An EAL learner may be confident interacting with teachers and peers using everyday English, but the mathematics curriculum employs abstract academic vocabulary and, to access this, they need to be taught in a specific, intentional way. In addition, EAL students may already be highly proficient in mathematics and the English vocabulary in their maths problems may be a hurdle that can cause confusion, adding to their cognitive load and knocking their confidence. Consequently, there is a lot for an EAL teacher to consider.
According to Trakulphadetkrai, et.al. (2020, para. 2), ‘solving mathematical word problems has increasingly become a standard assessment tool to measure learners’ mathematical understanding and performance’. This highlights the important role of context for our learners on top of vocabulary and grammatical technicalities. Here are some ideas to help EAL specialists tackle this problem.
Firstly, we need to carry out an initial maths assessment to assess prior knowledge and gain insight into our learners’ level of ability. It is best to do this in an informal environment using gestures to aid understanding and link questions to their home culture and familiar contexts.
Secondly, we need to consider mathematical vocabulary. The vocabulary covered in the NZ and Australian maths curriculum is vast. You can see examples of terms used at the primary level here in the NZ maths vocabulary list, the key stages 1 and 2 in the National Curriculum in England, and in the Australian Curriculum (Ministry of Education NZ and Ministry of Education Australia, n.d.). We can look at this comprehensive list through the eyes of our EAL/D learners and feel overwhelmed, or we can look at it through our ‘linguistics’ or ‘structured literacy’ lens and start identifying patterns in the words, e.g. root words and their meanings, or suffixes, prefixes etc. We can also deconstruct the words into understandable ‘word chunks’ or highlight patterns for our learners. This resource focuses on English language origins and is a helpful guide providing a linguistic approach to teaching spelling patterns in the English language.
Teaching grammar is an important part of supporting EAL learners with their maths skills and understanding. Just as the vocabulary is needed for comprehension when tackling maths problems, grammar also has a part to play. Let’s face it, learning English can be tricky and, particularly when learning mathematics, there are some potential pot holes on a learner’s road to proficiency. Some examples are:
- Homophones: e.g. two/to/too, ate/eight, one/won, by/bye/buy, four/for/fore
- Heteronyms: e.g. The nurse wound the bandage around the wound.
Both of these are examples of how understanding a word's meaning in the appropriate context is important. We have created this resource to support learning in this area, Heteronyms Activity - The Importance of Context.
Since language is used differently in social and academic settings, learners need to see words in various contexts to master them. The former is described by Cummins (2003) as basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS). The latter, cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP), refers to language which is necessary for academic success. As EAL teachers, it is beneficial to mention the use of the word in these various contexts and the different applications for each.
A resource for teaching the various meanings of the same word in different contexts can be viewed here: Subject specific vocabulary book. Your students can add to it as they come across unknown terms across the curriculum.
Mathematics in the ‘real world’ demands an understanding of context. The English language utilises the same words across many contexts and this can be confusing for EAL learners in particular. By ensuring we are providing our students with the academic vocabulary and grammar understanding within various contexts, teachers can equip their students with a contextual framework to support their comprehension skills and success in solving word problems in mathematics. This will be a linguistic tool that will aid them in their life-long mathematics learning journey.
References:
Australian Curriculum (n.d) .https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/curriculum-information/understand-this-learning-area/mathematics#accordion-131a64abf0-item-1051c4f6da
Cummins, Jims. 2003. BICS and CALP: Origins and Rationale for the Distinction. In Sociolinguistics: The Essential Readings, edited by Christine B. Paulston and G. Richard Tucker, 322–328. London: Blackwell.
National Curriculum in England (n.d) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7da548ed915d2ac884cb07/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_Mathematics_220714.pdf
New Zealand Curriculum (n.d) https://newzealandcurriculum.tahurangi.education.govt.nz/new-zealand-curriculum-online/nzc---mathematics-and-statistics-phase-1/5637289331.p#Language
Trakulphadetkrai, N. V., Courtney, L., Clenton, J., Treffers-Daller, J., & Tsakalaki, A. (2020). The contribution of general language ability, reading comprehension and working memory to mathematics achievement among children with English as additional language (EAL): an exploratory study. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 23(4), 473–487. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2017.1373742
