Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-v5vhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-24T00:44:20.416Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Indigenous Language Speaking Students Learning Mathematics in English: Expectations of and for Teachers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2015

Cris Edmonds-Wathen
Cris Edmonds-Wathen*
Affiliation:
Umeå University, Naturvetarhuset NMD, Umeå, Sweden School of Education, Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, Northern Territory, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Cris Edmonds-Wathen, Umeå University, Naturvetarhuset NMD, Umeå SE-901 87Sweden. Email: cris.edmonds-wathen@umu.se
Get access

Abstract

Effective mathematics teaching for Indigenous language speaking students needs to be based on fair expectations of both students and teachers. Concepts of ‘age-appropriate learning’ and ‘school readiness’ structure assessment expectations that entire cohorts of Indigenous language speaking students are unable to meet. This institutionalises both student and teacher failure, as both are exhorted to meet unachievable expectations. The voices of teachers teaching in a very remote school provide insight into teachers’ responses to the mismatch between the system expectations and the teaching context. Teacher interviews in a small Northern Territory school, conducted within an ethnographic study, showed that teachers’ decisions regarding the level of mathematics curriculum taught were informed by students’ prior learning and by the language dynamic in their classrooms. The need and pressure to teach Standard Australian English also affected how mathematics was taught. This leads to a reformulation of the concept of school readiness to ask how schools can be more ready for their Indigenous language speaking students in terms of preparing and supporting teachers.

