Multicultural issues on math for students with language differences and deficits

Question 1

If there is not an investment in programs and resources that help prepare the younger, more ethnically and racially diverse population, the consequences will be felt by all demographic populations in spite of race, class, or ethnic makeup (tax revenues and other resources)

Answer 1

Hayes-Bautista, Schink & Chapa (1988)

Question 2

Philosophy of cultural democracy argues for right of each individual to be educated in his or her own language and learning style, which is associated with one’s language community

Answer 2

Darder (1991)

Question 3

• “Funds of knowledge” – What students bring with them to the classroom
• Validated and thus become part of the process of producing knowledge and creating ideas
• Opposite is to isolate funds of knowledge and alienate their world-views (results in detachment and disassociation from learning experience – instruction and learning become increasingly difficult to achieve)

Answer 3

Moll (1992)

Question 4

• Shifts to focusing more on the rationale for arriving at an answer
• Capitalizes on students’ background knowledge and patterns for imagining concrete applications to abstract ideas

Answer 4

Zaslavsky (1998)

Question 5

• 29% fewer AA, Latinos, & NA than whites met performance standards for eighth grade mathematics

Answer 5

Gutstein (2000)

Question 6

• Educational equity (one of adopted principals) – all students regardless of characteristics, backgrounds, or challenges should have access to a curriculum that is challenging
• Adopted multicultural math as way of encouraging math achievement
• Cooperative groups, open-ended discussion
• “Culturally relevant practices” (2008)

Answer 6

NCTM (2000)

Question 7

Group provided ethnomathematical pedagogy outperformed control group

Answer 7

Arismendi-Pardi (2001)

Question 8

Language – keyword methods do not emphasize meaning and structure of problems and may not help students to reason or make sense of problem situations

Answer 8

Ben-Zeev & Star (2001)

Question 9

Focus on language in conversation is one culturally responsive approach to translating mathematical concepts for student understanding

Answer 9

Barnett-Clark & Ramirez (2004)

Question 10

46% of 4th grade students in ELL scored below basic in mathematics

Answer 10

Pew Hispanic Center (2005)

Question 11

Middle school – 71% of 8th grade ELL students scored below basic

Answer 11

Fry (2007)

Question 12

Cultural brokers – Friends, family, and students with more proficiency EL skills can provide cultural insights to help effectively connect CLD students with necessary mathematics concepts

Answer 12

Leonard (2008)

Question 13

• Problem solving, collaboration and communication, constructivism, support background knowledge, hands-on, language support, climate
• Remain immersed in a single context during a problem-solving session or several successive sessions
• Acquire appropriate background knowledge about the context without having to reorient their thinking or gain new background information

Answer 13

Wiest (2008)

Question 14

Lack of familiarity with problem’s context, may have trouble understanding which operations to perform

Answer 14

Hoffert (2009)

Question 15

Achievement rate of students with disabilities is considerably lower than those of other students (mathematics instruction needs to be accessible to all students)

Answer 15

Jitendra & Star (2011)

Question 16

• Math word problems require students to understand language, culture, context of problem, and mathematics, problems can be complex and confusing for CLD students
• Cultural bias (background knowledge)
• Use visuals, discussions, manipulatives, act out concepts
• Vocabulary

Answer 16

Wilburne, Marinak, & Strickland (2011)

Question 17

• Support development of math, development of language, enhance tasks, enhance classroom interactions

Answer 17

Chaval & Chavez (2012)

Question 18

• An added factor in the discussion regarding math achievement is the multicultural population and how to assess performance given economic, political, and cultural differences that cross ethnic lines
• Statistics are indicative of larger trend related to opportunities and access for multicultural students to more demanding mathematics courses
• Pedagogically, fundamental shifts need to occur in order to appreciate and incorporate students’ lived experiences into the educational process
• Historically, mathematics has been considered a neutral subject
• Euro-centric mathematics privileges cultural funds of knowledge for mainstream students while working against those from non-Euro-centric cultures and backgrounds
• Encouraging students to take a proactive approach to addressing problems in their community – seeking math solution to everyday problems gives students concrete representation and makes math relative to them

Answer 18

Gutierrez & Armendariz (2015)