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Appropriating the Discourse of Language in Mathematics EducationDonna Kotsopoulos, Dr Shelley Taylor. Ideally, educational policy development in multicultural societies requires multidisciplinary ways of addressing issues, embracing diversity and difference, and viewing inclusive pedagogy as a cornerstone of educators’ missions; however, when the dynamics of
educational settings and pedagogical practices are investigated, exclusive v. inclusive practices and policies may be identified. The study described in this paper presents one such case of exclusive practices; practices which serve to exclude some groups of learners from receiving equitable instruction despite the fact that, internationally, a common call in curricular policy documents is for educators to start from what the learner knows and to valorize their background knowledge. Delpit (1988) refers to language as a ‘code of power’ which unless rendered explicit to students can be exclusionary. In the present study of 21 secondary school mathematics students, academic achievement is negatively effected as a result of not having access to the content-specific language of mathematics. Students observed were not instructed in a manner which draws on their background knowledge of ‘natural language’ in order to develop the content-specific register. This study supports previous findings by Heath (e.g., certain language varieties valorized in school – i.e., home language resembles the language of schooling v. more of a mismatch between other languages of home and the language of school). This study builds on the research literature regarding second language students involved in content-area studies such as O’Malley and Chamot’s (1994) work on CALLA and Echevarria, Vogt and Short’s (2000) work on SDAIE. It draws on Cummins’ (1984, 2000) BICS/CALP distinction, and raises future research questions regarding the BICS/CALP continuum such as when does the line between the two blur, and when does CALP occur and bear fruit in a content-area such as mathematics. This study is noteworthy as the population primarily discussed speaks the language of instruction, English, as its mother tongue, as did the students in Heath’s study. Given the need for inclusive pedagogy in this population, the implications for second language children enrolled in content-area studies are overwhelming. Presenters Donna Kotsopoulos
(Canada)
Graduate Student Faculty of Education The University of Western Ontario Donna Kotsopoulos is a graduate student at The University of Western Ontario whose research interests include applied linguistics and mathematics education. Donna also teaches secondary school mathematics.
Dr Shelley Taylor
(Canada)
The University of Western Ontario Shelley Taylor is an Assistant Professor at The University of Western Ontario. Her research interests include bi-Multilingualism, bilingual education, minority language issues, and content-based instruction.
Keywords
(Virtual Presentation,
English)
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