Abstract
Previous research on bilingual mathematics education has proposed that as children “language mathematics” they use multiple sources of meaning. In this paper, we focus on lexical inventions—bilingual children’s made up words that are not formally defined or used but follow the phonology and morphology of a language—as a source of meaning. Consistent with tenets from translanguaging, we recognize lexical inventions as a creative language practice defying idealized language norms. A raciolinguistic theoretical perspective informs our interpretation of children, teachers, and researchers as listening subjects. The purpose of this paper is to explore how mathematical lexical inventions can prompt a translanguaging space where children, teachers, and researchers resist listening subject positions that predispose them to listen for predetermined language practices. Drawing on two lesson transcripts, one from a fourth-grade English-immersion classroom in Colombia and one from a third-grade Spanish-immersion classroom in the United States, we used moment analysis in translanguaging spaces to identify spontaneous and critical moments where lexical inventions prompted mathematical explorations. We argue for adopting listening subject positions as learners of transgressive language practices that are part of interactions between children and mathematics.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anzaldúa, G. (1987). Borderlands/La frontera: The new mestiza. Aunt Lute.
Barwell, R. (2005). Ambiguity in the mathematics classroom. Language and Education, 19(2), 118–126.
Barwell, R. (2018). From language as a resource to sources of meaning in multilingual mathematics classrooms. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 50, 155–168.
Bohnemeyer, J., Donelson, K. T., Moore, R. E., Benedicto, E., Eggleston, A., O’Meara, C. K., & Méndez, R. R. (2015). The contact diffusion of linguistic practices: Reference frames in Mesoamerica. Language Dynamics and Change, 5(2), 169–201.
Christensen, M. V. (2022). Math in Arabic and other languages: Exploring the possibilities of translanguaging practices in the classroom. International Journal of Multilingualism. Advance online publication.
Chronaki, A., Planas, N., & Svensson Källberg, P. (2022). Onto/epistemic violence and dialogicality in translanguaging practices across multilingual mathematics classrooms. Teachers College Record, 124(5), 108–126.
d’Ambrosio, U. (1985). Ethnomathematics and its place in the history and pedagogy of mathematics. For the Learning of Mathematics, 5(1), 44–48.
Dewaele, J. M. (1998). Lexical inventions: French interlanguage as L2 versus L3. Applied Linguistics, 19(4), 471–490.
DiNapoli, J., & Morales, H. Jr. (2021). Translanguaging to persevere is key for Latinx bilinguals’ mathematical success. Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 14(2), 71–104.
Flores, N., & Rosa, J. (2015). Undoing appropriateness: Raciolinguistic ideologies and language diversity in education. Harvard Educational Review, 85(2), 149–171.
Fuller, J. M., & Wardhaugh, R. (2021). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Wiley.
Fuson, K. C. (2013). Expresiones en matemáticas: Estándares comunes—Grado 3. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
García, O. (2017). Translanguaging in schools: Subiendo y bajando, bajando y subiendo as afterword. Journal of Language Identity & Education, 16(4), 256–263.
García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education. Palgrave Pivot.
García, O., & Wei, L. (2018). Translanguaging. In C. A. Chapelle (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics (pp. 1–7). John Wiley & Sons.
Garza, A. (2017). A translanguaging mathematical space: Latino/a teenagers using their linguistic repertoire. In P. C. Ramirez, C. J. Faltis, & de E. J. Jong (Eds.), Learning from Emergent Bilingual Latinx Learners in K–12 (pp. 139–156). Routledge.
Glesne, C. (2011). Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Introduction (4th ed.). Pearson.
Gutiérrez, R. (2017). Living mathematx: Towards a vision for the future. Philosophy of Mathematics Education Journal, 32(1), 1–34.
Holdway, J., & Hitchcock, C. H. (2018). Exploring ideological becoming in professional development for teachers of multilingual learners: Perspectives on translanguaging in the classroom. Teaching and Teacher Education, 75, 60–70.
Inoue, M. (2003). The listening subject of japanese modernity and his auditory double: Citing, sighting, and siting the modern japanese woman. Cultural Anthropology, 18(2), 156–193.
Inoue, M. (2006). Vicarious Language: Gender and Linguistic Modernity in Japan. University of California Press.
Khan, C. (2019). Cultural awareness through linguicism? Questioning the roles of native English speakers in Bogota, Colombia. Language and Intercultural Communication, 19(2), 123–136.
Krause, G., Adams-Corral, M., & Maldonado Rodríguez, L. A. (2022). Developing awareness around language practices in the elementary bilingual mathematics classroom. Journal of Urban Mathematics Education.
Kroskrity, P. V. (2004). Language ideologies. In A. Duranti (Ed.), A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology (pp. 496–517). Blackwell Publishing.
LeTourneau, C. D., Posamentier, A. S., & Ford, E. R. (2009). Progress in Mathematics—Grade 4. Sadlier-Oxford.
Lopez, A. A., Guzman-Orth, D., & Turkan, S. (2019). Exploring the use of translanguaging to measure the mathematics knowledge of emergent bilingual students. Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts, 5(2), 143–164.
MacLure, M. (2013). The wonder of data. Cultural Studies Critical Methodologies, 13(4), 228–232.
