article

Language performance at high school and success in first year computer science

Authors:

Sarah Rauchas,

Benjamin Rosman,

George Konidaris,

Ian SandersAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Volume 38, Issue 1

Pages 398 - 402

https://doi.org/10.1145/1124706.1121467

Published: 03 March 2006 Publication History

Get Access

Abstract

We describe the first part of a study investigating the usefulness of high school language results as a predictor of success in first year computer science courses at a university where students have widely varying English language skills. Our results indicate that contrary to the generally accepted view that achievement in high school mathematics courses is the best individual predictor of success in undergraduate computer science, success in English at the first-language level in high school correlates better with actual performance. We discuss the implications of this for universities whose medium of teaching is English, operating in social contexts where many students are not native English speakers.

References

[1]

Bill Barton and Pip Neville-Barton. Investigating the relationship between English language and mathematical learning. In CERME 3, Third Conference of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education, Italy, 2003.

Google Scholar

[2]

Richard Buckland. Can we improve teaching in Computer Science by looking at how English is taught? In Proceedings of the Second Australasian Conference on Computer Science Education, pages 155--162. ACM Press, 1996.

Digital Library

Google Scholar

[3]

D. F. Butcher and W. A. Buth. Predicting performance in an introductory Computer Science course. Communications of ACM, 28:263--268, 1984.

Digital Library

Google Scholar

[4]

Q. Buthelezi. Black South African English. Language and Social History: Studies in South African Sociolinguistics, pages 242--250, 1995.

Google Scholar

[5]

Patricia F. Campbell and George P. McCabe. Predicting the success of freshmen in a computer science major. Communications of ACM, 27(11):1108--1113, 1984.

Digital Library

Google Scholar

[6]

E. Gathers. Screening freshmen Computer Science majors. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 18(3):44--48, September 1986.

Digital Library

Google Scholar

[7]

Annagret Goold and Russel Rimmer. Factors affecting performance in first-year computing. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin Inroads, 32(2):39--43, June 2000.

Digital Library

Google Scholar

[8]

Verena Nolan. Influence of attitude towards statistics, English language ability and mathematical ability in the subject quantitative techniques at the Vaal Triangle Technicon, South Africa, 2002. Vaal Triangle Technicon, South Africa.

Google Scholar

[9]

I. D. Sanders and C. S. M. Mueller. A fundamentals-based first year computer science curriculum. In Proceedings of the 31st Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education Technical Symposium, pages 227--231, Austin, Texas, 2000. SIGCSE.

Digital Library

Google Scholar

[10]

David J. Sheskin. Handbook of parametric and nonparametric statistical procedures. Chapman and Hall/CRC, 2000.

Digital Library

Google Scholar

[11]

L. Spark. Matric maths as a predictor of success in Information Systems --- a study of Information Systems students at the University of the Witwatersrand. In Proceedings of the 35th Conference of SACLA, pages 268--271, Kasane, Botswana, 2005.

Google Scholar

Cited By

View all

Sanusi IDeriba F(2024)What do we know about Computing Education in Africa? A Systematic Review of Computing Education Research LiteratureSSRN Electronic Journal10.2139/ssrn.4826205Online publication date: 2024
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4826205
Lopez DYonezawa SJuarez STapia E(2024)Computer science for English learners: supporting teacher learning and improved practice to engage multilinguals in AP computer science principlesJournal of Research on Technology in Education10.1080/15391523.2024.2402359(1-18)Online publication date: 12-Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2024.2402359
Villegas Molina ISalguero AZhong SSoosai Raj ALaakso MMonga MSimon Sheard J(2023)The Effects of Spanish-English Bilingual Instruction in a CS0 Course for High School StudentsProceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3587102.3588845(75-81)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3587102.3588845
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Language performance at high school and success in first year computer science
1. Applied computing
  1. Education
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education
        Information science education

Recommendations

High School Calculus and Computer Science Course Taking as Predictors of Success in Introductory College Computer Science

Success in an introductory college computer science (CS) course encourages students to major and pursue careers in computer science and many other STEM fields, whereas weak performance is often a powerful deterrent. This article examines the role of ...
Language performance at high school and success in first year computer science
SIGCSE '06: Proceedings of the 37th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education

