Talk Data to Me?

Supporting English Language Learners in Statistics and Data Science

Liza Bolton

Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland

Nathalie Moon

University of Toronto

Samantha-Jo Caetano

University of Toronto

J. Sparks

University of Guelph

Quin Xie

University of Toronto

Ping Huang

Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland

Christy Sun

Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland

Jingdi Sun

Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland

Warm Pacific greetings

Talofa lavaSamoan, Malo e leleiTongan, Kia oranaCook Islands Māori, Mālo niTokelauan, Fakaalofa lahi atuNiuean, Ni sa bulaFijian, FakatalofaTuvaluan, Kia orate reo Māori.

Unknown

Greetings from New Zealand

1900-1910 (with later colouring likely added). Gift of Patricia M. Mitchell, 1989. Te Papa (PS.000812)

Acknowledgement of country

We acknowledge the Jagera and Turrbal peoples as the Traditional Custodians of Meanjin (Brisbane), the lands and waterways where we gather, learn, and share knowledge during ICOTS 12.

We pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging, recognizing their enduring and continuous connection to land, water, and community.

Mike Tippo
Australia, QLD, b.1954

The making of Queensland Aboriginal law (1989)

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art © Mike Tippo (Collection link)

Tangata whenua

The teaching and research that informs this presentation were conducted on the traditional lands of Māori under te Tiriti o Waitangi and of the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee and the Mississaugas of the Credit under the Dish With One Spoon Treaty and, more recently, Treaty 13 between the Mississaugas and the British Crown.

Additional experiences at Southwest University, China, also informed this work.

Emily Kewageshig

The Stillness of Winter (2025)

Fine art print | www.emily-kewageshig.com

Positionality statement

English is the first language I learned.

I have never had my personal success, safety, or access to resources rely on my abilities in another language.

Language is not just a skill — it is part of culture, identity, and how we know others and make ourselves known in turn.

English is the first language I learned, and it is the only language I am fluent in. I have never had my personal success, safety, or access to resources rely on my abilities in another language. This is despite being born in a country where I don’t speak any of the indigenous languages, moving as a young person to another country where I didn’t speak the indigenous language, and being here with your today in another country where I don’t speak the Indigenous language. I’d also like to acknowledge that many people in this room will have first-hand experience with learning English as an additional language that I don’t.

Leonardo da Vinci
Italy, b.1452–d.1519

Portrait of an unknown woman (c. 1490–96)

Oil on wood panel | Musée du Louvre, Paris

Will this be useful to you?

Not a lot of ELLs? Should you sneak out now?

• Connects to: Universal Design for Learning & trauma-informed pedagogy.
• May pull financial levers in your institution that other lenses do not.

• Nicky Wakim on trauma-informed pedagogy
  
• Paul Fijn on designing for accessibility

Pere Borrell del Caso
Spain, b.1835–d.1910

Escaping Criticism (Huyendo de la crítica) (1874)

Oil on canvas | Collection of the Banco de España, Madrid

Will this be useful to any of us?

• The elephant in the room? AI babel fish for all?

• The importance of process: While AI and technological enhancements will change how we approach products, the human process will continue to matter.

• Nick Bussberg on sustainability examples

• Claire, Tyler, & Emily on community-engaged courses
  

Writing, coding, and speaking are not just to produce outputs.

So many of the panels and talks this week have reinforced the value of what we do. In Mine’s response in the What’s my fitted model panel, she made a really great point about the challenges of translation without the ability to check the quality of these translations. This was with respect to code, but the language example holds true.

Max Ernst
Germany, b.1891–d.1976

The Elephant Celebes (Celebes) (1921)

Oil on canvas | Tate Modern, London

Around the world in 80 years

• Rapid globalisation and student mobility over the last 80 years, particularly Asia → Western Anglophone nations. (Altbach, Reisberg, and Rumbley 2009; Marginson 2016)
• English as the lingua franca of academia. (Wilkins and Urbanovič 2014)
• Higher ed marketised, international students a critical source of revenue for institutions (Knight 2004; OECD 2025).