Maldonado Rodríguez, L. A., Krause, G., & Adams-Corral, M. (2020). Flowing with the translanguaging corriente: Juntos engaging with and making sense of mathematics. Teaching for Excellence and Equity in Mathematics, 11(2), 17–25.
Martínez Hinestroza, J. (2018). Language as resource: Language immersion mathematics teachers’ perspectives and practices. In R. Hunter, M. Civil, B. Herbel-Eisenmann, N. Planas, & D. Wagner (Eds.), Mathematical Discourse that Breaks Barriers and Creates Space for Marginalized Learners (pp. 85–100). SENSE Publications.
Martínez Hinestroza, J. (2021). Sitting with the agency paradox to stand for childhood liberation: The case of critical mathematics education. In T. A. Kinard, & G. S. Cannella (Eds.), Childhoods in More Just Worlds: An International Handbook (pp. 168–185). Myers Education Press.
Martínez Hinestroza, J., Silva, J. M., & Maldonado Rodríguez, L. A. (2022). Attending to others’ ideas: A semiotic alternative to logocentrism in bilingual mathematics education. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. Advance online publication.
Mejía Colindres, C. A. (2015). The role of translanguaging in Latino mathematics classrooms [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Texas State University.
Moschkovich, J. N. (2011). Supporting mathematical reasoning and sense making for English learners. In M. Strutchens, & J. R. Quander (Eds.), Focus in high school mathematics: Fostering reasoning and sense making for all students (pp. 17–36). NCTM.
Murillo, L. A., & Smith, P. H. (2011). I will never forget that”: Lasting effects of language discrimination on language-minority children in Colombia and on the US-Mexico border. Childhood Education, 87(3), 147–153.
Ortiz, N. A. (2022). Let our rejoicing rise without bound: A focus on black language and mathematics learning. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Advance online publication.
Otheguy, R., García, O., & Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(3), 281–307.
Peña-Pincheira, R. S., & De Costa, P. I. (2021). Language teacher agency for educational justice–oriented work: An ecological model. TESOL Journal, 12(2), 1–13.
Pérez Rodríguez, A. M. (2017). Eres muy blanca para ser de allá”: Racialización y blanquitud en instituciones de educación superior, Colombia. La Manzana de la Discordia, 12(1), 49–60.
Planas, N. (2014). One speaker, two languages: Learning opportunities in the mathematics classroom. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 87(1), 51–66.
Planas, N., & Chronaki, A. (2021). Multilingual mathematics learning from a dialogic-translanguaging perspective. In N. Planas, C. Morgan, & M. Schütte (Eds.), Classroom Research on Mathematics and Language (pp. 151–166). Routledge.
Powell, A. B., Francisco, J. M., & Maher, C. A. (2003). An analytical model for studying the development of learners’ mathematical ideas and reasoning using videotape data. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 22(4), 405–435.
Rosa, J. (2019). Looking like a Language, Sounding like a Race: Raciolinguistic Ideologies and the Learning of Latinidad. Oxford University Press.
Rosa, J., & Flores, N. (2017). Unsettling race and language: Toward a raciolinguistic perspective. Language in Society, 46(5), 621–647.
Salzmann, Z., Stanlaw, J., & Adachi, N. (2014). Language, Culture, and Society: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology. Westview Press.
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2007). The linguistic challenges of mathematics teaching and learning: A research review. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 23(2), 139–159.
Schwartzman, S. (1994). The Words of Mathematics: An Etymological Dictionary of Mathematical Terms Used in English. Mathematical Association of America.
Speed, S. (2017). Structures of settler capitalism in Abya Yala. American Quarterly, 69(4), 783–790.
St.Pierre, E. A. (2008). Decentering voice in qualitative inquiry. International Review of Qualitative Research, 1(3), 319–336.
Straaijer, R. (2020). Linguistic prescriptivism. In Oxford bibliographies in linguistics. Oxford University Press. Retrieved June 8, 2022, from oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199772810/obo-9780199772810-0208.xml
Tai, K. W., & Wei, L. (2021). Constructing playful talk through translanguaging in English medium instruction mathematics classrooms. Applied Linguistics, 42(4), 607–640.
Valencia Mazzanti, C. (2022). Translanguaging, multilingualism, and multimodality in young children’s mathematics learning. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. Advance online publication.
Valenzuela, A. (1999). Subtractive Schooling: Issues of Caring in Education of US-Mexican Youth. State University of New York Press.
van Lier, L. (2002). An ecological-semiotic perspective on language and linguistics. In C. Kramsch (Ed.), Language Acquisition and Language Socialization: Ecological Perspectives (pp. 140–164). Continuum.
Wei, L. (2011). Moment analysis and translanguaging space: Discursive construction of identities by multilingual chinese youth in Britain. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(5), 1222–1235.
Wei, L. (2020). Multilingual english users’ linguistic innovation. World Englishes, 39(2), 236–248.
Youngblood Jackson, A., & Mazzei, L. (2011). Thinking with Theory in Qualitative Research: Viewing Data Across Multiple Perspectives. Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Martínez Hinestroza, J., Peña-Pincheira, R.S. & Adams Corral, M. Incouple numbers and dedómetros: listening for meaning in bilingual children’s mathematical lexical inventions. ZDM Mathematics Education 55, 1101–1112 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-023-01486-3
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-023-01486-3