Language in the Mathematics Classroom: An introduction to the papers and presentations within ETC 7

Research considering the role of language in the teaching and learning of mathematics continues to grow and develop, drawing on a range of theoretical, methodological and pedagogical approaches. In this introduction, we detail the discussions had and issues raised at the 7th ERME Topic Conference as a result of the bringing together of the theoretical perspectives, foci and findings of the papers presented that are included in these proceedings. These rich discussions also raised new challenges for those researching language and mathematics and identified new possibilities for the future work of the Mathematics and Language thematic working group. Keywords: Language and mathematics, multilingual contexts, meaning-making, interaction<br/

Explorative study on language means for talking about enlarging figures in group work

International audienceThis paper presents a first step for designing language support for Grade 9 students working collaboratively on the topic of similarity, more precisely an adaptation of Brousseau’s tangram task. The qualitative study identifies (topic specific) language means which students use for talking about their ideas on how to enlarge figures, combining geometrical and arithmetical ideas. Furthermore, a textbook analysis shows the target language that students should use and understand at the end of the teaching unit. The identified difference between both repertoires of identified language means calls for developing language-responsive teaching-learning arrangements in the future in which both language repertoires can be bridged systematically by macro-scaffolding trajectories

Explorative study on language means for talking about enlarging figures in group work

International audienceThis paper presents a first step for designing language support for Grade 9 students working collaboratively on the topic of similarity, more precisely an adaptation of Brousseau’s tangram task. The qualitative study identifies (topic specific) language means which students use for talking about their ideas on how to enlarge figures, combining geometrical and arithmetical ideas. Furthermore, a textbook analysis shows the target language that students should use and understand at the end of the teaching unit. The identified difference between both repertoires of identified language means calls for developing language-responsive teaching-learning arrangements in the future in which both language repertoires can be bridged systematically by macro-scaffolding trajectories

Diverse epistemic participation profiles in socially established explaining practices

International audienceSame classroom, same learning opportunity? Although learning to explain takes place while participating in the classroom micro­culture’s practices of explaining, this interactionist conceptualization must be widened in order to account for students’ diversity. For analysing not only quantitative, but also qualitative differences between students’ participation in explaining practices, we present the construct ‘epistemic participation profile’ and illustrate how it allows to account for the diversity within a classroom

What characterizes quality of mathematics classroom interaction for supporting language learners? Disentangling a complex phenomenon

International audienceThe crucial role of the quality of classroom interaction is highlighted in many qualitative studies, especially in connection with research on fostering (language learners') conceptual understanding of mathematics. But what exactly characterizes quality of classroom interaction? We want to address this question with the aim of proposing different criteria and disentangle the complex phenomenon into the talk-related, discursive, conceptual and lexical dimensions of the interaction. Therefore, we give an overview on related qualitative studies and deduce categories for the quality of classroom interaction for both, teachers' measures for activating students and for students' participation. This disentangling can establish a theoretical foundation for future research, as it provides directions for an operationalization for quantitative video-ratings

Measuring quality interaction: how much detail is necessary? Results from a quantitative video study on the conceptual dimension

International audienceQuantitative video-based investigations of quality interaction raise challenges due to their complexity. In this paper, three different operationalizations for measuring mathematically rich interaction are derived from larger teaching quality studies that vary in detail. Those heterogeneous operationalizations are task-, move-, and practice-based. We apply all three operationalizations to video data from 49 small group interventions (210 students, age 10-14 years) that aim at fostering students' conceptual understanding of fractions. Qualitative and quantitative results indicate that when capturing interaction quality, measuring the quality by task-and move-based operationalizations is not sufficient to capture all relevant differences in classroom interaction