The Catalan Lexicon: Teaching Mathematics in a Bilingual Setting

• In Event: 66.054 - Unpacking the Technical Vocabulary of Middle School Mathematics Teachers Internationally

Abstract

Objectives
The hypothesis being investigated in this study is that bilingual teachers have access to an expanded repertoire of linguistic resources to facilitate their professional activities within the mathematics classroom. The presentation draws on the Catalan Lexicon. Catalan is a language used in north-eastern Spain and adjoining parts of France. The research reported in this presentation identifies commonalities and gaps in the teacher lexicons expressed in Catalan and in Spanish [Castilian].

Theoretical Framework
Previous research on “teaching mathematics in bilingual settings” has tended to focus on the students’ point of view (Moschkovich, 2007). For a number of years, poor performance in mathematics by students from ‘minority’ [linguistic] groups was associated with lack of proficiency in L1 (the main teaching language) (Ovando, Collier, & Combs, 1985). However, research suggests that bilingual students perform better at school than monolingual students. This conclusion is consistent with research conducted in Catalonia (Serra, 1997). Over three decades more than 150 studies provided evidence that there is a positive association between additive bilingualism and linguistic, cognitive and academic growth. Cummins’ hypothesis about the interdependence of lexicons held by the same individual in two languages and the “common underlying proficiency,” suggests that bilingual teachers may have additional lexical resources to inform their instructional practice through access to the naming systems expressed in two languages in the same region and about the same classrooms.

Methods and Data Sources/Evidence
For this project, videotaped local lessons were discussed by teachers of mathematics to create the Catalan lexicon. During the investigation, the interviewer asked the participants (bi-lingual teachers) if they were able to identify gaps and commonalities between the terms used in Catalan (to describe how teachers teach mathematics in Catalonia), and the Castilian ones.

Results/Conclusions
Preliminary comparison by the same teachers of the lexical resources available in Catalan and Castilian to describe the mathematics classroom identified few differences. The number of terms required to denote particular situations was not big. The mandatory language for teaching (L1) in Catalonia is Catalan. However, in some areas children may use Castilian as the main language, even when talking with the teacher. Bilingualism emerges as a natural situation in those classrooms. Although teachers use Catalan, some students would use either Catalan or Castilian to participate within the classroom activity. Such a situation provides ideal access to teachers able to access the professional language of two communities. Examples will be provided of both commonalities and differences in the Catalan and Castilian Lexicons.

Scholarly Significance
Identifying commonalities or gaps in the terms teachers use to design, implement, and assess their activities within the classroom of mathematics may increase their collective repertoire of teaching resources to better help students to learn mathematics. In the case of bilingual teachers, these commonalities and gaps may exist across the teacher’s two parallel professional lexicons, offering teachers expanded pedagogical options and perspectives.

Author

• Javier Diez-Palomar, Universitat de Barcelona