In China, What We Need is More Than Mathematics: A Literature Review of Numeracy

Abstract

In China, the importance of quality mathematics education has never been called into a question, whereas numeracy as a general capability that is more than the mastery of mathematical knowledge and skills is seldom discussed in the literature about Chinese schools and education systems or considered in teaching practices, presenting an overall picture that numeracy development seems to be missing from Chinese education or considered as a tacit outcome automatically produced by the acquisition of mathematical knowledge. This issue may stem from the linguistic differences between English language and non-English language that render the interpretation of numeracy distorted and further evolve into a whole situation in China as a result of the longstanding debate on the essence of numeracy and the heavy emphasis laid on mathematics education rather than numeracy development as a whole. In this paper, the nature of numeracy is discussed by referring to a number of classic literature works, with special attention to clarifying the relationships between numeracy and mathematics that can be confused at a conceptual level.