© Kamla-Raj 2015 Int J Edu Sci, 8(1-i): 65-73 (2015)

Teaching Mathematics in Foundation Phase MultilingualClassrooms: Teachers’ Challenges and Innovations

Anne-Mari Dicker

College of Education, University of South Africa, PO Box 392, Pretoria, 0003, South AfricaE-mail: dickeam@unisa.ac.za

KEYWORDS Mathematics Teaching. Multilingualism. Foundation Phase. Teaching Approaches

ABSTRACT The reality in South Africa is that teachers are required to work in multilingual classrooms where thelanguage of instruction often differs from the home language of all or the majority of learners. The research onwhich this paper is based focused on problems teachers experience and the innovative strategies that couldconstitute best practice for teaching mathematics in multilingual classrooms. The question that was addressed ishow teachers can teach learners representing a variety of home languages. In some cases the teachers are notfamiliar with the home language of the learners. Focus group interviews, involving Foundation Phase teachers inthree independent schools, were conducted. The language of teaching and learning in the schools is English. Mostof the teachers are English second language speakers. Components for effective mathematics teaching in multilingualclassrooms are committed, well-trained teachers, well-resourced classrooms, a variety of teaching strategies, use ofconcrete media, encouragement of oral rehearsal, enough response time and motivation. Multilingualism should beseen as an asset rather than a barrier in the classroom.

INTRODUCTION

“... Education policy has changed over thelast few years and additive bilingualism is cur-rently advocated in the interest of allowing allchildren access to meaningful education”(Scheepers 2006: 2).

Is it not time that we focus on the positiveperspective of being a fluent speaker of morethan one language rather than dwelling on thepolitical and historical past or the dangers ofusing a second language for teaching, learningand development? Multilingualism is a globalphenomenon, with at least half of the world be-ing bilingual. Fluency in the second languagewill depend on the specific need for the languageas well as the frequency of its use (Tokuhama-Espinosa 2003: xiii).

Since schools in South Africa accommodatediverse cultures; they need to provide for themulticultural and multilingual needs of learners(DoE 2003). This requires a common code ofcommunication, so that all learners have accessto quality teaching and learning. Teachers areoften challenged to adopt teaching strategiesthat will enable all learners to participate suc-cessfully within the classroom and, in particular,the mathematics classroom.

The Language in Education Policy (DoE1997) allows for home language instructionwhere possible. It is, however, not always pos-

sible to use home language as language of learn-ing and teaching (LOLT) in multilingual class-rooms. It is in these circumstances that manyschools prefer to use English as LOLT to pro-vide all the learners with an equal opportunityto learn. According to the review of the NationalCurriculum Statement DoE 2005: 13), many teach-ers in the Foundation Phase opt for a “straight-for-English” approach due to the unavailabilityof textbooks in African languages. It often hap-pens that a variety of home languages are spo-ken among the learners and the challenge iswhich one should be chosen as the LOLT.

In addition to the reality of multilingualismin schools, mathematics constitutes a languageor mathematical register in itself which is a set ofmeanings that belong to the language of mathe-matics. The mathematics register refers to termi-nology specific to mathematics; for example,volume can refer to loudness in contrast to thecapacity of a container. The mathematics regis-ter is used to communicate and participate inmathematical discussions. It is especially chal-lenging during the Foundation Phase. Not onlydo learners need to adapt to formal schooling,but often also to a new language of teachingand learning, as well as to the mathematical reg-ister. Teachers need to think and apply innova-tive strategies in these circumstances in orderto enhance the understanding of mathematics.

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The emphasis of this paper falls on the chal-lenges teachers face in multilingual classrooms,specifically in mathematics teaching. Teacherscan, however, implement several strategies toaddress the needs of learners in a multilingualclass effectively. The aim of the research onwhich this paper is based was to investigate thekey challenges in multilingual classrooms as wellas strategies used to address these challengeswhen teaching mathematics using English aslanguage of instruction (LOI). The aim is to pro-vide guidelines for teachers in multilingual class-rooms where the LOLT is different from the ma-jority of learners’ home language.

Background and Literature Review

Multilingualism: It is through language thatwe teach and learn. It is often language that caus-es a barrier to learning which challenges teach-ers to effectively teach and guide learners tounderstanding (Foundation Phase for All 2008:18). Research (Foundation Phase for All 2008:18) has proven that it is best for learners to de-velop reading and writing skills in their stron-gest (home) language to be able to transfer theseskills to an additional language. However, this isnot always the case in South African classrooms.

