TEACHER PREPARATION FOR PRIMARY MATHEMATICS IN A BILINGUAL, RURAL CONTEXT IN SOUTH AFRICA

Nicky Roberts, Jogymol Alex

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

In South Africa, although school language policy expects that the majority of early grade teachers should teach mathematics in an African language, initial teacher education programmes are offered in English. To investigate bilingual sense making of mathematics, students in their first year of a teacher training programme wrote the same mathematics test in two languages: English and isiXhosa, as part of the national assessment. Data from 88 student teachers revealed that their performance was better in the English version of the test. The majority of the students (69%) preferred the English version of the test. The study recommends that universities need to pay far greater attention to the teaching of mathematics in isiXhosa for the early grades.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 44th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, 2021
EditorsMaitree Inprasitha, Narumon Changsri, Nisakorn Boonsena
PublisherPsychology of Mathematics Education (PME)
Pages413-419
Number of pages7
ISBN (Print)9786169383024
Publication statusPublished - 2021
Externally publishedYes
Event44th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, PME 2021 - Virtual, Online
Duration: Jul 19 2021Jul 22 2021

Publication series

NameProceedings of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education
Volume3
ISSN (Print)0771-100X
ISSN (Electronic)2790-3648

Conference

Conference44th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, PME 2021
CityVirtual, Online
Period7/19/217/22/21

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Mathematics (miscellaneous)
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Education

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