IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bco/semaaa/v5y2020p30-42.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Teachers’ Language Practices in the Teaching of MATHEMATICS in a Grade Four MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOM, in Zambia

Author

Listed:
  • Bareford Mambwe

    (University of Zambia, School of Education, Lusaka, Zambia)

  • Zanzini B. Ndhlovu

    (University of Zambia, School of Education, Lusaka, Zambia)

Abstract

Zambia has seventy-three (73) recorded languages with seven considered as major languages. The diversity of ethnic groups with their related languages has led to the existence of several traditions and cultural practices which have implications on the education of children. The Ministry of Education introduced the use of a familiar language as a language of learning in primary schools from grade one to four. The current study explored the teachers’ language practices when teaching mathematics in a multilingual class. We sought to establish the language practices of teachers and learners in the process of mathematical knowledge acquisition in the classrooms. The research was carried out in two selected primary schools in Lusaka district, Zambia. The target population was teachers and pupils in the 4th grade whose mother- tongue was not the language of instruction. The research was qualitative in nature and it took the form of grounded interpretative classroom research. The lesson observations and recordings served as empirical basis of the results. The results showed that teachers used code-switching, translation, body language and visuals. The study recommended among other aspects continued use of code-switching as a bridging mechanism between the conversational register and the mathematics academic register.

Suggested Citation

Handle: RePEc:bco:semaaa::v:5:y:2020:p:30-42
DOI: 10.32038/SEM.2020.05.03
as

Download full text from publisher

File URL: https://api.eurokd.com/Uploads/Article/62/SEM.2020.05.03.pdf
Download Restriction: no

File URL: https://libkey.io/10.32038/SEM.2020.05.03?utm_source=ideas
LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
---><---

Corrections

All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bco:semaaa::v:5:y:2020:p:30-42. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sara Gunen (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.