Language as a confounding variable : an exploration into the link between language and misconception
Date
2014-03-14
Authors
Clerk, Douglas Philip Penicuik
Clerk, Douglas Philip Penicuik
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Abstract
This study examines the possibility that language difficulties can be mistaken fcr
misconception. A written test, consisting of twenty multiple choice items that had been
used by other authors to diagnose misconceptions in physics was administered to a
sample of matric level, English first language, South African students. A sub-sample
of these subjects was then interviewed to explore the reasoning behind their choices.
An analysis of the transcriptions of the recorded interviews revealed that in several
cases, distractors were chosen by subjects who did not hold the target misconceptions
the items were intended to diagnose, and that language problems, for example
misinterpretation of the question text, were often the reasons behind the choices.
Description
Thesis (M.Sc.(Science Education))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Science, 1998.