research-article

Effect of Native Language on Student Learning and Classroom Interaction in an Operating Systems Course

Authors:

Adalbert Gerald Soosai Raj,

Saswati Mukherjee,

Richard Halverson,

Jignesh M. PatelAuthors Info & Claims

ITiCSE '19: Proceedings of the 2019 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

Pages 499 - 505

https://doi.org/10.1145/3304221.3319787

Published: 02 July 2019 Publication History

Abstract

Understanding an operating systems (OS) code base is a difficult task since it involves understanding a huge amount of low-level C and assembly code. The inherent level of difficulty associated with OS topics is high because of the high element interactivity (i.e., material consists of elements that heavily interact). The mental effort associated with learning a complex subject like OS may be higher for non-native English speakers, when the subject is taught in a natural language (i.e., English) that is not the students' native language. We were interested in finding the effect of an instructional design that combines the students' native language along with English on students' understanding of select topics in OS. We designed an experiment to teach CPU virtualization using xv6 to two groups of undergraduate students in Tamil Nadu, India. We taught the experimental group using English and Tamil (native language of students in Tamil Nadu) and the control group using only English. We conducted a pre-test and a post-test to test students' understanding of the OS topics taught, before and after our intervention respectively. We also collected data on the questions that students asked in lectures during our intervention. We found that teaching OS using native language and English is no different than teaching OS using only English with respect to student learning. We also found that the native language had an impact on the student engagement and classroom interaction by creating more dialogue within the Tamil+English (experimental) classroom when compared to the English-only (control) classroom.

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Adalbert Gerald Soosai Raj, Kasama Ketsuriyonk, Jignesh M Patel, and Richard Halverson. 2018. Does Native Language Play a Role in Learning a Programming Language?. In Proceedings of the 49th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. ACM, 417--422.

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Cited By

Grover SRaman ABanati H(2023)Does Bilingual Specification impact students' comprehension of problems in Introductory Programming?Proceedings of the 16th Annual ACM India Compute Conference10.1145/3627217.3627237(66-71)Online publication date: 9-Dec-2023
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Swidan AHermans FFeldman MHilton M(2023)A Framework for the Localization of Programming LanguagesProceedings of the 2023 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on SPLASH-E10.1145/3622780.3623645(13-25)Online publication date: 18-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3622780.3623645
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
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Index Terms

Effect of Native Language on Student Learning and Classroom Interaction in an Operating Systems Course
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education

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cover image ACM Conferences

ITiCSE '19: Proceedings of the 2019 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

July 2019

583 pages

ISBN:9781450368957

DOI:10.1145/3304221

General Chairs:
Bruce Scharlau
University of Aberdeen, UK
,
Roger McDermott
Robert Gordon University, UK
,
Program Chairs:
Arnold Pears
KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
,
Mihaela Sabin
University of New Hampshire, USA

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Published: 02 July 2019

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ITiCSE '19: Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

July 15 - 17, 2019

Aberdeen, Scotland Uk

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Overall Acceptance Rate 552 of 1,613 submissions, 34%

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Cited By

Grover SRaman ABanati H(2023)Does Bilingual Specification impact students' comprehension of problems in Introductory Programming?Proceedings of the 16th Annual ACM India Compute Conference10.1145/3627217.3627237(66-71)Online publication date: 9-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3627217.3627237
Swidan AHermans FFeldman MHilton M(2023)A Framework for the Localization of Programming LanguagesProceedings of the 2023 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on SPLASH-E10.1145/3622780.3623645(13-25)Online publication date: 18-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3622780.3623645
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 S(2022)The Influence of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety on Academic Performance in English-based CS1 CoursesProceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research10.1145/3555009.3555020(1-7)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2022
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Agarwal VChuengsatiansup YKim ELYu YSoosai Raj AMerkle LDoyle MSheard JSoh LDorn B(2022)An Analysis of Stress and Sense of Belonging Among Native and Non-native English Speakers Learning Computer ScienceProceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education - Volume 110.1145/3478431.3499375(376-382)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2022
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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
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Chiodini LHauswirth M(2021)Wrong Answers for Wrong Reasons: The Risks of Ad Hoc InstrumentsProceedings of the 21st Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/3488042.3488045(1-11)Online publication date: 17-Nov-2021
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Guzman CXu AGerald Soosai Raj ASherriff MMerkle LCutter PMonge ASheard J(2021)Experiences of Non-Native English Speakers Learning Computer Science in a US UniversityProceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education10.1145/3408877.3432437(633-639)Online publication date: 3-Mar-2021
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Obaido GAde-Ibijola AVadapalli H(2020)Synthesis of SQL Queries from South African Local Language NarrationsAdvances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal10.25046/aj05051445:5(1189-1195)Online publication date: 2020
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Allen MRobins AMoskal AKo AMcCauley RRobins AKo A(2020)Pedagogical and Curricular Practices for Computer Science Education with English Language LearnersProceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research10.1145/3372782.3407108(330-331)Online publication date: 10-Aug-2020
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