I found the need to explore the difficulties faced by Arabic-speaking English language learners studying mathematics as soon as I moved to the United Arab Emirates. Thus, I began a line of research that aimed to explain and understand these issues and find effective teaching strategies for the students. This case study describes the first research project I completed in the United Arab Emirates, which was on how language affected the comprehension of mathematics word problems among Emirati university students. My research partner and I conducted a randomized control study where we found evidence that language simplification, using the first-language, or providing visuals and pictures did not improve the chances of university students answering mathematics questions correctly. We concluded that the lexical and syntactic features of word problems had little effect on student performance and that further research should be conducted to find where in the learning process the negative effects of low language proficiency are more impactful. In this case, I describe how we conceptualized the study, how we solved various problems that related to the project, how my co-investigator and I made interdisciplinary research work, and how this first experiment led to more studies and collaborations with a researcher from another field. I also talk about the challenges found in conducting research in an international setting and outside your own culture.

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