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What is your maths language?

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When our children are schooled in another language since the beginning, their most dominant language for counting and doing maths is or will be the school language. 

When I tell this to parents who have still to decide which school would be best for their bi/multilingual child, we have the most interesting discussions. Many of them don’t see it as a problem, which, in fact, it is not. But when I show them the different ways to count and explain to them that the way to do simple equations can differ considerably, and that they may need to switch to another way to do maths to help their children with homework for example, they are usually very surprised.

If you speak more than one language at home: which is the language your children prefer when counting, if they learned this before attending daycare or school in another language? 


If your children count in one of your home languages, they might need some help to switch to counting in the school language later.

One way to make this easier is to teach our children to count in more than one language from the beginning. When they show interest in numbers and want to count, we can do so in “our” language and ask our partner or a friend to do the same in the “other” one, so that our children get the input in both or all the languages.

Do you think it is too confusing? It is not. It requires more brain-work but it is like learning new words and link them to those we already know.

My tip for parents whose children are schooled in another language is to bridge between the school and the home languages, i.e. to help them learn the necessary vocabulary in their home language too. Why? Just imagine your child is in your home country and wants to buy something: numbers are everywhere! We need them constantly, either when we buy something, measure something, tell the time, count our steps, prepare a meal and use measures…

The earlier we foster the maths vocabulary in all the languages in our children, the better for them (and us: because we don’t have to translate numbers, prices etc.).

74: seventy-four – or “four-seventy” or “sixty-fourteen”?


Especially when numbers like 74 are named in different ways – tenths first then units, or units first, then tenths, or in the French way, the transfer between their languages can become a major brain workout for our children (and us)!
I personally learned to switch between Italian and German from a very early age and don’t get confused between “cinquantaquattro” (54) and “quarantacinque” (45), or “vierundfünfzig” and “fünfundvierzig“, just to make an example.
I learned Geography and History in French, so I don’t get confused with French numbers either – the “quatrevinghtdixneuf” (lit. “four-twenty-nineteen” 99) is as natural as the “neunundneunzig” or “novantanove”. 

I “only” needed to switch between my languages when I do more complex maths with my children in English. Although I didn’t have any problem with my other languages, I had to learn the math-vocabulary in order to help them. Needless to say that they taught me a lot!

Do multilinguals have one maths language only?

The language we are taught to count in, do maths, is the one we will be more proficient doing so also in the future, unless this changes very early.

It is a myth that the language we count in is always our “mother tongue”, our “native language”: It is actually the language that is the dominant one for us, when counting and doing maths, i.e. it is closely related to a given situation and topic. 

For multilinguals it is perfectly normal to have different “language dominances” across our languages: for example maths is English, literacy in German, science in French. It all depends on what language we use the most when talking, reading, writing, studying about those subjects.

What if older children attend a school in a new language, how will they cope with the other “math language”? 

Research on mathematics and language diversity is published in mathematics education journals as well as linguistics journals focusing on language in education. Poor performance in maths is usually due to a lack of understanding the language of the test (see: Adetula, 1989; De Courcy & Burston, 2000; Evans, 2007; Farrell, 2011; LlabreCuevas, 1983; Ni Diodan & Donoghue, 2009; Zepp, 1982): those who learn mathematics in a language that is not their own, their strongest one, in order to improve, the language, culture and the logic or reasoning system of the learner should match with that of the teacher, the textbook and the curriculum (Berry, 1985; Evans, 2007; Zepp, 1982).

What should parents and teachers know about multilinguals and maths? 

The most important thing to know for parents and teachers is that the competence in both the home and the language of learning and teaching (LoLT) is an advantage in mathematics achievement (Clarkson, 1992; Clarkson & Galbraith, 1992).

However, language fluency is not necessarily linked to the learners’ performance, i.e. if learners are not fluent in the school language, they can still perform on a high standard especially in maths and other subjects learned in another language! Also, it is a misconception to assume that only because people perform in a subject with a native fluency they do it at a high level. 

When using translanguaging practices in other subject areas with multilinguals 

More and more teachers use translanguaging practices in various subject areas. Especially when it comes to STEM  subjects (i.e. science, technology, engineering and mathematics), teachers should always assess the learners’ competence in their home language(s) or the language they were taught the subject.

