The widespread use of English has led, in some countries, to content areas such as mathematics being taught in English, when English is not the mother tongue of either the teachers or the students. The main focus of this study was on education practices in Malaysia where teachers had to teach mathematics in English to students who are still learning the language. The teachers being second language users themselves have to acquire sufficient English language skills in order to teach effectively. The fact that mathematics has its own language, known as mathematics register, complicates the situation as mastery of mathematics register is essential for mathematics learning to take place. Mathematics teachers need to be able to use mathematics register as well as promote its usage among students. This is especially crucial in a second language situation where students rely heavily on the teachers for language input and modelling in a second language. In order to examine the language mathematics teachers used, classroom observations were conducted in two primary schools in Malaysia. These observations were followed by stimulated recall sessions with the teachers. The findings showed procedural discourse tended to dominate the lessons because of teacher-centred classroom activities and that the first language, Bahasa Malaysia, was used mostly in conceptual discourse to ensure students’ understanding. In addition, it was found that teachers realised the obligation to provide language input to the students, hence, English was used for most of the lessons. However, the occurrence of language errors indicated that teachers still need more training in order to be able to teach in English. The findings of this research suggested that teaching of mathematics can be done in a second language provided teachers are equipped with appropriate language-related strategies.
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Teaching Mathematics in a Second Language in Malaysian Primary Schools
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