We describe the first part of a study investigating the usefulness of high school language results as a predictor of success in first year computer science courses at a university where students have widely varying English language skills. Our results ...
High school student reluctance to major in computer science

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin Volume 38, Issue 1

March 2006

553 pages

ISSN:0097-8418

DOI:10.1145/1124706

Issue’s Table of Contents

SIGCSE '06: Proceedings of the 37th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
March 2006
612 pages
ISBN:1595932593
DOI:10.1145/1121341
Program Chairs:
Doug Baldwin
SUNY Geneseo
,
Paul Tymann
Rochester Institute of Technology
,
Susan Haller
SUNY Potsdam
,
Ingrid Russell
University of Hartford

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 03 March 2006

Published in SIGCSE Volume 38, Issue 1

Check for updates

Qualifiers

Article

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

17
Total Citations
View Citations
465
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)5
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)1

Reflects downloads up to 26 Jan 2025

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

View all

Sanusi IDeriba F(2024)What do we know about Computing Education in Africa? A Systematic Review of Computing Education Research LiteratureSSRN Electronic Journal10.2139/ssrn.4826205Online publication date: 2024
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4826205
Lopez DYonezawa SJuarez STapia E(2024)Computer science for English learners: supporting teacher learning and improved practice to engage multilinguals in AP computer science principlesJournal of Research on Technology in Education10.1080/15391523.2024.2402359(1-18)Online publication date: 12-Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2024.2402359
Villegas Molina ISalguero AZhong SSoosai Raj ALaakso MMonga MSimon Sheard J(2023)The Effects of Spanish-English Bilingual Instruction in a CS0 Course for High School StudentsProceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3587102.3588845(75-81)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3587102.3588845
Alaofi SRussell SChoppella VPhatak DLuxton-Reilly ACraig M(2023)The Use of English Language to Teach CS1 to Non-Native English Speakers: Students PerspectiveProceedings of the ACM Conference on Global Computing Education Vol 110.1145/3576882.3617931(15-21)Online publication date: 5-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3576882.3617931
Khanyisa Mabunda JJadhav AAjoodha R(2021)A Review: Predicting Student Success at Various Levels of their Learning Journey in a Science Programme2021 IEEE International IOT, Electronics and Mechatronics Conference (IEMTRONICS)10.1109/IEMTRONICS52119.2021.9422519(1-5)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2021
https://doi.org/10.1109/IEMTRONICS52119.2021.9422519
Chen CKang JSonnert GSadler P(2020)High School Calculus and Computer Science Course Taking as Predictors of Success in Introductory College Computer ScienceACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/343316921:1(1-21)Online publication date: 31-Dec-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3433169
Abed TAjoodha RJadhav A(2020)A Prediction Model to Improve Student Placement at a South African Higher Education Institution2020 International SAUPEC/RobMech/PRASA Conference10.1109/SAUPEC/RobMech/PRASA48453.2020.9041147(1-6)Online publication date: Jan-2020
https://doi.org/10.1109/SAUPEC/RobMech/PRASA48453.2020.9041147
Mutanu LMachoka P(2019)Enhancing Computer Students’ Academic Performance Through Explanatory ModelingICT Education10.1007/978-3-030-35629-3_15(227-243)Online publication date: 22-Nov-2019
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35629-3_15
Ayalew YTshukudu ELefoane M(2018)Factors Affecting Programming Performance of First Year Students at a University in BotswanaAfrican Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education10.1080/18117295.2018.1540169(1-11)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2018
https://doi.org/10.1080/18117295.2018.1540169
Lei YAllen MMerkle LDoyle MSheard JSoh LDorn B(2022)English Language Learners in Computer Science EducationProceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education - Volume 110.1145/3478431.3499299(57-63)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3478431.3499299
Show More Cited By

View Options

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

PDF

eReader

View online with eReader.

eReader

Abstract

References

Cited By

Index Terms

Recommendations

High School Calculus and Computer Science Course Taking as Predictors of Success in Introductory College Computer Science