For example, a French-German child, schooled in Dutch and now attending a school in English, might be better off if the teacher can bridge between Dutch and English. Assuming that the child is better in those subjects because of their home languages is a common misconception!

Generally speaking, encouraging the development of the learners’ home language is a successful strategy to motivate them to succeed in mathematics (Barton, Fairhall & Trinick, 1998) – but only if the learners have the necessary vocabulary in their home language though!

Unfortunately, very little research focuses on how STEM teachers should deal with the complexities of teaching and learning these subjects in linguistically diverse classrooms, but I am optimistic that many schools are addressing this manco and looking for solutions that involve teacher trainings.

Learners whose first/home language is the same as the language of instruction are familiar with the linguistic structures they encounter in the mathematics classroom (Barwell, 2009). Research shows that this is not the case for learners whose home language is different from the language of learning and teaching (LoLT) (Adler, 2001;Gorgorio & Planas, 2001; Halai, 2004). Both groups of learners have to familiarize themselves with the structure of the mathematical language. (from:  Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Multilingual Classrooms: Issues for Policy, Practice and Teacher Education (pp.3-10))

– This is an “ongoing post”, which means that I will regularly update it with more scientific findings about this topic.
If you have any suggestions, examples, input on this matter, please add a comment here below.

Here are some references (taken from Anjum Halai and Philip Clarkson eds., Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Multilingual Classrooms. Issues for Policy, Practice and Teacher Education, 2016) :

Adetula, L. (1989). Solution of simple word problems by Nigeria children: Language and schooling factors. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 20(5), 489–497.

Adetula, L. (1990). Language factor: Does it affect children’s performance on word problems? Educational Studies in Mathematics, 21, 351–365.

Adler, J. (1997). A participatory-inquiry approach and the mediation of mathematical knowledge in a multilingual classroom. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 33, 235–258.

Adler, J. (1998). A language of teaching dilemmas: Unlocking the complex multilingual mathematics classroom. For the Learning Mathematics, 18(1), 24–33.

Adler, J. (1999). Seeing and seeing through talk: The teaching dilemma of transparency in multilingual mathematics classrooms. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 30(1), 47–64.

Austin, J., & Howson, A. (1979). Language and mathematics education. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 10, 161–197.

Barton, B., Fairhall, U., & Trinick, T. (1998). Tikanga Reo T?tai: Issues in the development of a M?ori mathematics register. For the Learning of Mathematics, 18(1), 3–9.

Barwell, R. (2003a). Patterns of attention in the interaction of a primary school mathematics students with English as an additional language. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 52(1), 35–59.

Barwell, R. (2003b). Linguistic discrimination: An issue for research in mathematics education. For the Learning of Mathematics, 23(2), 37–43.

Barwell, R. (2005). Empowerment, EAL and the national numeracy strategy. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8(4), 313–327.

Barwell, R., & Setati, M. (2005). Multilingualism in mathematics education: A conversation between the north and the south. For the Learning of Mathematics, 25(1), 20–23.

Been-Zeef, S. (1977). The influence of bilingualism on cognitive strategy and cognitive development. Child Development, 48, 1009–1018.

Bell, G., & Woo, J. H. (1998). Probing the links between language and mathematical conceptualisation. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 10(1), 51–74.

Berry, J. (1985). Learning mathematics in a second language: Some cross-cultural issues. For the Learning of Mathematics, 5(2), 18–23.

Chitera, N. (2009). Code switching in a college mathematics classroom. International Journal of Multilingualism, 6(4), 426–442.

Civil, N., & Planas, N. (2004). Participating in mathematics classrooms: Does every student have a voice? For the Learning of Mathematics, 24(1), 7–12.

Clarkson, P. (1992). Language and mathematics: A comparison of bilingual and monolingual students of mathematics. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 23, 417–429.

M. S. Phakeng 22 Clarkson, P. (2007). Australian Vietnamese students learning mathematics: High ability bilinguals and their use of their languages. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 64, 191–215.

Clarkson, P., & Galbraith, P. (1992). Bilingualism and mathematics learning: Another perspective. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 23(1), 34–44.

Cummins, J. (1981). Bilingualism and minority language children. Ontario, Canada: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Dawe, L. (1983). Bilingualism and mathematical reasoning in English as a second language. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 14, 325–353.

