The interface between early numeracy, language and learning environments: Pedagogical implications

Abstract

Introduction: Everyday social interaction as bedrock for early numeracyUpon entering Grade R, children already have substantial knowledge of the natural and the social world, which includes basic numeracy (Carey 2009;Clements & Sarama 2016;Dehaene 2011) and language competence (Dehaene 2009, 2020; Spelke 2017). During young children's daily engagement with their environment and with some formal instruction and free play, a dynamic interplay between conceptual and linguistic development is fostered (Condry & Spelke 2008;Schmitt, Purpura & Elicker 2019). In this article, I discuss theoretical perspectives, coupled with teachers' personal theories of this intersection between pre-schoolers' social environment, their unfolding numeracy and their language development. In addition, I argue that this intersection is cognitively filtered by children's executive functions (EF), and that, collectively, these factors contribute, ultimately, to children's Grade 1 numeracy achievement (Figure 1).Early numeracy skills and language 'for' mathematics have been shown to be related to and predictive of mathematics learning (Aunio et al. 2019;Clements & Sarama 2016;Schmitt et al. 2019). Dyrvold (2020:2), referring to Niss and Højgaard (2011), argues that mathematical proficiency requires 'communicative and reasoning competencies, ones that are language dependent'. She continues, '(a)ccordingly, students must be given opportunities to learn (the) mathematics subject language'.Learning the discourse of mathematics, and in this instance, the discourse of number concepts, is part and parcel of almost all natural languages, with a few exceptions such as reported in a study of Australian indigenous children in which no language effects were found in 3-5-year-old Background: In South Africa, many children learn mathematics in English, which is often not a home language. This type of linguistic situation intersects with their learning environments, their numeracy attainment and their executive functions. Ultimately, these aspects collectively contribute to children's numeracy attainment in Grade 1. Aim:To describe how teachers draw on their views of the intersection of (1) pre-school numeracy competence, (2) language for mathematics and (3) the home and classroom environment, and (4) executive functions as cognitive filter for the teaching of mathematics, specifically of number concepts.Setting: A well-resourced school in a township area of urban Johannesburg, where Grade 1 children are taught in English, although their home language and Grade R language of instruction is isiZulu or Sesotho.Methods: Qualitative content analysis and discourse analysis were used to analyse interview data of four purposefully selected teachers.Results: Teachers' discourse showed that they were able to reflect on their teaching and to provide examples of how children's language, the environment and executive functions could feature in their early numeracy development. Yet, the teachers did not link theoretical ideas to their personal pedagogical theories. Conc...