Tokuhama-Espinosa (2003: 217) defines mul-tilingualism as knowledge of two or more lan-guages. Since there are 11 official languages inSouth Africa, multilingualism is a phenomenonwith which teachers are confronted on a dailybasis. Teachers in South African schools arechallenged in multilingual classrooms to identi-fy and address the language needs of their learn-ers (McCarthy 2005: 170).

Problems Related to English as Languageof Instruction: Different terms are used in theliterature to refer to learners who are taught in alanguage that is different from their home lan-guage. For example, the terms English LanguageLearners (ELLs) or English Second LanguageLearners (ESLLs) refer to learners who come fromdifferent home language backgrounds and whoneed to learn English in order to cope with theEnglish language of instruction in the school.

Herrera and Murry (2004: 1) refer to cultural-ly and linguistically diverse (CLD) classrooms.This definition encompasses elements such asthe different needs, realities, abilities andstrengths that need to be taken into consider-ation when preparing to teach mathematics in

multilingual classrooms. At the same time, CLDfocuses on different teaching strategies thatshould be employed in order to provide for sec-ond language learners.

Another factor to be considered in secondlanguage teaching and learning is Limited En-glish Proficiency (LEP). Learners with LEP scorelow on reading, writing and listening in standar-dised tests. LEP also influences their Englishcomprehension in general (Donaldson 1987: 4).It is important for teachers to adopt differentteaching and learning strategies in order to pro-vide sufficient opportunities for these learnersby establishing a classroom atmosphere that isconducive to active participation and under-standing (Gorgorio and Planas 2001: 10).

Tokuhama-Espinosa (2005: 55) argues thatESLLs should not be seen as learners who needto be ‘fixed’, but that they must be made awarethat they have a valuable resource (their homelanguage) to offer and to use in the develop-ment of their second language, the language ofinstruction.

ESLLs often make use of code switching intheir attempt to make sense of and understandmathematics. Code switching means that a per-son thinks and uses words and syntax of thehome language as well as words and syntax ofEnglish when trying to speak and write English(Donaldson 1987: 5).

The Mathematics Register: Mathematicshas specific terminology entailing symbols andwords. The mathematics register refers to a setof meanings that belong to the language of math-ematics and express mathematical meaning whenused for mathematical purposes (Setati 2002: 89).Learners start their exploration of making senseof mathematics by using concrete media beforedeveloping representational media. The latterstep is eventually followed by symbolic repre-sentation at an abstract level.

Vygotsky (1978), in his theory on learning,refers to an inner language, which means thatlearners speak aloud in order to organise theirthoughts, experiences and actions, especially inthe Foundation Phase (Grade R-3).

Various problems may occur in a multilingualclassroom in terms of mathematics vocabularyand syntax. These problems include the use oftechnical words (terminology) that learners donot usually use outside the classroom, for exam-ple parallelogram and multiplication. A wordlike volume could also be confusing, because it

TEACHING MATHEMATICS IN FOUNDATION PHASE 67

means measurement in mathematics and level ofsound in everyday English. Learners may find itdifficult to distinguish between the precise math-ematical meaning of a phrase in contrast to ev-eryday English expressions such as a fractionof the cost. Prepositions must be used preciselyand have to be clearly understood, for examplein instructions such as ‘Divide 25 by 10’ and‘Divide 25 into 10’. Long-winded, clumsy state-ments or questions may pose a problem to sec-ond language learners. For example, a questionsuch as, ‘Which number between 25 and 30 can-not be divided equally by either 2 or 3?’ couldbaffle the learners (Haylock and Thangata 2007:99-102).

Problems may arise in multicultural class-rooms with regard to teachers’ assumptions oflearners’ prior knowledge of specialised termssuch as subtraction, divisor and subtrahend.The vocabulary of mathematics also tends tocontain a variety of words that sound similar, forexample addition and audition (Herera andMurry 2005: 51-53).

The teaching strategies that teachers imple-ment to accommodate the special needs of sec-ond language learners are explored in the nextsection.