De Courcy, M., & Burston, M. (2000). Learning mathematics through French in Australia. Language and Education, 14(2), 75–95.

Domínguez, H. (2011). Using what matters to students in bilingual mathematics problems. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 76, 305–328.

Evans, S. (2007). Differential performance of items in mathematics assessment materials for 7-year-old pupils in English-medium and Welsh-medium versions. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 64, 145–168.

Farrel, M. (2011). Bilingual competence and students’ achievement in physics and mathematics. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 14(3), 335–345.

Gerber, A., Engelbrecht, J., Harding, A., & Rogan, J. (2005). The influence of second language teaching on undergraduate mathematics performance. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 17(3), 3–21.

Gorgório, N., & Planas, N. (2001). Teaching mathematics in multilingual classrooms. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 47(1), 7–23.

Grosjean, F. (1982). Life with two languages. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Hansson, A. (2012). The meaning of mathematics instruction in multilingual classrooms: Analysing the importance of responsibility for learning. Educational Studies in Mathematics (Online February 2012), 81(1), 103–125. doi:10.1007/s10649-012-9385-y

Heng, C. S., & Tan, H. (2006). English for mathematics and science: Current Malaysian language-ineducation policies and practices. Language and Education, 20(4), 306–321.

Ianco-Worral, A. D. (1972). Bilingualism and cognitive development. Child Development, 43, 1390–1400. Jäppienen,

A. (2005). Thinking and content learning of mathematics and science as cognitional development in content and language integrated learning (CLIL): Teaching through a foreign language in Finland. Language and Education, 19(2), 147–168.

Kazima, M. (2007). Malawian students’ meanings for probability vocabulary. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 64(2), 169–189.

Khisty, L., & Chval, K. B. (2002). Pedagogical discourse and equity in mathematics: When teachers’ talk matters. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 14(3), 154–168.

Li, C., & Nuttal, R. (2001). Writing Chinese and mathematics achievement: A study with ChineseAmerican undergraduates. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 13(1), 15–27.

Lim, C., & Presmeg, N. (2011). Teaching mathematics in two languages: A teaching dilemma of Malaysian Chinese primary schools. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 9, 137–161.

Llabre, M., & Cuevas, G. (1983). The effects of test language and mathematical skills assessed on the scores of bilingual Hispanic students. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 14(5), 318–324.

Macnamara, J. (1966). Bilingualism and primary education. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press.

Moschkovich, J. (1999). Supporting the participation of English language learners in mathematical discourse. For the Learning of Mathematics, 19(1), 11–19.

Moschkovich, J. (2005). Using two languages when learning mathematics. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 64, 121–144.

Ní Ríordáin, M., & O’Donoghue, J. (2009). The relationship between performance on mathematical word problems and language proficiency for students learning through the medium of Irish. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 73, 43–64.

Ní Ríordáin, M., & O’Donoghue. J. (2011). Tackling the transition: The English mathematics register and students learning through the medium of Irish. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 23(1), 43–65.

Parvanehnezhad, Z., & Clarkson, P. (2008). Iranian bilingual students reported use of language switching when doing mathematics. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 20(1), 52–81.

Pearl, E., & Lambert, W. (1962). Relation of bilingualism to intelligence. Psychological Monographs, 76, 1–23.

Phakeng, M., & Moschkovich, J. (2013). Mathematics education and language diversity: A dialogue across settings. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 44(1), 119–128.

Planas, N. (2011). Language identities in students’ writings about group work in their mathematics classroom. Language and Education, 25(2), 129–146.

Planas, N., & Setati, M. (2009). Bilingual students using their languages in the learning of mathematics. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 21(3), 36–59.

Saer, D. (1923). The effect of bilingualism on intelligence. British Journal of Psychology, 14, 25–38.

Saunders, G. (1988). Bilingual children: From birth to teens. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Setati, M. (1998). Code-switching in a senior primary class of second-language mathematics learners. For Learning Mathematics, 18(1), 34–40.

Setati, M. (2005). Teaching mathematics in a primary multilingual classroom. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 36(5), 447–466.

Setati, M., & Adler, J. (2000). Between languages and discourses: Language practices in primary multilingual classrooms in South Africa. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 43, 243–269.

