The construction of word meaning in a multicultural classroom. Mediational tools in peer collaboration during mathematics lessons

Elbers, Ed; Haan, Mariëtte de

doi:10.1007/bf03173210

Cited by 34 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Rather, our findings suggest that the difficulties shown by children with poor skills in the instructional language may be due to their difficulties in understanding the content of prior classroom instruction and in constructing a mathematical model of the problem at hand. Previous research has usually focused on bilingual students' difficulties following classroom instructions (e.g., Elbers & de Haan, 2005). Our data confirm the importance of the mastery of instructional language for mathematical problem solving.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given this model of arithmetic word problem solving, the influence of language on achievement could be threefold: First, instructional processes in the classroom are highly language based, with co-construction processes such as the negotiation of concepts and norms as well as definitions, explanations, and argumentations taking place during mathematics instruction (Elbers & de Haan, 2005). Thus, low proficiency in the instructional language may hamper students' initial comprehension of the steps needed to carry out the mathematical modeling process involved in solving a word problem.…”

Section: Language and Mathematics Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cognitive benefits and costs of bilingualism in elementary school students: The case of mathematical word problems.

Kempert¹,

Saalbach²,

Hardy³

2011

Journal of Educational Psychology

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Previous research has emphasized the importance of language for learning mathematics. This is especially true when mathematical problems have to be extracted from a meaningful context, as in arithmetic word problems. Bilingual learners with a low command of the instructional language thus may face challenges when dealing with mathematical concepts. At the same time, speaking two languages can be associated with cognitive benefits with regard to attentional control processes, although such benefits have only been found in highly proficient bilinguals. In the present study, we attempted to disentangle the effects of bilingual proficiency on mathematical problem solving in Turkish-German bilingual elementary school students. We examined whether the positive cognitive effects of bilingualism could be found not only in highly proficient bilinguals but also in students with an immigrant background and a low command of the instructional or native language. Our findings emphasize the importance of language proficiency for mathematics problem solving, as shown by the predictive value of students' proficiency in the language of testing (German/Turkish) for their performance on mathematical word problems. No additional effect of the language of instruction (German) was found for problem solving in the bilingual students' native language (Turkish). Furthermore, bilinguals gained scores comparable to those of their monolingual peers on word problems that required attentional control skills although performing significantly below their monolingual classmates on ordinary word problems, suggesting that bilinguals have an advantage when it comes to attentional control. Finally, bilingual students with a relatively high command of the instructional language performed better on word problems presented in German than on those presented in Turkish, thus facing cognitive costs when transferring knowledge from one language to the other. Implications of our findings for bilingual education are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Language and Mathematics Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive benefits and costs of bilingualism in elementary school students: The case of mathematical word problems.

Kempert¹,

Saalbach²,

Hardy³

2011

Journal of Educational Psychology

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“…Cultural, linguistic, political, and social issues, which are often seen as specific to using, teaching, and learning mathematics, for addressing situations where students are from cultures other than those regarded as mainstream have become central to many European classrooms. This has been reflected in papers presented from several European countries, such as Denmark (Alrø, Skovsmose, & Valero, 2004), Holland (Elbers & de Haan, 2004), Italy, Spain, and Portugal (Favilli, Oliveras, & César, 2004), and Germany (Kaiser, 2004). Another key aspect noted early on, was that "multicultural classrooms" were not the only space for research: instead, other settings, and the transitions between those settings, had to be included (e.g., between the school and educational policies, the home mathematical practices, workplaces, etc.).…”

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confidence: 98%

Diversity in mathematics education

Abreu¹,

Gorgorió²,

Boistrup³

2018

Developing Research in Mathematics Education

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This chapter reviews and reflects the development of the CERME thematic working group on "Diversity in mathematics education." The name of this group has been transformed and extended over the years, as a reflection of the change and expansion of the interests of its members. Thus "Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Multicultural Classrooms" at CERME 3 (proceedings published in 2004) has been progressively transformed into its present name "Diversity in mathematics education: Social, cultural and political challenges." To illustrate this development, this section summarises how the interests of the group have expanded throughout the years. The centrality of culture in the doing, thinking, learning, and teaching of mathematics has been discussed by many scholars in CERME meetings since they started. Already in the proceedings of CERME 1, before the creation of the group, we find many references that consider several aspects related to culture, from mathematics as a cultural product (Arzarello, Dorier, Hefendehl-Hebeker, & Turnau, 1999), to mathematical learning as being co-constructed by culture, and to the culture of mathematical classrooms (e.g., Krummheuer, 1999). Similarly, in his keynote address in CERME 1, Jeremy Kilpatrick (1999) pointed out that the increased multi-cultural and multilingual composition of many classrooms in many countries called for new research. At the next congress, CERME 2, the challenges associated with multicultural, multi-ethnic, multilingual aspects of mathematics education were addressed in several papers, for example Krummheuer (2002) who discussed the challenges in relation to both theory and methods. Bishop, Clarkson, FitzSimons, and Seah (2002) also contributed to the discussion stressing the importance of values at personal, institutional, social, and cultural levels stating that "at the cultural level, the very sources of knowledge, beliefs, and language, influence our values in mathematics education. Further, different cultures develop different values" (p. 370). Around the same time, the sudden increase in

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“…Researchers have shown that in multilingual mathematics classrooms several types of discourse-ranging from the everyday to the formal mathematical register-interchange and coexist (Clarkson, 2009;Slavit & Ernst-Slavit, 2007). At the same time, pupils who are learning the language of instruction alongside mathematics may have difficulty accessing mathematical content presented in verbal forms (Elbers & de Haan, 2005). Furthermore, it has been well documented that the content of mathematics curricula as well as the teaching and learning of the subject vary significantly across countries (Andrews, 2007(Andrews, , 2014Bishop, 1994;Campbell & Kyriakides, 2000).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching Mathematics in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classrooms: Greek-Cypriot Elementary Teachers' Reported Practices and Professional Needs

Xenofontos

2016

Journal of Urban Mathematics Education

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In this article, the author presents and discusses findings from a small-scale qualitative project that included Greek-Cypriot elementary mathematics teachers working in schools with high percentages of immigrant pupils. Working in three neighbouring schools in the same underprivileged urban area, 16 teachers were individually interviewed regarding their experiences of teaching mathematics in those settings. The author discusses the teachers' reported instructional practices in facilitating their pupils' mathematical understanding, as well as their professional needs for doing so. The author's analysis suggests that teachers focused solely on providing linguistic support for their pupils, without any attempt to incorporate their pupils' diverse cultural backgrounds in classrooms. Also, the participants reported a number of professional needs not currently addressed by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Cyprus. Some implications for policy and practice are discussed.

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The construction of word meaning in a multicultural classroom. Mediational tools in peer collaboration during mathematics lessons

Abstract: In this article, we examine the construction of word meaning by smdenis during collaborative activities in a multicultural

Cited by 34 publications

References 12 publications

Cognitive benefits and costs of bilingualism in elementary school students: The case of mathematical word problems.

Cognitive benefits and costs of bilingualism in elementary school students: The case of mathematical word problems.

Diversity in mathematics education

Teaching Mathematics in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classrooms: Greek-Cypriot Elementary Teachers' Reported Practices and Professional Needs

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