Over the last 80 years, tertiary education has been defined by rapid globalisation and student mobility, particularly from Asia to Western Anglophone nations with post-graduation work opportunities (Altbach et al., 2009; Marginson, 2016). This has fostered the rise of English as the lingua franca of academia (Wilkins and Urbanovič, 2014). At the same time, higher education has become increasingly marketised, with international students viewed as a critical source of revenue for institutions (Knight, 2004; OECD, 2025).

Marguerite Gérard
France, b.1761–d.1837

Young Woman Consulting a Globe (Jeune femme consultant un globe) (c. 1790)

Oil on panel | Private Collection

International student enrollments in universities

Australian Department of Education (2024),
Australian Department of Education (2025),
HESA (2024),
Ministry of Education (2026), Statistics Canada (2026),
QS Quacquarelli Symonds (2023),
Australian Department of Education (2024),
University of Auckland (2024),
University of Toronto (n.d.)

International ≠ ELL

English Language Learners (ELL): students who speak another language more fluently than they speak English AND need support to engage confidently in the standard English dialect of their educational environment.

A note on terms: ELL is used by the Ministry of Education in Aotearoa New Zealand Ministry of Education (2024). Other educational organisations advocate for “multilingual learners” (ESL/ELD Resource Group of Ontario 2022). In Australia the term “EAL/D” includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who may speak Aboriginal English and Kriol (NSW Education Standards Authority 2026).

• Michael Moon on teaching ethics at UofT — 84% of students did not consider English to be their ‘first’ language

International students from China

Note: EU students not counted as international for UK calculation

Australian Department of Education (2024),
Education Counts (2024),
HESA (2024),
Statistics Canada (2026),
University of Auckland (2024),
University of Toronto (n.d.)

This specific student pipeline brings distinct educational and cultural backgrounds that heavily influence classroom dynamics in Anglosphere universities. Historically, English education in China has been driven by high-stakes testing mechanisms such as the Gaokao and the College English Test (CET). This exam-oriented system creates a focus on rote memorisation, grammatical accuracy, and reading comprehension over communicative fluency (Cheng and Hamid, 2025; Han, 2021; Snow et al., 2017). As a result, many Chinese students arrive at Anglosphere universities having passed qualifying examinations of their technical language abilities, yet struggle with the demands of academic participation. Compounding this challenge, recent data indicates an overall decline in China’s general English proficiency ratings (Education First, 2025), potentially due to pandemic-related learning disruptions (Zou, 2023), strict domestic restrictions on private tutoring (Yao, 2023), and shifting cultural perceptions regarding the necessity of English language acquisition (Ni, 2023). In our own teaching and through discussions with colleagues, we are aware of the challenges many university educators are facing in supporting their students in courses with a high number of ELLs. These unique challenges have been documented in the literature (e.g., Lin & Morrison, 2021) and across teaching levels, science, technology, and mathematics (STEM) teachers in Anglosphere countries face the “responsibility of having students who do not speak English proficiently in their content area classrooms” (Hoffman & Zollman, 2016). In statistics education, this challenge is multi-layered, as learning the discipline fundamentally requires acquiring a specialised language skillset that bridges mathematical notation, general academic prose, and domain-specific vocabulary (Dunn et al., 2016).

Three levels of strategies/ideas

Small: teaching practices

• The power of pausing: Pausing 🧘‍♀️ > going slow 🐢 (Blau 1000; Hayati 2010; Lesser and Winsor 2009)
• Speake AND write instructions/answers
• Be explicit when navigating shared languages and translanguaging (Dovchin 2024)
  • Shared languages for encouragement
  • Language of instruction for help with assessments, concepts, etc.

