ERIC Number: EJ1353553
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2301-251X
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Available Date: N/A
Subtract? That's a Math Word! Unpacking Teachers' Language Choices in Preschool and Kindergarten Classrooms
European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, v10 n3 p366-379 2022
Even though a substantial body of research suggests that adults' math talk fosters children's mathematics development and willingness to learn mathematics, little is known about how teachers make pedagogical decisions to communicate mathematics to young students. Supported by socio-constructivist and semiotic lenses, the study focuses on the close interactions between teachers and their students to better understand the educators' perspectives and the rationale for their mathematical pedagogies when communicating and mediating number sense to young students. An instrumental case study approach and discourse analysis were utilized to investigate how a cultural tool, mathematics, was communicated and mediated to preschool and kindergarten students. Findings indicated that participants focused on supporting young students' meaning-making processes before teaching language form. This pedagogical choice resulted in educators creating a particular early year's mathematical discourse grounded in the avoidance of nouns and in the use of terms that students knew, verbs, and terms that denoted actions.
Descriptors: Language Usage, Preschool Education, Kindergarten, Mathematics Instruction, Preschool Children, Discourse Analysis, Preschool Teachers, Teaching Methods
European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education. Eastern Mediterranean University, Farnagusta, TRNC, Mersin 10, Turkey. e-mail: editor@scimath.net; Web site: http://www.scimath.net
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education; Elementary Education; Kindergarten; Primary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
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