Setati, M., Adler, J., Reed, Y., & Bapoo, A. (2002). Incomplete journeys: Code switching and other language practices in mathematics, science and English language classrooms in South Africa. Language and Education, 16(2), 128–149.

Stacey, K., & MacGregor, M. (1991). Difficulties of students with limited English language skills in pre-service mathematics education courses. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 3(2), 14–23.

Stathopoulou, C., & Kalabasis, F. (2007). Language and culture in mathematics education: Reflections on observing a Romany class in a Greek school. Educational studies in Mathematics, 64(2), 231–238.

Swain, M., & Cummins, J. (1979). Bilingualism, cognitive functioning and education. Language Teaching, 12, 4–18. UNESCO. (1974). Interactions between linguistics and mathematics education. Nairobi, Kenya: UNESCO.

Whang, W. (1996). The influence of English-Korean bilingualism in solving mathematics word problems. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 30, 289–312.

Zepp, R. (1982). Bilinguals’ understanding of logical connectives in English and Sesotho. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 13, 205–221.

Zepp, R., Monin, J., & Lei, C. (1987). Common logical errors in English and Chinese. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 18(1), 1–17.

Keeping our languages alive when living abroad – FIGT presentation

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At my kitchen table conversation– session I held at the 20th FIGT conference this year in The Hague I focused on the languages we collect during our life, and how we can keep them alive while living abroad, in different countries.

Why kitchen table conversation?

Because that’s where all began 20 years ago at Ruth van Reken’s kitchen table. I wanted to honor the format where all began, because I, myself, have the most significant conversations and discussions at my own kitchen table. Of course, the one at the venue of the conference was not a real “kitchen table”, but we had a great discussion about “my” topic.

Ruth van Reken at FIGT 2018 in The Hague

How can we keep our languages alive?

Many international families struggle to maintain their home languages if they are not among the most dominant ones, i.e. if they are not English and sometimes Spanish, French and German, depending on the country they live in. What seems an easy task for the first years of a child can become a real challenge once the children attend daycares and schools who don’t provide sufficient support in the other language.

I see this every day with my clients and friends: our children are tired from school and rarely find the after school classes in their home languages pleasant, fun. Many families send their children to weekend schools, where, once again, they will sit down and “learn” a language that, in other circumstances and settings would just “come natural to them”: they would be fully immersed, literally showered by it.

For all these families, maintaining their language can become a great issue. If they don’t find a community that speaks this language, or they don’t connect with this community for different reasons, parents find themselves as being the only ones of providing linguistic input for their children.

Moreover, speaking a language in a restricted group, i.e. among family members, doesn’t allow the language to “breathe”: we tend to use the same kind of vocabulary because we tend to speak about the same topics, our language “shrinks”, like a plant would shrink and wither, if we don’t nurture it.

For our children it is even more important to have regular and diverse input in our home language as they are still building their vocabulary, they are still becoming “natively fluent” in the language, which, as we know, takes up to 8 years of constant, daily (!) practice.

What if:

  • our children don’t speak their language with peers?
  • the daycare or school doesn’t support our home language?
  • weekend lessons are not enough to foster the language or are not an option?
  • our partner or extended family can not support our language?

Then this language will stagnate or die.

I have seen this many times when I was a child, and throughout my work with multilingual families: languages are abandoned because it is too much to ask to one person or a small group of persons to work on it, and if it is about more than one or two languages within the same family it becomes almost impossible to maintain them.

This is why I recommend to be very clear about the following points: 

– what language is important for our family – because extended family, friends speak it? 

– who talks this language on a daily/weekly basis with our children and us?

– what are the short and long term goals for all our languages qua fluency?

Are these language goals and expectations S.M.A.R.T.?

Many multilingual families struggle with agreeing on the languages they want to prioritize. Should we keep Swissgerman or prefer German or Italian instead? Should I learn my partners’ language? What if we move to a country where none of our languages are spoken, where there is no community in that language? – I help families maintain their languages on the move, make short and longterm plans. 

Language lives, changes over time, adapts to new circumstances and needs to be nurtured if we want to keep it alive.

How can we make sure that we keep our languages alive? 

