Seventh International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education

Strand I: Pedagogy & Assessment

Irish, English

Elementary (K-5)

Current research in the teaching and learning of mathematics in multilingual contexts has rejected deficit perspectives of multilingualism and focused on ideas of language as a resource (Planas, 2013), and sources of meaning (Barwell, in press). While students' uses of their multiple languages to support their mathematical learning have been documented, the role of the teacher in immersion pedagogy in developing and supporting these practices has been unexamined. The focus of this paper is to present a proposed framework, informed by socio-cultural theories of learning, to identify and examine pedagogical actions which stimulate, support and enhance students' use of their languages to develop competence in the target mathematics and language. The potential use of this framework to structure and inform an empirical investigation into the prevalence and nature of these teacher actions in the Irish-language immersion elementary school is presented and discussed.