Identifying Language and Mathematical Goals when Planning Language-Responsive Mathematics Lessons

• In Event: Enhancing Mathematics Instruction for Multilingual Learners: Exploring Dilemmas and Discussing Next Steps in Teacher Learning

Abstract

Objectives
A body of research has investigated language responsive designs for the teaching and learning of mathematics (Chval et al., 2014; Erath et al., 2021; Prediger, 2019). One design principle is articulating integrated language and mathematical goals at the unit level and at the lesson level (e.g., Author, year_a). Yet, teachers struggle to enact this design principle in their lesson planning (Authors., 2021). Here we present data from teacher-researcher planning meetings illustrating this dilemma for the purpose of sparking discussion in the working group roundtable.

Theoretical Framework and Prior Research
This work is grounded in the Academic Literacy in Mathematics Framework (ALM; Moschkovich, 2015), a sociocultural perspective on language and mathematics learning. In prior work Author et al. (year_a) developed three design principles rooted in ALM and in Author et al. (year_b), we present evidence showing how teachers using lessons aligned with the design principles fostered student learning and transformed talk in their classrooms. Here I unpack the dilemmas of creating integrated language goals linked to mathematical content (Prediger, 2022; Prediger et al., 2019).

Data Sources and Methods
We engaged in long-term collaboration with mathematics teachers from City High (a pseudonym), where approximately 30% of students were classified as English Learners. Most ELs spoke Spanish, and 77% students were Latinx. Over 80% of the students were from low-SES families. Here we focus on a teacher meeting with a white facilitator, two white, monolingual teachers, and one bilingual Latino teacher. We selected one discussion to exemplify the dilemma of developing language goals.

Results
The facilitator, the researcher, and the three teachers were looking at a lesson plan for a task that involved identifying and extending an exponential growth pattern. When the discussion of language goals came up, the team (including the facilitator and researcher) did not identify how to bridge the informal language that would emerge from examining an exponential graph and the formal mathematical language to describe the relationships therein. Rather, the discussion shifted from the language goals to clarifying the mathematical relationship. Then the facilitator articulated a general goal: “get people talking about it.” The discussion then quickly returned to mathematical challenges on the task, and discussion continued in this vein.

Significance
The example presented here highlights the dilemma of developing integrated mathematical and language-focused goals (Prediger, 2022). In particular, they align with the findings of Authors (2021), where the facilitator, researcher and teachers ultimately focused on the mathematical demands of the task, while not clearly explicating the meaning-related language that would help bridge the informal and formal understandings of exponential growth. In the working group roundtable, we will discuss this dilemma in more detail and hope to illuminate these issues.

Author

• William C. Zahner, San Diego State University