Teaching Strategies in MultilingualMathematics Classrooms

The National Curriculum Statement (DoE2003: 23-24) states that teachers should createan environment in which mathematics can betaught effectively by believing that every learn-er can learn mathematics. Mathematics is usual-ly seen as an abstract subject, but the use ofmedia and apparatus, especially during the Foun-dation Phase but also in later years, can contrib-ute to better development and understanding ofmathematical concepts. It is further stated thatthe teaching, learning and assessment in mathe-matics have the following implications forteachers:

They must recognise that the learning ofmathematics cannot be rushed.Each learner learns at his or her own paceand through different opportunities.Frequent and repeated use of mathematicalconcepts is critical to learning.Understanding develops over time andthrough the use of mathematics.

Creating a positive classroom atmospherethat is conducive to teaching and learning pro-vides support for ESL learners (Godding 1988:78; Rigg and Allen 1989). It means that the teach-er accepts learners and their diversity and pro-vides for the accompanying challenges.

It is necessary to take learners’ preferredlearning styles into consideration when plan-ning teaching and learning activities. Bender(2005) advocates differentiated instruction foreffective mathematics teaching and learning.Differentiated instruction includes the use ofmultiple intelligences in mathematics teaching(Bender 2005: 8).

The use of concrete media is of utmost im-portance for fostering mathematical concepts inthe Foundation Phase (Bender 2005: 47). Van deWalle (2007: 13) stresses the importance of do-ing mathematics, which means that learners willactively be thinking about mathematical con-cepts. Verbs related to doing mathematics areexplore, represent, explain, investigate, formu-late, predict, conjecture, discover, develop,solve, construct, describe, justify, verify and use.As Wall and Posamentier (2007: xiii) rightlystress, “[m]athematics is not a spectator sport –especially that of young children”. Models canand should be used in learners’ discovery of math-ematical ideas. Van de Walle (2007: 33) also cau-tions teachers against the wrong use of models.For example, he warns against teaching the learn-ers how to use a model. Models should not beused as ‘answer-getting’ devices but as thinkingtools. Representation refers to pictures, symbols,charts or diagrams that are used to express math-ematical ideas and relationships and serve aspowerful learning tools (Van de Walle 2007: 5).

It is important to keep in mind that learnersneed to advance from the concrete to the semi-concrete and eventually to abstract learning lev-els and the model poses an efficient instruction-al method for a multilingual classroom (Bender2005: 50). Learners use concrete media or ob-jects and semi-concrete representation in orderto be able to visualise mathematical problems orconcepts and this is a prerequisite to abstractlearning and understanding.

Bender (2005: 20-22) advocates a number ofteaching ‘tactics’ for mathematics teaching, suchas movement as tool, peer buddies (where learn-ers assist one another), colour coding cue words(for example when subtracting the subtrahendsor odd and even numbers in different colours),

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teaching with edibles, teaching mathematicsconcepts using games, using a mathematicsportfolio (save at least one activity per week inorder to gather evidence of learner’s work), andusing multiplication charts.

In addition to the abovementioned strate-gies, Herera and Murry (2005: 309) suggest theuse of practical application problems, teachingof specific meta-cognitive strategies such as self-monitoring, self-evaluation, explicit instructionof the mathematics language related to the con-cepts that are covered, use of journals, engag-ing learners in a variety of methods such as co-operative learning, direct instruction, computer-assisted learning and guided discovery, andconnecting concepts to the background knowl-edge of the learners by asking them to write theirown problems.

Teaching and Learning in a MultilingualSituation: As early as 1971, John and Honer(1971: s xxiv) speculated about the influence ofsecond language instruction on young learnersand stated that one positive aspect may be thatlearners use their home language more for prob-lem solving.

Donaldson (1987) emphasises various as-pects as prerequisites in the provision of effec-tive bilingual education. Some important aspectsare sufficient materials and facilities. Teachersshould be adequately qualified and should re-ceive additional training with regard to ESL in-struction. Teachers must be patient; aware ofwhat needs to be taught and the best teachingmethods; they need to have empathy and a realinterest in each learner; they do not need to bebilingual but should have support personnel andmaterials that are bilingual; they should knowwhen to use or provide home language instruc-tion; they must be able to motivate and use pos-itive reinforcement and they should set definiteoutcomes.

Parent Involvement: Coelho (2004: 31)stresses the importance of parental involvementfor second language learners to adjust success-fully. Schools must welcome the participation ofparents and should communicate effectively withthem. Schools should also encourage the devel-opment of the home language together with En-glish. They should make parent meetings moreaccessible to parents (for example, time andplace), be specific about expectations for be-haviour such as completing homework, punctu-ality, they should also promote positive inter-

cultural relations, and involve parents in findingand creating resources in their own languages(Coelho 2004: 31-33).

