant adolescents had statistically significantly higher mathematics achievement (p < .001, d ¼ .58), intrinsic motivation to learn mathematics (p ¼ .004, d ¼ .10), instrumental motivation to learn mathematics (p ¼ .016, d ¼ .09), and mathematics self-efficacy (p < .001, d ¼ .26) than did their second-generation counterparts; whereas they had statistically significantly lower mathematics anxiety than did their second-generation counterparts (p < .001, d ¼ .15). However, no statistically significant differences were found between first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents with respect to their mathematics self-concept. The findings of the present study with respect to first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents' mathematics achievement contradict the findings of hitherto research on immigrant adolescents' mathematics achievement in Western immigrant-receiving countries (e.g., OECD, 2006). However, the findings of the study with respect to first- and secondgeneration immigrant adolescents' dispositions towards mathematics in comparison to their native peers are in congruence with the findings of research conducted in Western immigrant-receiving countries (e.g., OECD, 2006). Table 1 Mean differences in mathematics achievement and dispositions towards mathematics. Mathematics achievement
Native Second-generation immigrant First-generation immigrant
Intrinsic motivation
Instrumental motivation
Mathematics self-efficacy
Mathematics self-concept
Mathematics anxiety
M
SE
M
SE
M
SE
M
SE
M
SE
M
SE
334.75a 387.82b 441.71c
1.11 2.11 1.47
2.63a 2.81b 2.89c
.02 .02 .02
2.99a 3.20b 3.26c
.02 .02 .01
2.80a 2.95b 3.11c
.01 .02 .01
2.68a 2.80b 2.80b
.01 .02 .01
2.70a 2.54b 2.43c
.02 .03 .01
Note. Mean scores for their respective domains with different subscripts are statistically significantly different from one another.
S. Areepattamannil et al. / Journal of Adolescence 40 (2015) 11e13
13
In short, the results of the present study document that both first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents in Qatar, unlike their counterparts in several Western immigrant-receiving countries, tend to perform significantly better than do their native peers, and that first-generation immigrant adolescents tend to exhibit stronger learning prerequisites than do their second-generation counterparts. First- and second-generation immigrant adolescents' strong learning dispositions may partially explain why they tend to perform better than do their native peers on the mathematics assessment. However, further research is warranted to better understand the factors that contribute to underachievement in mathematics among the native students in Qatar. It is also equally important to explore why first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents tend to have relatively stronger learning dispositions towards mathematics. References Areepattamannil, S., & Kaur, B. (2013). Factors predicting science achievement of immigrant and non-immigrant students: a multilevel analysis. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 11, 1183e1207. Areepattamannil, S., & Lee, D. H. L. (2014). Linking immigrant parents' educational expectations and aspirations to their children's school performance. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 175, 51e57. Becker, B., Klein, O., & Biedinger, N. (2013). The development of cognitive, language, and cultural skills from age 3 to 6 a comparison between children of Turkish origin and children of native-born German parents and the role of immigrant parents' acculturation to the receiving society. American Educational Research Journal, 50, 616e649. Lansford, J. E., Deater-Deckard, K., & Bornstein, M. H. (Eds.). (2007). Immigrant families in contemporary society. New York, NY: Guilford. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2006). Where immigrant students succeed: A comparative review of performance and engagement in PISA 2003. Paris, France: Author. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2013). PISA 2012 results: Ready to learn: Students' engagement, drive, and self-beliefs. Paris, France: Author. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2014). PISA 2012 results: What students know and can do: Student performance in mathematics, reading, and science. Paris, France: Author. rez-Orozco, M. M. (2007). Learning in the global era: International perspectives on globalization and education. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Sua rez-Orozco, C., Sua rez-Orozco, M. M., & Todorova, I. (2008). Learning a new land: Immigrant students in American society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Sua University Press. United Nations. (2013). Trends in international migrant stock: the 2013 revision. Retrieved from http://esa.un.org/unmigration/TIMSA2013/ migrantstocks2013.htm.
