Mathematics education in multilingual contexts – lessons from reflection on teacher professional development

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Research into the state of primary education in South Africa has indicated that a good number of learners fall behind by as much as two to three years below their actual grade by the time they are in Grade 6. It is evident that cumulative growth in the knowledge gap starts in the early grades (see, for example, research by Fritz, Long, Herzog, Balzer, Ehlert & Henning, 2020). While the learning gaps cannot solely be attributed to one factor, they raise questions about the teacher's role in creating meaningful opportunities for adequate teaching and learning of numeracy in early grade classrooms in South Africa and the extent to which teachers teach for understanding in these grades.

In the same vein, research into teaching and learning in the early grades in South Africa has repeatedly shown a lack of coherence in the teaching of numeracy and a decline into choral responses. There is also evidence of low levels of cognitive demand, little individualised teaching and learning and inadequate feedback and formative assessment, none of which are helpful in developing conceptual understanding in learners (Hoadley & Boyd, 2022). Several reasons have been put forward to explain this incoherence in teaching, and these learning gaps in the early grades, precipitated by knowledge gaps that teachers themselves demonstrate. A key factor has been the issue of language and the role it plays in the teaching and learning of numeracy, especially in the early grades. A number of factors make the matter more complex in South Africa. Two of these are: 1) South African classes are multilingual; 2) it is not uncommon for early grade teachers to be trained in English with the assumption that they will recontextualise what they have learnt in English into the indigenous language that they will use as medium of instruction when they teach. In a context that is deeply multilingual, these complexities present a number of challenges to both the teacher and the education system.

The first presentation will present a theoretical perspective on the academic and cognitive benefits of children learning to read and write in a language they understand.

In the second presentation, a merger framework that draws on the translanguaging framework and the language responsive mathematics teaching (LRMT) framework is used to show from data from classroom observations how translanguaging practices in multilingual classrooms can inform mother-tongue based bi/multilingual education

The third presentation reports on the application language use in the multilingual context, in anticipation of the new South African mother tongue bilingual education policy.

This panel discussion draws on research and practice to bring together theory and new evidence-based research drawing on empirical findings to shed insight into possibilities for best practice in materials development and Teacher Professional development in the multilingual context.

Sub Unit

• Global Mathematics Education SIG

Chair

• Ingrid Marta Sapire, Funda Wande

Individual Presentations

• Supporting the transition to teaching mathematics in mother tongue: Lessons learned from Senegal - Norma Evans, Evans and Associates Educational Consulting Ltd.

• Translanguaging in multilingual mathematics classrooms in South Africa: what does it entail? - Anthony Essien, University of The Witwatersrand

• Language policy in multilingual contexts - teachers experience of using bilingualism in their classrooms - Juliah Maphale Maphutha, Funda Wande Organization

Discussant

• Margaret Peggy M Dubeck, RTI International