Keywords

mathematicslanguageremote educationexpectationsteacher preparedness
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , August 2015 , pp. 48 - 58
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (2011). National Assessment Program: Literacy and numeracy: Achievements in reading, persuasive writing, language conventions and numeracy national report for 2011. Sydney, Australia: Author.Google Scholar
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2013). The Australian Curriculum Mathematics 4.1. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.auGoogle Scholar
Barton, B. (2009). The language of mathematics: Telling mathematical tales. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Barwell, R. (2014). Centripetal and centrifugal language forces in one elementary school second language mathematics classroom. ZDM, 46, 911–922.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barwell, R., Barton, B., & Setati, M. (2007). Multilingual issues in mathematics education: Introduction. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 64, 113–119. doi:10.1007/s10649-006-9065-xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, A.J. (1988). Mathematical enculturation: A cultural perspective on mathematics education. Dordrecht: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christie, M. (2007). Maths as a cultural practice in a remote Aboriginal community (Notes for a presentation at the SiMERR National Summit, Canberra, November 13, 2007). Retrieved from www.cdu.edu.au/centres/yaci/pdf/MACP_Michaels_reflections.pdfGoogle Scholar
Cummins, J. (1979). Linguistic interdependence and the educational development of bilingual children. Review of Educational Research, 49, 222–251. doi:10.3102/00346543049002222CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dockett, S., Mason, T., & Perry, B. (2006). Successful transition to school for Australian Aboriginal children. Childhood Education, 82, 139–144. doi:10.1080/00094056.2006.10521365CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eades, D. (2013). Aboriginal ways of using English. Canberra, Australia: Aboriginal Studies Press.Google Scholar
Edmonds-Wathen, C. (2013a). Frame of reference in Iwaidja: Towards a culturally responsive early years mathematics program (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/view/rmit:160446Google Scholar
Edmonds-Wathen, C. (2013b). Great expectations: Teaching mathematics in English to Indigenous language speaking students. In Mathematics education: Yesterday, today and tomorrow: Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (pp. 266–273). Melbourne, Australia: MERGA.Google Scholar
Edmonds-Wathen, C. (2014). Influences of Indigenous language on spatial frames of reference in Aboriginal English. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 26, 169–192. doi:10.1007/s13394-013-0085-4Google Scholar
Ellerton, N.F., & Clements, M.A. (1991). Mathematics in language: A review of language factors in mathematics learning. Geelong, Australia: Deakin University.Google Scholar
Evans, N. (2010). Dying words: Endangered languages and what they have to tell us. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Flint, K.J., & Peim, N. (2012). Rethinking the education improvement agenda: A critical philosophical approach. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Forgasz, H.J., & Leder, G.C. (2012). Equity and quality of mathematics education: Research and media portrayals. In Atweh, B., Graven, M., Secada, W., & Valero, P. (Eds.), Mapping equity and quality in mathematics education (pp. 205–222). The Netherlands: Springer.Google Scholar
Geertz, C. (2000). The interpretation of cultures (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Glaser, B.G. (1965). The constant comparative method of qualitative analysis. Social Problems, 12, 436–445. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/798843CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutiérrez, R. (2013). The sociopolitical turn in mathematics education. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 44, 37–68. doi:10.5951/jresematheduc.44.1.0037CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, P.J. (1991). Mathematics in a cultural context: Aboriginal perspectives on space, time and money. Geelong, Australia: Deakin University.Google Scholar
Jorgensen, R. (2011). Language, culture and learning mathematics: A Bourdieuian analysis of Indigenous learning. In Wyatt-Smith, C., Elkins, J., & Gunn, S. (Eds.), Multiple perspectives on difficulties in learning literacy and numeracy (pp. 315–329). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jorgensen (Zevenbergen), R., Grootenboer, P., Niesche, R., & Lerman, S. (2010). Challenges for teacher education: The mismatch between beliefs and practice in remote Indigenous contexts. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 38, 161–175. doi:10.1080/13598661003677580CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowell, A., & Devlin, B. (1998). Miscommunication between Aboriginal students and their non-Aboriginal teachers in a bilingual school. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 11, 367–389. doi:10.1080/07908319808666563CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masters, G.N. (2011). Improving educational outcomes in the Northern Territory: Preliminary advice to the Northern Territory Department of Education and Training, with a particular focus on the ongoing improvement of students’ literacy and numeracy achievements. Melbourne, Australia: ACER.Google Scholar
McConvell, P. (2008). Language mixing and language shift in Indigenous Australia. In Simpson, J. & Wigglesworth, G. (Eds.), Children's language and multilingualism: Indigenous language use at home and school (pp. 237–260). London: Continuum.Google Scholar
McDonald, S., Warren, E., & DeVries, E. (2011). Refocusing on oral language and rich representations to develop the early mathematical understandings of Indigenous students. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 40, 9–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meaney, T., Fairhall, U., & Trinick, T. (2008). The role of language in ethnomathematics. The Journal of Mathematics and Culture, 3, 52–65.Google Scholar
