Practices of Describing—About the Functions of Language in the Acquisition of the Jump Strategy

Abstract

In the context of learning mathematics, language is not only relevant to mathematical performance, but to social interaction and individual construction of meaning, too. This article presents the findings of a qualitative-interpretative study that focuses on oral descriptions of physical actions on a number rack. The data was collected in the context of an university based intervention program where children with mathematical difficulties are supported to use the jump strategy on 2-digit additions and subtractions. Thereby, the children usually are encouraged to describe their physical actions on the number rack. The main result of the study is that there does not exist one single way of describing the physical actions. Rather, we could identify three different practices of describing which each have different functions with regard to developing the jump strategy and will be illustrated by analysis examples in this paper: Practices of describing are used for organizing the intended physical actions on the number rack, for focussing on the charateristic of the jump strategy, and for compressing the description itself.