Socializing pre-service teachers into mathematical discourse: the interplay between biliteracy and multimodality

Alberto Esquinca

doi:10.1186/2191-5059-2-4

Abstract

This is a study of the development of mathematical discourse among biliterate pre-service teachers. Mathematical discourse is a multimodal discourse, in which mathematical meaning is constructed through multiple semiotic systems. Furthermore, in the continua of biliteracy framework, being able to construct meaning while drawing on multiple points of the continua promotes biliterate development. However, the ways in which biliterate pre-service teachers draw on both multimodality and biliteracy to develop mathematical discourse is a rarely researched topic. In this case study, data were gathered from participant-observation of a college mathematics class for pre-service teachers, participant interviews and small group study sessions at a public university on the U.S./Mexico border. A major component of the class was communicating mathematics meaningfully. Participant structures in which writing mediated communication were identified. In the classroom, students communicated with a variety of audiences in English, and through their participation students became socialized into mathematical discourse. However, it was in study sessions outside the classroom where students were able to draw on their biliteracy and multimodal resources more fully. In study sessions, participants used multimodality and biliteracy to engage with one another while at the same time forging an incipient identity as bilingual/biliterate teachers. Implications for teaching bilingual/biliterate college students are offered.

Highlights

To communicate using mathematical discourse is crucial in learning mathematics
Through participation in oral/literate social interactions, learners may become socialized in the midst of problem solving activities into using mathematical discourse
As [Bunch (2009)] has shown, presenting before the class requires that students manage a host of communicative demands, and doing so in a second language can mean an even greater effort. This is clear when considering the case of Laura, who was the only study participant who never participated in Whole Class Sharing, noting that she did not feel confident about her mathematical knowledge or about her English-language speaking skills

Summary

Background

To communicate using mathematical discourse is crucial in learning mathematics. According to mathematician [Anna Sfard (2008)], to learn mathematics is to learn its discourse. To communicate mathematical meanings in Whole Group Sharing, students would prepare individually in the previous literacy event They would write on the board using diverse semiotic resources. As [Bunch (2009)] has shown, presenting before the class requires that students manage a host of communicative demands, and doing so in a second language can mean an even greater effort This is clear when considering the case of Laura, who was the only study participant who never participated in Whole Class Sharing, noting that she did not feel confident about her mathematical knowledge or about her English-language speaking skills. Multiple ways of representing mathematics, oral and spoken modes interact with different student’s voices In this space, values about the diversity of opinions are voiced, and students continue to voice it- they do not quite practice it as in the classroom. Betty is able to draw on the mathematical discourse to position herself using the authoritative voice of the teacher

Discussion and implications

Conclusions

Findings

Methods