Moschkovich, J. (2002). A situated and sociocultural perspective on bilingual mathematics learners. Mathematical thinking and learning, 4, 189–212. doi:10.1207/S15327833MTL04023_5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moses, K., & Wigglesworth, G. (2008). The silence of the frogs: dysfunctional discourse in the ‘English-only’ Aboriginal classroom. In Simpson, J. & Wigglesworth, G. (Eds.), Children's language and multilingualism: Indigenous language use at home and school (pp. 129–153). London: Continuum.Google Scholar
New South Wales Department of Education and Training. (2001). Count me in too. Sydney, Australia: Author.Google Scholar
Nicholls, C. (2005). Death by a thousand cuts: Indigenous language bilingual education programmes in the Northern Territory of Australia, 1972–1998. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8, 160–177. doi:10.1080/13670050508668604CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Northern Territory Department of Education (NTDE). (2011). Literacy framework for students with English as an Additional Language policy. Darwin, Australia: Author. Retrieved from http://www.education.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/20104/LiteracyFramework-EALLearnersPolicy.pdfGoogle Scholar
Northern Territory Department of Education (NTDE). (2012a). Framework for Learning English as an Additional Language policy. Darwin, Australia: Author. Retrieved from http://www.det.nt.gov.au/about-us/policies/documents/schools/framework-for-learning-english-as-an-additional-languageGoogle Scholar
Northern Territory Department of Education (NTDE). (2012b). Using the T-9 Net [PowerPoint]. Darwin, Australia: Author. Retrieved from http://www.det.nt.gov.au/teachers-educators/literacy-numeracy/literacy-and-numeracy-improvementGoogle Scholar
Northern Territory Department of Education and Training (NTDET). (2009). Northern Territory Curriculum Framework. Darwin, Australia: Author. Retrieved from http://www.det.nt.gov.au/teachers-educators/curriculum-ntbos/ntcfGoogle Scholar
Northern Territory Department of Education and Training (NTDET). (2010). Prioritising literacy and numeracy: Diagnostic net for Transition to Year 9. Darwin, Australia: Author. Retrieved from http://www.det.nt.gov.au/teachers-educators/literacy-numeracy/literacy-and-numeracy-strategyGoogle Scholar
Northern Territory Government. (2009). Compulsory Teaching in English for the First Four Hours of Each School Day policy. Darwin, Australia: Author. Retrieved from http://www.det.nt.gov.au/corporate/policies/curriculum_studies/CompulsoryEnglishFourHoursEachDay.pdfGoogle Scholar
Perso, T. (2010). Diagnostic Net for Transition to Year 9: Description of the Net and how to use it. Darwin, Australia: NTDET.Google Scholar
Perso, T. (2013). A systemic evidence-based strategy to improve Indigenous students’ numeracy and literacy. In Jorgensen, R., Sullivan, P., & Grootenboer, P. (Eds.), Pedagogies to enhance learning for Indigenous students (pp. 21–44) Singapore: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinnock, H., & Vijayakumar, G. (2009). Language and education: The missing link. London: Save the Children and CfBT Education Trust.Google Scholar
Rowe, K. (2003). The importance of teacher quality as a key determinant of students’ experiences and outcomes of schooling. In M. Meiers (Ed.), Building teacher quality: Research conference 2003 proceedings (p. 3). Melbourne, Australia: ACER.Google Scholar
Sarra, C. (2003). Young and black and deadly: Strategies for improving outcomes for Indigenous students. Canberra, Australia: Australian College of Educators.Google Scholar
Silburn, S.R., Nutton, G., McKenzie, J.W., & Landrigan, M. (2011). Early years English language acquisition and instructional approaches for Aboriginal students with home languages other than English: A systematic review. Darwin, Australia: Menzies School of Health Research.Google Scholar
Simpson, J., Caffery, J., & McConvell, P. (2009). Gaps in Australia's Indigenous Language policy: Dismantling bilingual education in the Northern Territory. Canberra, Australia: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.Google Scholar
Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. (2012). Our land, our languages: Language learning in Indigenous communities. Canberra, Australia: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Thomas, J. (1993). Doing critical ethnography. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Truscott, A., & Malcolm, I. (2010). Closing the policy–practice gap: Making Indigenous language policy more than empty rhetoric. In Hobson, J., Lowe, K., Poetsch, S., & Walsh, M. (Eds.), Re-awakening languages: Theory and practice in the revitalisation of Australia's Indigenous languages (pp. 6–21). Sydney, Australia: Sydney University Press.Google Scholar
Walkerdine, V. (1993). Beyond developmentalism? Theory & Psychology, 3, 451–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wigglesworth, G., Simpson, J., & Loakes, D. (2011). NAPLAN language assessments for Indigenous children in remote communities: Issues and problems. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 34, 320–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, M., & Bradbury, J. (2013). Number and two languages in the early years: Report on a project with paraprofessional Indigenous teachers in two NT northeast Arnhem Yolŋu schools. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 36, 335–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, B. (2014). A share in the future: Review of Indigenous education in the Northern Territory. Darwin: Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www.education.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/37294/A-Share-in-the-Future-The-Review-of-Indigenous-Education-in-the-Northern-Territory.pdfGoogle Scholar