Language
Language is the most crucial component in understanding a concept or idea. It varies from culture to culture and sometimes looses its meaning in translation. This poses a challenge for the teaching and learning of mathematics in a classroom where the language of students differs from that of the Western culture. Alan J. Bishop (2008) shows through research that there are some languages that lack the proper mathematical and scientific terms. For example, Bishop asked students to translate a list of 70 mathematics related terms into their own languages (Bishop, 2008). To his surprise, only 15 words out of the 70 were successfully translate by all students (below, far, near, in front, behind, between, middle, last, deep, tall, long, short, inside, outside and hill) (Bishop, 2008). Other words, such as surface, size, shape, slope, direction, horizontal and vertical, were untranslatable by many of the students (Bishop, 2008). This creates a challenge because if students are unable to translate what is being asked, they are more likely to not understand the content being taught and therefore will fall short. If there is no translation for certain mathematical terms, students from non-Western cultures will not be able to arrive at an accurate meaning because it is not in a language that is their first.
Also, the Western language is complex and consists of a large vocabulary of words, many having the same meanings with various overlaps. However, looking at languages of other cultures, there are many gaps when compared to the English language. For example, a Manus student reported that above, surface, top, over, and up all translated to the same one work in his language (Bishop, 2008). When these differences in language are present in the classroom it can cause a challenge for both the teacher and students. Much confusion can occur because there are differences and overlaps in meaning and students will have difficulty differentiating between words throughout the English language (Bishop, 2008). As a result, teacher must ensure that students are comprehending the content by checking for understanding as they progress through the mathematics ideas.
Furthermore, when translating from a non-Western language to English, some words lose their meaning. Bishop (2008) worked on translating different standardized tests into non-Western languages and found that many questions throughout the test were very hard or even impossible to translate. For example, in many cultural languages, there was no word that could be used to compare two things (Bishop, 2008). You could not say that one thing runs faster than another, but instead had to say that one thing runs fast and the other thing runs fast. It is important for educators to remember that the language is not universal. It is shaped by culture. In order for students to fully understand the Western language, it needs to be taught, learnt and connected to their own cultural language.
Also, the Western language is complex and consists of a large vocabulary of words, many having the same meanings with various overlaps. However, looking at languages of other cultures, there are many gaps when compared to the English language. For example, a Manus student reported that above, surface, top, over, and up all translated to the same one work in his language (Bishop, 2008). When these differences in language are present in the classroom it can cause a challenge for both the teacher and students. Much confusion can occur because there are differences and overlaps in meaning and students will have difficulty differentiating between words throughout the English language (Bishop, 2008). As a result, teacher must ensure that students are comprehending the content by checking for understanding as they progress through the mathematics ideas.
Furthermore, when translating from a non-Western language to English, some words lose their meaning. Bishop (2008) worked on translating different standardized tests into non-Western languages and found that many questions throughout the test were very hard or even impossible to translate. For example, in many cultural languages, there was no word that could be used to compare two things (Bishop, 2008). You could not say that one thing runs faster than another, but instead had to say that one thing runs fast and the other thing runs fast. It is important for educators to remember that the language is not universal. It is shaped by culture. In order for students to fully understand the Western language, it needs to be taught, learnt and connected to their own cultural language.