EDUC4105

English is a very complicated language and it is not surprising that this causes problems in mathematics. Mathematical English (ME) used in the classroom often becomes confusing since its meaning can be taken in totally different ways depending on whether students interpret it as ME or Ordinary English (OE).

By looking at Mandarin we can see how the language can influence student outcomes in the classroom. One example from the first reading is giving an equation for the statement, ‘There are 6 times as many men as women.’ It is quite easy to see how English speaking students give the answer as 6m = w as this follows the sentence structure. If this were read in mandarin it would be more like, ‘Male members are female members 6 times.’ Thus the correct equation can easily be derived from this statement.

It is interesting in the second reading about referring to 3/4 as 3 fourths or 3 over 4. It would be helpful to teach students to understand this quite complex language. They could be taught that the first number i.e. 3 is the numerator and the number that ends in ‘ths’ i.e. fourths is the denominator. They could then have a quiz that requires students to translate words into fractions and vice versa. They could also discuss what you would call the fraction 3/2. Is it three tooths? This kind of discussion can help students make sense of ME.

From the second reading it is apparent that students struggle to find meaning in the calculations they perform. Long division is a great example of this as few seem to understand why it works. It is important for students to understand how the base 10 number system works as this lays the groundwork for students to learn addition, multiplication and division algorithms.

Multi-based arithmetic blocks (MABs) have been used to help students develop a concrete understanding of whole numbers. Probably more effective is teaching students different number base systems. It is easier to explain the concept of the base-ten number system after they first learn that our number system is a concept first.

I feel that substantive communication, problematic knowledge and higher-order thinking are some of the most prominent elements of the quality teaching model for tackling the problems of literacy in mathematics.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 3:11 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.