  • By speaking them on a regular basis – daily would be perfect, but weekly needs to be enough sometimes.
  • By not listening to the no-sayers, those who tell us that it is too difficult to keep up with all those languages, and by following those who, like us, want to enjoy our languages and see them grow.
  • By thinking out of the box: if we can’t immerse into the language by traveling to places where it’s spoken, form our micro-world in our home.
  • By finding other speakers on- and offline, and talking about topics that challenge us to learn new words, new concepts. Our vocabulary will grow by repeating new words in different contexts, learning new registers of the language, jokes, metaphores, how to do maths in all our languages.

With our languages it is like with our cultures: we shouldn’t have to choose one or two of them to call “our own”, we have the right to choose them all.

Our languages shouldn’t be minoritized and marginalized. They all have a right to be spoken and heard.

***

Some thoughts & quotes about languages:

Knowing another language is like possessing another soul (Charlemagne)

The limits of my languages are the limits of my worlds ( adapted from Ludwig Wittgenstein)

I am all the languages I know, some I only understand, others I speak, read and write. (Ute Limacher-Riebold)

Languages are the vehicle of our thoughts, they open the door to the other culture, its values, beliefs, habits and so much more. (Ute Limacher-Riebold)

The development of language is part of the development of the personality, for words are the natural means of expressing thoughts and establishing understanding between people. (Maria Montessori)

Poetry is not a matter of feelings, it is a matter of language. It is language which creates feelings. (Umberto Eco)

– What about you?

– What are the languages you are nurturing and keeping alive?

– What are the obstacles you encountered while trying to keep your languages alive?

What is speech? What is language?

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When I explain to people what I do, that I focus on language and communication but that I also can help with the speech, as I have studied and taught phonology, I often need to explain the difference between speech and language.

What is Speech?

With speech we refer to the articulation of the sounds, the phonological skills, the speech fluency and the voice. 

When I focus on the speech of a person, I focus on her or his ability to use the human vocal tract:

  • Physically produce the individual sounds and sound patterns of his/her language (Articulation)
  • Produce speech with appropriate rhythm (and free of Stuttering behavior)
  • Produce speech with an appropriate vocal quality for his/her age and sex.

When a child or an adult has problems to pronounce a sound, we focus about the phonological level of his/her production of language and try to help with it.

 

What is Language?

Language is a system that consists of the development, acquisition, maintenance and use of complex systems of communication. Every language – German, English, French etc. – has its “symbols” that can be words, either spoken or written.

Most languages also have gestures that are a form of non-verbal communication, or non-vocal communication, where bodily actions communicate or accentuate particular messages. For example, waving hands to say “goodbye”.

What determines a language are the socially shared rules that include:

  • semantics: what a word means. In different contexts “star” can refer to the bright object in the sky, a celebrity or a bright person etc.
  • morphology: how to make a word so that it can function in the sentence and make sense: friend (a friend), friendly (a friendly person), unfriendly (someone who is not friendly) etc.
  • syntax: how to put words in an order so that the message is understood (we also talk about grammatically correct sentence): Lisa drives the car, and not *Car Lisa the drives
  • pragmatics: the ways in which language use is patterned and how these patterns contribute to meaning. In all languages, linguistic expressions can be used not just to transmit information, but to perform actions.

 

Language without speech

Speech and language are related, but we don’t need speech to have language. When we use sign language, speech is not involved. Sign language has its own set of rules to govern how it is used: its own symbols, syntax, pragmatics, etc.

 

What is communication?

Communication, then, is the process of conveying a message or meaning to establish a shared understanding to others. We don’t need speech or a shared language to communicate.

We can always use our hands and gestures that make others understand what we mean or draw pictures of what we are looking for. By using gestures and pictures we can communicate without using speech or shared language.

 

Communication is always the first goal

Sometimes a person’s ability to communicate with speech and/or language is so impaired, that Speech Therapists need to bypass those methods and use an alternative or augmentative communication (AAC) system to get the child communicating as soon as possible.

This could be by using signs, pictures, or an electronic device to give the person the ability to communicate his or her wants and needs.

Once the person starts communicating, we can focus on trying to improve the speech skills so that he/she can use speech to communicate his/her wants and needs. 

Just think about toddlers who still don’t talk: they are communicating through gestures, facial expressions, and body language even though they aren’t using a lot of speech yet.

– Although speech and language are related to each other, they are different.

Please watch my interview with Speech and Language Therapist Weronika Ozpolat.