Traditionally attributed to Zhao Ji
China, b.1082-d.1135

Two ducks among reeds at the water’s edge (Ming or Qing dynasty, 15th-18th century)

Ink and color on silk | Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Medium: assessment design

• Scaffold contexts for interest and accessibility
  • Immerse! (Carver et al. 2016; Fergusson and Pfannkuch 2022)
  • Give students opportunties to engage with data and data dictionaries before timed assessments.

Copy after Qiu Ying 仇英 in the 17th century China, b.1494-d.1552

The hall of scenic beauty 有美堂圖

Ink and color on silk | Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Big: design and institutional support

• Communication skills workshops
  • Lexical ambiguity (Whitaker 2016)
  • Hedging langugage (Alqurashi 2019; Wishnoff 2000)
• Relational pedagogies (Aspelin 2020; Quinlan 2022)

Ito Jakuchu
Japan, b.1716-d.1800

Elephant (1790)

Ink on paper, hanging scroll | Tokyo Fuji Art Museum

Examples

Practice example: Teaching undergrad data science in China

• The challenge
• The pivot
• The result

• Students were reluctant to raise hands or answer questions in front of the whole class.
• They weren’t all disengaged; they needed a sense of safety and the appropriate time and support to engage with the activities.

• Modified “Think, Pair, Share”
  • Structure timing
  • Use anonymous writing submission tools

• Anna Fergusson’s Write now!
  

• From NO raised hands to 50%-70% of the class submitting answers.

Survey study: Large intro stats and data science course at an English-medium university

• Course
• Participants
• Writing
• Findings
• Limitations

• This course was intentionally designed to incorporate recommended techniques for teaching and developing students’ written communication skills, alongside the introduction of statistical concepts and computing skills (Gibbs and Taback 2021).
• Low student-to-teaching assistant ratio (24:1).
• Significant collaboration with the university’s English Language Learning unit to support teaching assistant training and aid in the upskilling of instructors.

• Four iterations of a large, first-year undergraduate introductory statistics and data science course at the University of Toronto.
  • Delivery: online between September 2020 and April 2022.
• ELLs accounted for 76% to 83% of enrolments over the study period.
• n=1,697 students participated in a pre- and post- survey.

• The course design integrated frequent, low-stakes writing practice through weekly writing tasks and online discussion boards, culminating in a scaffolded group project that included a proposal, final report, and peer review.
• Data were collected using pre- and post-course surveys in which students self-assessed their professional writing proficiency and identified the course components most beneficial to their development.

• Improvements for all: The proportion of students rating their proficiency as Good or higher rose from 63% at the start of the semester to 78% by the end.
• ELL gains: Of ELLs who began the course rating themselves as having Poor or Adequate proficiency (n = 572), 57% rated themselves as Good or above by the end of the course.
• Effective components: Weekly writing tasks, online discussion boards, and the final project were rated as most beneficial for developing their writing skills.

• We cannot assess the extent to which cross-cultural differences in survey and self-rating behaviours were present and/or evolved as students spent more time acclimatising to the institution.
• In future work, variable response styles may be important to consider (Dolnicar and Grün 2007), potentially alongside links to assessment-based evaluation.

Takeaways 🥡

1. No matter the resources you have, there are things you can do to make your course more accessible to ELL students. Small — Medium — Big.
2. Doing better for ELLs can help us do better for a wide range of students.
3. The current demographic reality of higher ed → some sort of arcane accounting/granting/budgeting magic → the resources to implement UDL/trauma-informed/relational pedagogies?

With gratitude to 💐

The many students, teaching assistants, and colleagues who have contributed to our understanding and the development of our teaching practices for supporting English Language Learners.

💰: Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland Faculty of Science Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant

Our ICOTS 12 conference proceedings reviewers — your thoughtful comments helped us improve this presentation and accompanying paper.

All those involved with making ICOTS happen. And thanks to the lads in the AV booth at the back!

Last, but certainly not least, thank YOU for being here.

Let’s talk!

liza.bolton@auckland.ac.nz

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References (scrollable)

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