Culturally responsive assessment in mathematical word problems and numerical cognition in multilingual education

In multilingual education systems, the cultural disconnect between students’ lived experiences and assessment content can significantly hinder both comprehension and performance, especially in mathematics. This study investigated the role of cultural familiarity in shaping students’ numerical cognition and affective engagement when solving mathematical word problems in Ghanaian public schools. A quasi-experimental, between-subjects design was employed, involving 160 upper primary and junior high school students from ethnolinguistically diverse classrooms in the Greater Accra and Central Region. Participants were assigned to either an experimental group receiving culturally familiar math word problems or a…