Language challenges for students with mathematical difficulties – An overview on research results and instructional approaches

Students’ mathematical difficulties are often connected to language factors, as various empirical studies from different disciplinary perspectives have shown. In this article, we discuss the language dimension from different perspectives and with respect to different groups of students. In Section 1, differences between everyday and academic language on word, sentence and text / discourse level, and their implications for mathematics learning processes are discussed. On this base, we describe how language factors affect the achievement of specific groups of students: second language learners, students with learning disabilities in mathematics and reading, and students with specific language impairment. In Section 2, important language dimensions for the mathematics learning focusing on the use of language as a learning medium and discourse practices are presented. Section 3 outlines some instructional approaches and explains why those instructional approaches seem to be most effective for supporting mathematics learning which provide learning opportunities especially for the mathematically most relevant discourse practices: explaining meanings of mathematical concepts and operations and for describing general pattern. In this article, we briefly (1) report on theoretical backgrounds and empirical studies showing strong connections between language factors and mathematics achievement (as a result of learning), (2) explain in which way language is relevant in the processes of learning, and (3) present instructional approaches for enhancing students’ language proficiency for supporting the learning of mathematics. 1. Language factors on different levels and their connection to mathematics achievement Many empirical studies have shown that students’ mathematical difficulties are often tightly connected to social factors and language factors (Secada, 1992), where also the social factors often trace back to language factors: “It is now well accepted that the chief cause of the achievement gap between socio-economic groups is a language gap. ” (Hirsch, 2003, p. 22). But what exactly does language mean in these contexts? Whereas Hirsch mainly refers to reading difficulties, other studies show language factors on word, sentence and text / discourse level, and all of them can contribute to mathematical difficulties. 1.1 Differences between everyday and academic language on word, sentence and text / discourse level Language gaps concern not only multilingual learners, but also monolinguals who are fluent in the everyday language. This phenomenon can be explained by the difference between everyday language and academic language, which goes back to Cummins’ (2000) distinction between Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). Whereas students from socially privileged families acquire CALP in their families, socially underprivileged or immigrant students sometimes have less access to it, although it corresponds to a crucial register (Halliday, 1974) in the context of schooling – in textbooks, exams, and learning tasks (Schleppegrell, 2004).