RESEARCH DESIGN

The research design or methodology is aqualitative investigation which would enable theresearcher to explore, analyse and describe theresearch question in order to reveal the most ap-propriate and effective teaching strategies for mul-tilingual classrooms. The aim was to investigatewhat constitutes best practice in classrooms whereEnglish is the second language and learners aretherefore not taught in their home language.

The research was a phenomenological studybecause the dominant method was phenomeno-logical interviewing (Henning 2004: 34). The in-terviews were semi-structured where Founda-tion Phase teachers participated in focus groupinterviews. The researcher facilitated the pro-cess but joined the interview as a stranger whoremained an outsider (Henning 2004: 42).

Henning (2004: 48) explains that the decisionto use an action research approach is based onthe fact that the researcher envisages an inter-vention programme after the initial research. Ittherefore is a long-term investment which is bothintervention and research. It usually developsover a period of time in different cycles of re-search and social action.

The research encompassed the following: aliterature review, focus group interviews, tape-recording interviews, transcribing interviews,field notes, analysis of transcriptions and writ-ing of the report.

A description of the research, aim of the re-search and process were submitted to five inde-pendent schools. Three schools granted the re-searcher permission to interview FoundationPhase teachers after school hours in order tocause no disruption of teaching.

Two schools (A and C) are from more afflu-ent backgrounds and one school (B) less afflu-ent. All three schools are independent schools.The more affluent schools have the additionalbenefit of having their smaller class sizes.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Background of the Schools

School A has a preschool feeding into thePrimary school. There are, however, learners that

TEACHING MATHEMATICS IN FOUNDATION PHASE 69

attend school A that enter school from otherpreschools. The LOLT of the in-house Grade Ris English. Some learners from other Grade Rsettings may not be fluent in English. Learnersin the Foundation Phase are therefore Englishhome language speakers or from different otherlanguages and thus ESL speakers. The teachersare all English-speaking. The language of in-struction is English.

School B also has a Grade R facility wherelearners are taught in English. All learners areEnglish second language speakers. The Grade 1classes have 50 learners each. The language ofinstruction is English, and the teachers speakEnglish as a second language. The teachers donot speak all the different home languages oflearners and can therefore not necessarily com-municate in the learners’ home language.

School C has a Grade R facility where learn-ers are taught in their home language, which isnot English. They are taught all mathematicalterminology in English. In Grade 1, Literacy andLife Skills are taught in their home language butNumeracy is taught in English. The class sizesare not more than 25 and therefore this situationis conducive to learning. Teachers are secondlanguage speakers. This means that the teach-ers speak the home language of the learners butteach in their second language.

Analysis of Interviews

The data provided below was gathered dur-ing the focus group interviews conducted at theschools. The emerging themes as well as sub-themes which emerged from the data are alsodiscussed in the sections below. Where rele-vant, excerpts from participants’ comments areprovided verbatim and unedited. In some casesthey have been translated.

Problems Encountered in the MathematicsClassroom

Home Language: In all three schools thehome language differs from the LOI. Learnerscome to school with limited English proficiency,which may cause problems. Learners speak adifferent language at home and the parents areoften not fluent in English and cannot assisttheir children. In school B the learners speakdifferent African languages.

Teachers in School A indicated that under-standing is a problem because learners do notunderstand them. Learners speak different Afri-can languages or Portuguese, Asian languagesor Afrikaans. There are also learners in the classwhose home language is English.

Learners’ Background Knowledge: Teach-ers in schools A and B complained that learnerslack sufficient background knowledge which isnecessary for school readiness. Learners cometo school lacking the basic pre-number and pre-writing skills.

Reading: is often experienced as a problembut it is not only related to mathematics but ingeneral and more applicable to literacy.

School B indicated that learners from otherschools or preschools pose problems becausethey do not have the same background knowl-edge as learners from their own preschool whohad already been introduced to English instruc-tion. When writing is being taught it is difficultto control the groups because while one groupis being assisted the others will becomerestless.

Writing: Although writing is not a mathe-matics problem as such it restricts learners’progress because teachers have to spend moretime on the teaching of writing. Learners find itdifficult to copy from the board (school B)

Word Sums: All three schools indicated thatthe learners may not understand the English:“One has to help them understand the Englishand meaning of the word problem.”

