Comparing the Mathematics Achievement of Immigrant and Native Students according to TIMSS 2019: Turkey, Qatar, USA, Singapore and England

Abstract

TIMSS, the international math and science trends survey, is implemented in many countries and provides information about students, teachers, school administrators and parents of those countries through questionnaires. The education of immigrant students is one of the most important immigrant problems on the agenda of the whole world. In the literature review, there are no studies comparing immigrant-native students using data from Turkey. The main purpose of this study is to compare the TIMSS 2019 mathematics achievement of immigrant and native students in Turkey, Qatar, England, Singapore, and the USA. The students were categorized into native-migrant categories based on the answers given to the questions "were you born in the country you were born in?" and "how often is the test language spoken at home?" in the questionnaire applied to the students. The data in the study were obtained from the IEA's public website. The study was divided into 5 categories as native, 1st generation immigrant + national language, 1st generation immigrant + different language, 2nd generation immigrant + national language, 2nd generation immigrant + different language. The relationship between the math achievement of the groups was compared using ANOVA test. As a result of the research, while the use of different languages in the USA, England and Turkey creates a disadvantage for immigrant students' mathematics achievement, this situation differs between categories in other countries.