Equity and the Quality of the Language Used in Mathematics Education

Abstract

The teacher’s linguistic shaping of mathematics teaching was analysed, based on an illustrative example of an everyday lesson in a Hamburg fourth grade class. Qualitative procedures of interpretative educational research are applied to analyse the linguistic shaping of instruction while introducing new mathematical concepts. The results of these analyses allow hypotheses of the learning opportunities for pupils in German classes who originate from so-called educationally disadvantaged families with low socioeconomic status and/or migration background. The results suggest that the linguistic shaping of mathematical learning processes within German primary school classes is characterised by the usage of everyday language. These low standards of linguistic speech within mathematics teaching help the pupils from educationally disadvantaged families only on the surface. Their only opportunity to acquire formal linguistic competences is taken away from them and no other offers have been developed. Thus, on a long-term basis, the access to a successful school career will be refused to the non-privileged pupils in many cases.