Teachers use pictures to clarify and assistwith understanding. The learners must draw whatis asked, which helps them to understand andindicates which operation should be used,whether it be addition, subtraction, multiplica-tion or division.

“Word sums must be accompanied by pic-tures.” (Free translation)

They read the problem in English but usetheir home language to explain where necessary(schools A and C).

School A indicated that Grade 2 teachers useonly English when doing mathematics. They feelthat the learners know the concepts and do notneed the home language translation.

“I tell them what it is, show it and they re-peat, for example odd and even numbers. If theydo not understand the concept, it does not mat-ter which language is spoken they will not knowit.”

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If a difficult word such as “estimate” is usedthey will refer to their home language to explainit. After the explanation they will introduce theEnglish word and from there on only use“estimate”.

It is important not to move too much betweenthe languages because that causes more confu-sion (schools B and C).

By Grade 3 learners have a good understand-ing of English and it is necessary to establishwhen doing word problems whether it is a lackof language or mathematical context understand-ing that contributes to problems (school C).

School B reported that learners struggle alot with word sums due to a lack of understand-ing of the language as well as the mathematicsconcepts.

Basic Number Sense: Teachers mentionedthat basic number sense must be fostered inGrades 1 and 2 in order for learners to knowthem by Grade 3. Some learners seem to be un-comprehending (“blank”) when asked to per-form calculations with the basic numbers(schools A, B and C).

School B mentioned that learners strugglewith their basic number sense due to a lack ofbackground as well as the language.

Parental Involvement: Back of parental in-volvement is a major problem in school B. It isalso echoed by school A. Teachers send mes-sages in the learners’ message books but oftenwith no response. They use SMS messages toattract parents’ attention but only a few respondto these. They really need parents to be part-ners in the teaching of their learners to assistwith homework and other problems. Parents’ at-titude may be that they “send children to schooland the teachers must do their job”.

Parents can assist at home to enrich theirchildren’s background knowledge.

Parents complain that their children comehome late when teachers keep learners afterschool hours in order to assist the learners withextra help and work (school B).

Emotional Problems: School A indicatedthat some learners show aggression when theystruggle with words or concepts.

Teaching Strategies Used in the Schools

The strategy to introduce English instruc-tion in school C is to introduce counting in En-glish as well as some basic terminology such as

more than, less than from the fourth term in GradeR. The learners are therefore introduced to math-ematics in English in an informal way.

Most of the learners in School C attend thepreschool and are therefore prepared for theteaching strategy implemented in Grade 1. Mostof the learners from other preschools have anEnglish background and will therefore not haveproblems understanding the language used inmathematics.

Learners from other schools or preschoolshave problems with regard to English instruc-tion and cause teachers to re-teach and repeat alot (schools B). Learners are taught basic con-cepts but learners from other preschools are notnecessarily prepared for school, which causesdifficulty for teachers.

School A starts their instruction in English(grade R) using pictures. “You show them a pic-ture of clothing, a vest, then they will say ‘vest’and that is how you teach them, when you showthem the real article.” They also read them sto-ries to help build vocabulary. Teaching is basedon the use of concrete media.

School A also indicated that all learners mustbe screened or tested for school readiness as aprerequisite for acceptance in their school. Notall learners attend their preschool. There is adifference in background knowledge betweenlearners from other preschools and their ownpreschool. It definitely helps to have a Grade Rclass: “A lot of learning takes place throughplay.”

Formal Schooling: School A requires thatlearners must be able to speak some Englishwhen entering the school. Many learners speakonly English and therefore do not have a goodcommand of their home language. The teachersuse themes which are interesting to capture thelearners’ attention. Since the teachers are En-glish-speaking they cannot assist learners intheir home language (which is not English).Therefore learners are exposed to English, whichforces them to use English when communicat-ing. There is a speech therapist who assists learn-ers with vocabulary and pronunciation.

In school C both languages are used in Grade1. It is a 50/50 situation in the beginning with50% instruction in English and 50% instructionin their home language. Home language instruc-tion gradually tapers down and in Grade 2 itamounts to about 99% English instruction. Themathematics is introduced in English but their

TEACHING MATHEMATICS IN FOUNDATION PHASE 71

home language is used to explain anything thelearners find difficult. School C uses English asLOI but will explain in the home language wherenecessary.

School B has no prerequisites in place andlearners may attend their own preschool or anyother preschool. Learners therefore come toschool with a variety of English language skills.

