The Language Of Mathematics Education

Concerned with various aspects of language in mathematics education, this book aims to reveal some of the ambiguities and complexities in the way language is used in the mathematics curriculum. It aims to present current perspectives and review key issues in mathematics education.

The book emerges from several contemporary concerns in mathematics, language, and mathematics education. However, the book takes a different stance with respect to language by combining discussion of linguistics and mathematics using examples from each to illustrate the other. The picture that emerges is of a subject that is much more contingent, much more relative, much more subject to human experience than is usually accepted. Another way of expressing this, is that the thesis of the book takes the idea of mathematics as a human creation, and, using the evidence from language, comes to more radical conclusions than most writers allow.

A volume in Research in Mathematics Education Series Editor Barbara J. Dougherty, Iowa State University Marketing description: Issues of language in mathematics learning and teaching are important for both practical and theoretical reasons. Addressing issues of language is crucial for improving mathematics learning and teaching for students who are bilingual, multilingual, or learning English. These issues are also relevant to theory: studies that make language visible provide a complex perspective of the role of language in reasoning and learning mathematics. What is the relevant knowledge base to consider when designing research studies that address issues of language in the learning and teaching of mathematics? What scholarly literature is relevant and can contribute to research? In order to address issues of language in mathematics education, researchers need to use theoretical perspectives that integrate current views of mathematics learning and teaching with current views on language, discourse, bilingualism, and second language acquisition. This volume contributes to the development of such integrated approaches to research on language issues in mathematics education by describing theoretical perspectives for framing the study of language issues and methodological issues to consider when designing research studies. The volume provides interdisciplinary reviews of the research literature from four very different perspectives: mathematics education (Moschkovich), Cultural-Historical-Activity Theory (Gutierrez, Sengupta-Irving, & Dieckmann), systemic functional linguistics (Schleppegrell), and assessment (Solano-Flores). This volume offers graduate students and researchers new to the study of language in mathematics education an introduction to resources for conceptualizing, framing, and designing research studies. For those already involved in examining language issues, the volume provides useful and critical reviews of the literature as well as recommendations for moving forward in designing research. Lastly, the volume provides a basis for dialogue across multiple research communities engaged in collaborative work to address these pressing issues.

This book considers some of the outstanding questions regarding language and communication in the teaching and learning of mathematics – an established theme in mathematics education research, which is growing in prominence. Recent research has demonstrated the wide range of theoretical and methodological resources that can contribute to this area of study, including those drawing on cross-disciplinary perspectives influenced by, among others, sociology, psychology, linguistics, and semiotics. Examining language in its broadest sense to include all modes of communication, including visual and gestural as well as spoken and written modes, it features work presented and discussed in the Language and Communication topic study group (TSG 31) at the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-13). A joint session with participants of the Mathematics Education in a Multilingual and Multicultural Environment topic study group (TSG 32) enhanced discussions, which are incorporated in elaborations included in this book. Discussing cross-cutting topics it appeals to readers from a wide range of disciplines, such as mathematics education and research methods in education, multilingualism, applied linguistics and beyond.

*THIS BOOK WILL SOON BECOME AVAILABLE AS OPEN ACCESS BOOK* This book examines multiple facets of language diversity and mathematics education. It features renowned authors from around the world and explores the learning and teaching of mathematics in contexts that include multilingual classrooms, indigenous education, teacher education, blind and deaf learners, new media and tertiary education. Each chapter draws on research from two or more countries to illustrate important research findings, theoretical developments and practical strategies. This open access book examines multiple facets of language diversity

This book that explores the mathematics education of Latinos/as in 13 original research studies. Each chapter represents research that grounds mathematics instruction for Latinos/as in the resources to be found in culture and language. By inverting the deficit perspective, this volume redresses the shortcomings found in the previous literature on Latino/a learners. Each study frames language (e.g. bilingualism) not as an obstacle to learning, but as a resource for mathematical reasoning. Other chapters explore the notion of cultural variation not as a liability but as a tool for educators to build upon in the teaching of mathematics. Specifically, the book reframes culture as a focus on the practices, objects, inscriptions, or people that connect mathematical concepts to student thinking and experiences, both in and out of school. The book's four sections divide the research: The first section of the book focuses on mathematic learning in classrooms, specifically exploring bilingual, Latino/a students; the second section explores Latino/a learners in communities, including the role parents can play in advancing learning; the third section includes chapters focused on teacher professional growth; the final section concerns the assessment (and mis-assessment) of Latino/a learners. The research shared in this volume provides ample evidence that mathematics educators who choose to ignore language or culture in their pedagogy risk shortchanging their Latino/a students.

`Contemporary thinking on philosophy and the social sciences has been dominated by analyses that emphasise the importance of language in understanding societies and individuals functioning within them; important developments which have been under-utilised by researchers in mathematics education. This book reaches out to contemporary work in these broader fields; drawing on original sources in key areas such as Gadamer and Ricoeur's development of hermeneutics, Habermas' work in critical social theory, Schutz's social phenomenology, Saussure's linguistics and the post-structuralist analysis of Derrida, Foucault and Barthes. Through examining the writings of these major thinkers it is shown how language is necessarily instrumental in developing mathematical understanding; but a language that is in a permanent state of becoming, resisting stable connections to the ideas it locates. The analysis offered extends from children doing mathematics to teachers inspecting and developing their own professional practices.'

Teaching K-12 math becomes an easier task when everyoneunderstands the language, symbolism, and representation of mathconcepts Published in partnership with SEDL, The Problem with Math IsEnglish illustrates how students often understand fundamentalmathematical concepts at a superficial level. Written to inspire?aha? moments, this book enables teachers to help students identifyand comprehend the nuances and true meaning of math concepts byexploring them through the lenses of language and symbolism,delving into such essential topics as multiplication, division,fractions, place value, proportional reasoning, graphs, slope,order of operations, and the distributive property. Offers a new way to approach teaching math content in a waythat will improve how all students, and especially English languagelearners, understand math Emphasizes major attributes of conceptual understanding inmathematics, including simple yet deep definitions of key terms,connections among key topics, and insightful interpretation This important new book fills a gap in math education byillustrating how a deeper knowledge of math concepts can bedeveloped in all students through a focus on language andsymbolism.