ERIC Number: EJ1192869
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Oct
Pages: 9
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1073-5836
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
A Path to Discourse-Rich Communities
Chval, Kathryn B.; Pinnow, Rachel J.
Teaching Children Mathematics, v25 n2 p105-112 Oct 2018
Because talking about their mathematical ideas is difficult for emergent bilinguals if they do not have experience with the language used to represent those ideas, constructing math lessons wherein the materials and tasks support the development of fruitful talk is an important task for the teacher. Waiting until emergent bilinguals are fully fluent or fully literate in a second language before teaching them academic content is not recommended, as these students are learning about language while also learning mathematical content through language (Gibbons 2015). Therefore, positioning emergent bilinguals to effectively share their mathematical thinking with others requires building mathematical language infrastructure through the triad of mathematical materials, tasks, and talk. In this article, the authors use three excerpts from one third-grade mathematics classroom to demonstrate how teachers can facilitate intentional mathematical discussions. The teacher in the excerpts, Courtney Bristow, participated in a three-year research study conducted by the authors that supported elementary school teachers in effectively teaching emergent bilinguals both mathematics and their second language of English (see Chval, Pinnow, and Thomas 2015). The authors found that to foster mathematical classroom discourse, Bristow had to orchestrate materials, tasks, and talk such that emergent bilinguals could build mathematical content knowledge and mathematical linguistic knowledge necessary to share their thinking with others. In this article, they draw on excerpts from two lessons that Bristow taught during the first year of the study, in which she introduced problems involving coins.
Descriptors: Grade 3, Elementary School Mathematics, Elementary School Students, Bilingual Students, Language Proficiency, Discussion (Teaching Technique), English Language Learners, Elementary School Teachers, English (Second Language), Problem Solving, Teaching Methods, Manipulative Materials
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. 1906 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191. Tel: 800-235-7566; Tel: 703-620-9840; Fax: 703-476-2570; e-mail: NCTM@nctm.org; Web site: http://www.nctm.org/publications/teaching-children-mathematics/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Grade 3
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: DRL0844556
Author Affiliations: N/A