Classroom Management: All the schoolsarrange their classrooms with individual desksfacing the board. Schools A and C do groupwork and the groups are made up of learnerswho speak different languages, for example ESLlearners and English home language learners. Inschool A class sizes vary between 18 in Grade R,17 in Grade 1, 19 in Grade 2 and 20 in Grade 3.This provides the opportunity for teachers towork individually with learners that struggle witha concept while the others are kept busy withthings such as puzzles or worksheets.

Schools A and C indicated that they do matwork which is followed by individual mathemat-ics work. No mat work is done in school B be-cause of limited space and large class size.

There are also round tables in the classroomwhere group activities take place (school C).When learners have to do individual tasks theyhave workstations situated against the wallswhere each learner can sit on his or her own andwork. During the group work learners are en-couraged to communicate. They may assist eachother. The teacher observes the learners in or-der to establish what is understood and howthey think, reason and calculate. They work to-gether to find solutions but eventually have tocomplete their own individual worksheets.

When learners start working individually, theones that do not understand will approach theteacher one by one for additional help (schoolA).

If learners do not understand a concept afterrepeated explanation the teacher will allow a peerwho understands the concept to assist or ex-plain. They may therefore assist in this sensebecause peers may understand one another bet-ter than when the teacher explains (school Aand B).

“… because they understand a friend betterwhich I may not bring across. They may assisteach other”. (Free translation)

In school B, due to the large class sizes, thelearners’ desks are arranged in a formal manner.Whole class instruction (direct or transmission

teaching approach) is given where learners aretaught the methods in order for the learners tofollow. “Practical lessons are difficult to con-duct with large classes because it is difficult tocontrol and the learners want to participate all atthe same time – therefore a discipline problem.”

Own Strategies and Drilling of Concepts:In schools A and C learners investigate con-cepts using concrete media. There is also drill-ing of bonds and tables but it is supported bymaterials such as beads, beans and othercounters.

Tables are learnt off by heart, for example 2,4, 6, … “Then point it out on a chart, it is likemagic when they see it.”

The teacher will explain how to do a certaincalculation. If learners apply their own strategywhich is different from that of the teacher, theymay use their strategy but it will not necessarilybe introduced to all the learners (school C).

Learners may use media or manipulatives totry and find an answer but they may not probetheir friends for the answer. They have to find asolution on their own. After a concept has beenexplained and discussed and the teacher wantsto assess whether it is understood, the learnersmay not communicate with one another. Theteacher will observe each learner in order to es-tablish any problems or shortcomings (schoolA).

In school B learners use algorithms to docalculations because teachers feel that they donot have the time for other methods due to classsize. They do, however, make use of concretemedia such as fruit, and state that learners enjoypractical discovery. No mention was made ofown strategies.

All three schools use a direct approach toteaching and learning where the teacher explainsconcepts and the concepts are repeated in exer-cises/worksheets.

Parental Involvement: School C comment-ed that parental involvement is of great impor-tance and the parents co-operate well with theteachers. Most of the parents are involved. It isimportant to inform parents that when they as-sist learners at home with mathematics they willalso do this in English. Parents receive the infor-mation at parent evenings and they work welltogether. The learners are also informed and en-couraged to tell the parents to use English whenassisting with homework.

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Parental involvement is very important forschool A because parents can assist in their homelanguage. Parents receive a work schedule indi-cating what is taught. Parents are told what is tobe covered. There is, however, a lack of parentalinvolvement. Parents do not assist learners withtheir problems and it is expected of teachers tosolve all the problems. Parents are provided withpossible activities to do with their children suchas counting in both the home language and En-glish, allowing them to develop common sense,reading stories and helping with vocabulary.Basicwords and phrases such as on, into andon top are used; for example “Put your shirt oninside out.”

School B reported a lack of parental involve-ment. Parents do not attend school meetings orparent evenings.

Code Switching: When learners experiencedifficulty with a concept they revert to their homelanguage to reason and explain, but will immedi-ately afterwards use the English terminology(school C). One must take care not to move be-tween the languages too often because it caus-es confusion. For example, if learners use En-glish for fifty-six and one says this in Afrikaans(“ses-en-vyftig”) they tend to swop the num-bers and write 65 instead of 56. English seems toassist learners’ understanding of place valuebetter than their home language which in thiscase is Afrikaans.

