One of
my high school teachers explained to me that math was another language in and
of itself. The beauty of the language of math is that it is universal. If you
know math in one language, you know it in all languages. However, that is not
necessarily true. Perhaps the concepts are universal, the theorems are
universal, the laws and properties are universal, the procedures are universal.
But the language? Hardly universal. In the English language, my numbers are 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, and so on. In the Chinese language, numbers are 一, 二, 三, 四, 五 and so on. Therefore the
concept of integers increasing infinitely is universal, but they are hardly the
same. Also, consider that in the English language, we may also say one, two,
three, four, five, and so on. However, in the Chinese language the symbols stay
the same for numbers.
In middle school, a
transfer student from Russia joined us. We were all curious if she would have
to start way back in Kindergarten and learn how to count. As middle school
students, we just assumed she would have to learn a completely new mathematics
system. However, the book addresses the idea of an additive bilingual
perspective. This perspective disagrees with my middle school self and states
that rather than subtracting an existing framework, that educators and students
to add a new language framework (pg. 232).
In the article, Mathematics
and Bilingual Brain, Cindy Tumiel considers the common idea that bilingual
people are at a disadvantage when processing mathematical concepts. According
to other research within her article, bilingual people process mathematics in
the original language they learned it. Despite a bilingual student’s proficiency
in English as a second language, they will still process the mathematics in
their first language. However, most people assume they only process in their
first language. Tumiel addresses the idea that bilingual students can process
math in their second language. I think this important to consider when
accommodating bilingual students.
