Do Urban Biodiversity and Urban Ecosystem Services Go Hand in Hand, or Do We Just Hope It Is That Easy?

Abstract

What does linguistic or cultural diversity look like in a mathematics classroom? How does such diversity influence the teaching or learning of.mathe- matics? In this chapter, I address these and related questions. Specifically, I draw on Bakhtin's notion of heteroglossia to analyse the literature on teaching and learning mathematics in linguistically diverse classrooms. Based on this analysis, I describe and discuss four tensions that arise in linguistically diverse mathematics classrooms: tensions between school and home languages; • between· formal. and informal lan- guage in mathematics; between language policy and mathematics classroom prac- tice; and between a language for learning mathematics and a language for getting on in the world. These tensions can all be traced to an underlying tension between what. Bakhtin calls centripetal and centrifugal forces in language. I conclude by consider- ing some of the implications of my analysis for equity in mathematics teaching. .