“It makes more sense in English, the num-bers make more sense than in their home lan-guage because they learn it from the start andthey know nothing else.”

In school B teachers also use the learners’home language to explain difficult conceptswhen learners have difficulty in understanding.

There was no mention of code switching atschool A (the teachers do not speak any of theother home languages).

By Grade 3 learners have a good understand-ing of English and it is necessary to establishwhen doing word problems whether it is a lackof vocabulary or mathematical context under-standing that contributes to problems.

Media/Models/Manipulatives: All threeschools indicated the importance of concretemedia to assist learners in understanding themathematics concepts. Media mentioned are, forexample, A4 whiteboards and whiteboard mark-ers, 100 chart, blocks, expansion cards, woodenfigures such as cubes and cones, abacus,

counters (beans, blocks, bottle tops, play ani-mals), matches/toothpicks and elastic bands tomake groupings, jelly tots and toothpicks to con-struct, measuring tapes to find numbers bigger,smaller or in between, using their own bodies tounderstand a concept and using a number lineon the floor. It was also mentioned that a teachercan stick big dots on the line and learners canwalk on the line or jump from one dot to theother. When a learner does not participate, it isusually an indication of a conceptual problemthat can be addressed after identification.

Learners must work concretely. There mustbe many manipulatives in order to enhance un-derstanding (school A and C).

“If you do not do practical work you will notunderstand mathematics.” (Free translation)

Learners learn by manipulating the modelsand being actively involved. Pen and paper workmust follow understanding. If learners do notexperience or do mathematics concretely at first,they find engaging in writing too difficult.

Communication: ESLLs are observers at firstbut after a few months of exposure to Englishthey start to take part in games and conversa-tions. It is important to encourage learners to per-severe, although it may be difficult at first. Oncethey understand, their self-confidence grows andthey experience a feeling of achievement.

It seems that learners use their home lan-guage when doing mental arithmetic. In Grade 1they often say the answer aloud in their homelanguage. When asked what that is in Englishthey are able to provide the answer in English.Using their home language to reason and talk toothers can be beneficial. They should, however,be encouraged to use English vocabulary wherepossible.

CONCLUSION

From the above discussion and the empiri-cal research it is clear that teachers face chal-lenges in multilingual classrooms. For learnersto master the new LOI together with the newmathematics register requires an innovativeclassroom practice.

The key challenges in the mathematics class-room are to utilise learners’ existing backgroundknowledge. It is necessary to establish a class-room environment that is conducive to teachingand learning in a multilingual situation, for ex-

TEACHING MATHEMATICS IN FOUNDATION PHASE 73

ample by using direct teaching as well as in-corporating a variety of media to assist learners’understanding. Repetition is of great value. Par-ents need to take responsibility at home to sup-port their children in coping with the new LOI

A programme of gradual introduction of En-glish words and register for mathematics (50/50% moving to 80/20% and eventually 100%English teaching in Grade 3) suggests bestresults.

Implementing the necessary teaching strat-egies combined with a well-resourced classroomcan provide ESL learners with appropriate toolsto master mathematics despite the barrier oflearning using their second and sometimes thirdlanguage.

Components for effective mathematics teach-ing in multilingual classrooms are committed,well-trained teachers, well-resourced classrooms,a variety of teaching strategies, use of concretemedia, encouraging oral rehearsal, enough re-sponse time and motivation.

Classroom management that is conducive toteaching and learning in the Foundation Phaseinvolves providing space for mat work and or-ganising the desks in such a way that learnersface the board directly. Learners communicatefreely during mat activities. Teachers assesslearners during the mat activities to identify prob-lems and shortcomings in their mathematics andlanguage understanding.

Parental involvement is important, andschool and home must work together in partner-ship. Parents need to understand their role inpreparing and supporting their children’s mas-tery of English and mathematics concepts.

In conclusion: the three schools that partic-ipated in the research demonstrated that the useof English as LOLT for ESLLs can provide a so-lution in a multilingual mathematics classroom.It is important to take cognisance of the teach-ing and learning strategies implemented, in or-der to provide possible solutions for the reali-ties of so many multilingual classrooms in SouthAfrica.

Mathematics is a language shared by all peo-ple regardless of culture, religion, or gender.Numeracy is a language shared across the globeirrespective of one’s home language. It is a lan-guage of numbers, symbols and procedures.

Is it not time that we focus on the possibili-ties of multilingualism instead of politicising theLOLT to the detriment of our learners?

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