Opportunities and Obstacles for Content-Language Integration: Language Ideologies and Scripted Math Curriculum in Dual-Language Bilingual Education

• In Event: Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining STEM Education for Multilingual Learners

Abstract

The number of bi/multilingual students is increasing, yet within mathematics instruction, less is known about how dual language bilingual education (DLBE) teachers support students’ language and mathematical needs. This qualitative study examines seven Spanish and French elementary DLBE teachers’ interviews about their experiences teaching a widely used mathematics curriculum to support language development. Teacher interviews reveal an often-limited understanding of language and mathematics integration, reflecting prevailing ideologies of wordism focusing almost exclusively on vocabulary and of literacy-content dualism, that mathematics and literacy should be separate. Findings indicate needs for professional learning about the role of language in mathematics and how to content-language integration, as well as needs for curriculum developers to have greater attention to language.

Authors

• Lisa Domke, Georgia State University

• Ana Solano-Campos, Georgia State University

• Michael Vo, Georgia State University