Embedding Math in Everyday Moments: How Early Childhood Teachers Describe Their Own Math Language

• In Event: Language as a Learning Tool: Teacher Talk in Early Math and Literacy

Abstract

Background and Objectives
Preschool teachers’ language plays a role in shaping children’s early math development. Early exposure to math talk predicts children’s cardinal number knowledge (Gunderson & Levine, 2011), and math gesture contributes to children’s early math development (Goldin-Meadow et al., 2009). However, early childhood educator’s use of math language varies widely, and teachers with higher self-efficacy beliefs are more likely to engage in number talk (Scalise et al.i, 2024). The current study examines how teachers participating in Getting on Track (GoT), a formative assessment and professional development system, describe their own use of math language following intervention. Specifically, this study investigates how teachers reflect on their use of math language and number gesture as well as the classroom contexts in which they use math language.

Methods and Data
To examine how educators described changes in their use of math language and gesture, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 32 educators participating in GoT in Midwest preschools. I employed grounded theory coding to identify emerging themes in the interview transcripts with educators. This analysis focuses on the following broad themes: math language and decisions for practice.

Findings and Significance
Throughout the interviews, teachers frequently brought up their own math language and math interactions with children. Teachers described embedding more math vocabulary into daily routines, such as meals, lining up, and transitions. Furthermore, teachers described math instruction as occurring in little moments of play and daily routines.
The following example exemplifies this finding:
“I started using more mathematical language. So I started trying to find ways to incorporate that language. So when we would line up, I would line up kids using words like before and after. When I serve our family-style lunch, I started using words like more or less, and having them kind of compare their serving to the kid next to them's serving… I really wanted to try to focus in on the mathematical language because that's not something that I used (before). So that was pulling me a little bit out of a comfort zone, which was really good for the kids.”
Many teachers, including one, explicitly described embedding math vocabulary as a new practice, however fewer teachers described changes in math gesture. An important implication of this finding is that teachers were not asked directly about their language with children, but broadly about their practices to support math learning. Despite this, many teachers spontaneously described using more math vocabulary following the intervention. Furthermore, many teachers reported gaining ideas for specific math vocabulary to use in the classroom from the math vocabulary assessment task in GoT. Changes in teachers’ math language may have mediated the significant gains in verbal comprehension and numerical skills observed among children in GoT classrooms (Raudenbush et al., 2020).

Finally, this finding suggests a methodological contribution because teachers are able to self-report their own math language use in meaningful and specific ways. Teacher’s descriptions show awareness of how to incorporate math vocabulary into their daily practices and routines.

Author

• Emilia Wenzel, University of Chicago