Intersections of Culture, Language, and Mathematics Education: Looking Back and Looking Ahead (original) (raw)
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This article examines mathematics instruction and its intersection with culturally relevant teaching in an elementary/middle school in a Mexican American community. The findings are based on a collaborative-research and school-change project involving university researchers, teachers, and the school's principal. On the basis of ethnographic data and an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, we propose a three-part model of culturally relevant mathematics instruction. The 3 components are (a) building on students' informal mathematical knowledge and building on students' cultural and experiential knowledge, (b) developing tools of critical mathematical thinking and critical thinking about knowledge in general, and (c) orientations to students' culture and experience.
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This paper draws on two research studies with similar theoretical backgrounds, in two different settings, Barcelona (Spain) and Tucson (USA). From a sociocultural perspective, the analysis of mathematics education in multilingual and multiethnic classrooms requires us to consider contexts, such as the family context, that have an influence on these classrooms and its participants. We focus on immigrant parents' perspectives on their children's mathematics education and we primarily discuss two topics: (1) their experiences with the teaching of mathematics, and (2) the role of language (native language and second language). The two topics are explored with reference to the immigrant students' or their parents' former educational systems (the "before") and their current educational systems (the "now"). Parents and schools understand educational systems, classroom cultures and students' attainment differently, as influenced by their sociocultural histories and contexts.
Immigrant parents' perspectives on their children's mathematics education
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This paper draws on two research studies with similar theoretical backgrounds, in two different settings, Barcelona (Spain) and Tucson (USA). From a sociocultural perspective, the analysis of mathematics education in multilingual and multiethnic classrooms requires us to consider contexts, such as the family context, that have an influence on these classrooms and its participants. We focus on immigrant parents' perspectives on their children's mathematics education and we primarily discuss two topics: (1) their experiences with the teaching of mathematics, and (2) the role of language (native language and second language). The two topics are explored with reference to the immigrant students' or their parents' former educational systems (the "before") and their current educational systems (the "now"). Parents and schools understand educational systems, classroom cultures and students' attainment differently, as influenced by their sociocultural histories and contexts.
My aim in this article is to explore 3 perspectives on bilingual mathematics learners and to consider how a situated and sociocultural perspective can inform work in this area. The 1st perspective focuses on acquisition of vocabulary, the 2nd focuses on the construction of multiple meanings across registers, and the 3rd focuses on participation in mathematical practices. The 3rd perspective is based on sociocultural and situated views of both language and mathematics learning. In 2 mathematical discussions, I illustrate how a situated and sociocultural perspective can complicate our understanding of bilingual mathematics learners and expand our view of what counts as competence in mathematical communication.
Abacus, 2022
His classroom-based research investigates using student ideas as a resource for learning mathematics in schools, teacher education, and professional learning settings. mhusband@stfx.ca TINA RAPKE currently focuses on all grade levels of mathematics teaching and learning (including the education of future teachers). She is interested in how research informs classroom practice and vice versa. She has 20+ years of teaching experience and is currently an associate professor at York University. Dr. Rapke holds a joint doctoral degree in mathematics and education.
But What Does it Look Like in Maths?: A Framework for Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy in Mathematics
International Journal of Multicultural Education, 2023
In response to urgent calls for teaching that is culturally affirming, scholars have developed a myriad of images of culturally sustaining (and related) pedagogies (CSPs). However, for maths teachers, CSPs remain elusive, in part because these images are typically content-neutral and their applicability to practice opaque. In this paper, I synthesize research to help conceptualize and clarify what CSPs may look like specifically in mathematics classrooms. I offer a framework for CSPs in mathematics comprised of four dimensions: (1) antiassimilationism, (2) strengths-based teaching, (3) power and justice, and (4) affirming identities.
Language and Culture in the Mathematics Classroom: Scaffolding Learner Engagement
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Various assertions have been made regarding the relationship between mathematics, language and culture (Ladson-Billings in J Res Math Educ 28:697–708, 1997; Guberman in Cultural aspects of young children’s mathematics knowledge, 1999; D’Ambrosio in Teach Child Math 7:308, 2001; Barwell in The role of language in mathematics, 2002; Street in Curr Issues Comp Educ 5(2):77, 2003; Lesser & Blake in J Crit Educ Policy Stud 5(1), 2007; Fogelberg et al. in Integrating literacy and math strategies for K-6 teachers. Guilford Publications, New York, 2008). Some posit a dichotomous relationship, understanding mathematics to be separate to language and culture. Others refer to mathematics as ‘the universal language’, consisting of conceptual knowledge and cognitive processes common to all cultural and linguistic groups.
Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 2002
In this article, we present a relational perspective in which cultural diversity is viewed as a relation between people's participation in the practices of different communities. In the case at hand, the relevant practices were those of students' local, home communities, and the broader communities to which they belonged in wider society on the one hand and the specifically mathematical practices established by the classroom community on the other hand. In the 1st part of the article, we discuss how we might characterize the practices of these various communities by drawing on Wenger's (1998) notion of a community of practice and on Gee's (1997) notion of a Discourse. In doing so, we question the manner in which students are frequently classified exclusively in terms of the standard categories of race and ethnicity in investigations of equity in mathematics education. Later in the article, we clarify that in addition to focusing on the continuities and contrasts between the practices of different communities, the relational perspective also encompasses issues of both power and identity. As we illustrate, the gatekeeping role that mathematics plays in students' access to educational and economic opportunities is not limited to differences in the ways of knowing associated with participation in the practices of different communities. Instead, it also includes difficulties that students experience in reconciling their views of themselves and who they want to become with the identities that they are invited to construct in the mathematics classroom. The cultural diversity of the student population has increased dramatically in recent years in a number of countries including the United States. At the same time, scholars in the emerging field of multicultural education have challenged the meta