Do you have any comments about the videos?

Learners were given the opportunity to add any comments they might have. Some learners opted to make no comment. Trends were once again identified in the comments that were made. The following is a breakdown of the comments given by learners:

Comments from learners

Videos help us understand Maths Do not understand the videos Like the videos (no reason given) The videos are too long

Videos are easier than exercises Add another language 64% 11% 11% 8% 3% 3%

Table 5: Comments from learners

Some of the reasons given for this include:

 I think the videos help a lot, because they show how to do all the work you are on at that time

 The videos are too long and I don't understand most of them  The videos are very cool

 They are really helping, but I don't understand why they don't change the numbers if you get a big number they'll give you a video of a small number

124

 Yes! We have to add other language

4.8 Discussion groups

Small discussion groups were held immediately after the completion of the individual questionnaires. They were facilitated by 16 Winter School volunteers, with eight groups of four to five learners and two volunteers per group, again with 34 learners in total. The learners discussed the surveys they had just completed, allowing them to expand on their views, discuss and possibly challenge each other’s views, and also to grant another avenue of expression to learners who do not express themselves easily through writing. Wherever possible, learners were encouraged to discuss the questions in whichever language they chose, although this was naturally influenced or limited by the volunteers’ different language proficiencies.

Below follow the questions asked in the discussion groups. Trends were identified in the learners’ answers and are represented below, accompanied by examples of these trends selected from the learners’ answers.

1. How easy are the videos?

This question dealt primarily with learners’ understanding of the mathematics they learnt through the videos. While language naturally would factor into this, it was not brought to the fore in this question as this question aimed to get general feedback from the learners about their experiences of the videos. The learners’ answers are summarised in table 6 below:

How easy are the videos? Too

easy/very easy

Easy Helpful Ok/easy and difficult

Not easy

Difficulties Criticisms Description Language

7% 22% 15% 26% 11% 7% 4% 4% 4%

Table 6: How easy are the videos?

One group that said the videos were too easy argued that, “Videos are sometimes too easy and not helpful when answering questions” implying that they thought the content covered in the videos was easier than the content covered in the quizzes, and as such they were not adequately prepared for the quizzes by watching the videos. A group that said the videos were easy supported this by saying that the videos “show you how to do a sum before you do it,” and another group said the videos were “easy, because of the step by step instructions.” One group said that the videos were helpful “and they help my understanding.” Seven

learners spoke about their mixed experiences of the videos, saying that they were “sometimes simple, at times difficult” and that they were “easy, but some steps are hard to understand.”

125

Other learners found the videos difficult, saying “they’re not easy at all”, while others acknowledged their struggle and success in understanding the videos: “the videos are not really easy, but they’re very helpful.” Two groups drew attention to specific videos they had found difficult, and one criticised the length of the videos. One group did not answer the question but instead explained what the videos do, stating that “they show how to calculate methods,” and one group stated that “we prefer the videos in both English and home language.”

2. How easy is the Maths you do at OLICO?

Learners’ answers to this question are summarised as follows:

How easy is the Maths you do at OLICO?

Easy Ok/mixed Difficult Specifics Description

23% 23% 23% 23% 8%

Table 7: How easy is the Maths you do at OLICO?

The groups that felt the mathematics is easy attributed this to the fact that some of the work they do at OLICO Youth had already been covered at school, and “because they show us the steps of where to start and end.” Other learners shared a mixed reaction, with some learners citing specifics of which courses they found easy and which they found difficult, and others citing the different levels of difficulty within the lessons: “At the beginning it’s easy but from about the third question it’s very difficult and I cannot understand”. Those who found the mathematics difficult noted that the concepts they learn at OLICO Youth are different to what they have already learnt at school, making it more difficult to grasp, with others quite simply saying “most are difficult, and I struggle often.” It is interesting that in these discussions there is an equal split between comments citing the mathematics as being easy, mixed level of difficulty, and difficult.

3. Would you prefer to watch the videos in your home language?

As evidenced in table 8 below, the majority of learners would prefer to watch the videos in English.

Would you prefer to watch the videos in your home language?

Yes No

38% 62%

Table 8: Would you prefer to watch the videos in your home language?

Trends in their reasons were once again identified in the comments that were made. The following tables show a breakdown of the comments given by learners:

126

The videos should be in our L1

We understand better We should mix languages No reason given

38% 38% 24%

Table 9: The videos should be in our L1s

The videos should be in English Our community is

multilingual

We understand English better than our L1s

English is LoLT No reason given

8% 76% 8% 8%

Table 10: The videos should be in English

In considering the emerging trends in learners’ answers it is clear that the majority of learners would prefer to watch the videos in English because, as one learner said, “I’m not used to terminology in my home language.” Interestingly, the learners who would rather watch the videos in their L1 made this decision because they understand their L1 better than English.

4.9 Post-video interviews

A sample of learners was selected for interviews at the end of the course. Learners could self- select for the interviews, and I interviewed eight learners out of the 40 learners. These

learners had shown different performance levels on the course, consisting of four learners from the English-medium control group and fourlearners from the bilingual experimental group. In these interviews I asked them questions about their perceptions of the course, their emotional and motivational responses, as well as tested their understanding of the content in the videos (see Appendices E and F for questions and transcriptions respectively). The latter was tested by giving learners a mathematics problem relating to a concept they would have learnt in the video they most recently watched. I then asked them to solve the problem and explain it to me as though I was their peer who didn’t understand. I specifically conducted these interviews myself (as opposed to asking a multilingual colleague) as the learners then needed to explain in English, and the purpose of the videos was to help the learners build understanding and proficiency in English within the topic.

In these interviews the learners informed me that they had covered almost all of the topics covered in the OLICO Youth Fractions course at school, except for word problems and multiplication of fractions. Where the method in the OLICO Youth video differed from the method taught at school, most of the learners followed the methods they had learnt at school.

127

When I asked one learner if she could also show me how to do the problem using the method she had learnt in the video, she replied, “I don’t know, I was doing the method like this.” This illustrates the dichotomy of the mathematical elements in this research being divided by conceptual understanding and procedural fluency, as mentioned in the analytical framework.

When I first asked one of the learners to explain to me how she had solved the

mathematics problem as though I did not understand it she was taken aback. “Ha! Why?” she asked me, and clearly explaining a concept to someone who already understood it was a foreign task for her.

In explaining to me how they answered the mathematics problems all of the learners simply showed me what they had done. Learners showed me their calculations, but did not explain why they were doing them. The following extract taken from after the learner’s successful completion of a mathematics problem illustrates learners’ degree of procedural fluency but relative lack of conceptual understanding:

NvW: Yoh, you’ve learnt so much hey. So what does this 40 mean, compared to that?

L: Um.

NvW: What is this question asking you?

L: They say change, eish, I don’t know it now. NvW: Ok, but you know how to do it which is great.

L: Yes.

(Learner 1, Appendix F)

The reward for procedural fluency over conceptual understanding that is so prevalent in schools even echoes in my affirmation that her knowing how to do it is great. When

considering all of the interviews it is clear that the bilingual experiment with the videos alone is not sufficient to improve learners’ conceptual understanding of mathematical concepts.

4.10 Post-video Surveys

Learners completed short questionnaires early in the fourth term once they had completed Decimals, the course which followed Fractions which was available in English only. The purpose of these surveys was to see what learners’ perceptions of learning through their L1

128

were after having gone back to learning in English only. The following are the results from the surveys.