Núria Planas’s research while affiliated with University of Haifa and other places

Equality is a nuanced concept in mathematics, and the equals sign is used and interpreted in different ways. During professional development in language-responsive teaching, a group of teachers discussed the use of ‘equals’ in algebra lessons. This article considers how three of these teachers went on to invoke equality in their classroom interactions when teaching other topics. The cases observed suggest constructive resonances between conceptions of ‘equals’ and geometric relationships, and include examples of teachers balancing precision with fluency. We argue that attention to language in one mathematical topic may extend helpfully to other topics, but this is not automatic.

The teaching and learning of mathematics in linguistically diverse contexts present unique challenges, particularly due to the specialised language of mathematics, the intersection of everyday and mathematical language, the impact of the language of teaching, and the communication aspects of the mathematical language. This study investigates the linguistic challenges faced by students in secondary-school mathematics classrooms, as reported by 22 teachers from seven countries across three continents. Using interview data, we explored the questions: What are some of the linguistic challenges that students encounter when learning the topics of angles/probability/linear equations/proportional reasoning? Can you provide an example of a linguistic challenge one of your students experienced in a lesson, and the strategy you used to support them? In the interviews, teachers provided detailed examples of these challenges and the strategies they used to support students. Through iterative inductive coding, the findings reveal a range of linguistic challenges, including difficulties with mathematical vocabulary, reasoning, and topic-specific language demands. Notably, the study highlights how the linguistic challenges that students encounter, as perceived by their teachers, vary across mathematical topics. These findings underscore the importance of integrating linguistic and mathematical support in teaching practices, especially in linguistically diverse settings.

In this report, we examine the noticing of a group of secondary-school mathematics teachers of aspects of the mathematical discourse during the collaborative discussion of a task on teaching angles. Our framework integrates aspects of the mathematical discourse in content-specific teaching that are responsive to students' common challenges in learning angles, as a focus of mathematics teachers’ noticing. The data were collected during a one-day workshop. Using hybrid methods of deductive and inductive analysis, we examine what teachers identify, interpret, and decide regarding mathematical vocabulary, mathematical explanations, and graphical examples for teaching angles. A result is that the teachers in the group engaged in noticing mathematical-linguistic explanations with multimodal examples for teaching angles with meaning in dynamic contexts and in relation to non-metric properties.

Presentamos el estudio de una intervención formativa basada en tareas con futuros maestros de un Grado de Educación Primaria. La intervención se diseñó e implementó con el objetivo de ayudar a desarrollar la mirada profesional de los futuros maestros en torno a prácticas matemáticas lingüísticas en la enseñanza de fracciones. Nos centramos en una de las tareas profesionales con un diálogo maestra-alumna, a modo de representación de la práctica, donde la alumna muestra una dificultad común en la comprensión de la comparación de fracciones. El análisis de las respuestas a esta tarea permitió caracterizar procesos de identificar, interpretar y decidir vocabulario, explicaciones y ejemplos matemáticamente relevantes en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de fracciones. Los resultados indican que los procesos de la mirada profesional desarrollados en relación con vocabulario y ejemplos son menos complejos que los desarrollados en relación con explicaciones.

In this paper we investigate the issue of representation within the Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education (JMTE) and the broader academic publishing landscape, particularly focusing on the underrepresentation of authors from various world regions. A questionnaire, distributed globally, aimed to amplify the voices of the underrepresented, exploring the constraints and affordances of publishing in English-medium mathematics education research journals. The question that guided our investigation was: What do voices from the mathematics education community raise in their responses to questions about publishing in English-medium research journals like JMTE? We used qualitative methods to review the responses and identify common themes. The findings revealed significant barriers and challenges related to language, research location, and institutional support, highlighting the complexities of navigating the global academic community and the academic publishing culture. We propose actionable suggestions to foster a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive publishing environment.

Open access route: https://scpmluisbalbuena.org/revista-numeros/ The article is in Volume (117). En este artículo, presentamos resultados de un estudio sobre la calidad de la enseñanza de la divisibilidad en un aula trilingüe de primer curso de educación secundaria. Interpretamos las cinco dimensiones del marco TRU –Teaching for Robust Understanding– y los niveles de la herramienta asociada TRU Math, con atención a las lenguas en la enseñanza. Mediante la combinación de métodos cuantitativos y cualitativos aplicados al análisis del habla del profesor a lo largo de 11 sesiones de clase, concluimos sobre la calidad relativamente elevada de la enseñanza. Las frecuencias de aparición y los niveles de las dimensiones se examinan por separado y en relación con la alternancia de las tres lenguas en la interacción con los alumnos. El recurso de una lengua híbrida se muestra como un mediador de la calidad de la enseñanza por su presencia continuada en momentos de riqueza de contenido matemático, demanda cognitiva, acceso equitativo al contenido, apoyo a la autonomía del alumno y evaluación formativa. Keywords: Calidad de la enseñanza de la divisibilidad, educación secundaria, análisis de prácticas matemáticas de enseñanza, aula trilingüe, lenguas híbridas.