This week, I read "Equity and the Quality of the Language Used in Mathematics Education" by Schutte and Kaiser. In this article, the authors focus on the role that language plays in a German mathematics classroom, focusing in particular on students' whose native tongue is not German. The authors claim that nearly a third of students in German schools have migrated from other countries. PISA results claim that "youths whose vernacular used in the parents' homes is not coherent with the language used during lessons achieve lower competency scores in all domains" of the test (p. 238). By analysing a short episode of teaching "least common multiples," the authors note that subtleties in language are often swept under the rug, leaving students (whose first language is not German) to grapple with the meaning of the "academic language," as well as symbolic notation.
This piece struck a particular chord with me, since I have been teaching international students for the last two years. The majority of my students are from China, and thus spend the majority of their time speaking to their fellow classmates in Chinese. If national representation were more diverse, this would perhaps not be the case. I often wonder what sort of effect that language has on their learning. As an instructor, I try my best to write everything on the board so that if anything is missed verbally, it's at least written on the board. Even still, when working with the formal definition of a limit and using the words "arbitrarily" and "sufficiently," these words (initially) have no meaning to the students outside of the context of the definition. Thankfully, the Vantage program includes courses through the LLED department that focus on the language in their mathematics courses! Although I don't know exactly what happens in these classes, it does seem as though they address the "academic language" the authors in this article were so concerned with.
Unfortunately, this all exists in a program that exists for students who all need intensive English preparation, whereas the authors of this article are concerned with a typical elementary or secondary classroom. They assert that the goal should be to create classrooms that emphasize language regardless of the number of languages spoken. This is certainly a novel goal, but what actions can mathematics educators take to do so?
Until I went to grad school I had always been educated in a homogeneous - at least with respect to language - situation. But it was there that I first witnessed incredible mathematicians emerge from language barriers who sometimes (impressively on so many fronts) could communicate complicated ideas in very simple words. Of course, we cannot expect a all student to do this, but maybe it is something as teachers we can be work on? I cannot help but think of Susan's work with blind students: what works for them will likely help those that are sighted too. Shouldn't this also apply to those with varying language skills? It is certainly not only language learners who get overwhelmed by mathematical jargon!
ReplyDeleteI believe that the mathematics itself is a language, and that we merely view it and interpret it differently based on our cultural background. Certain countries will focus on different aspects of mathematics, and will discuss it in different contexts, however I assume that many international families bring their children to Canadian schools so that they learn a Canadian curriculum. Perhaps this is a big assumption.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely depends on when a student arrives. If they arrive in their K-4 years, they will have gone through the ELL (English Language Learner) programs within 3-4 years and theoretically have no language barriers by the time they are in high school. The problems really occur when they arrive later in high school and have to take tests to get into university. Perhaps through intensive tutoring programs they can succeed, however I would imagine the language barriers really become apparent in university level class discussions where they cannot take their work home to analyze it with a tutor.
Strategies that Vanessa mentioned such as writing up important concepts on the board are very useful, and as Sophie mentioned, they are useful to all. I really don't see a way around it. Math teachers will always communicate in their native tongues. In elementary school we do provide adaptations for our ELL students, such as more 1-on-1 time, not having them do the 'wordy' questions, or sometimes I will even scribe them. When so much mental energy is spent on decoding the language, what is left for performing the math?