Math is considered a universal language — its equations and formulas translate the same all around the world.
But the language used to teach math can play an important role in how bilingual students learn the subject in school.
José Martínez Hinestroza, assistant professor of elementary mathematics at Texas State University, is investigating how bilingual students interact with and learn math.
Martínez Hinestroza received a five-year $860,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for his research in collaboration with the San Marcos Consolidated Independent School district.
The study aims to influence how teachers and researchers assess bilingual children’s use of their language in math participation.
“I’m trying to understand the language, not from the perspective of something predetermined that children need to move forward, but the other way around,” he said. “What is it that the children are saying already? And what math can we as adults, teachers, and researchers extract and understand from that?”
Martínez Hinestroza said bilingual children often create new ways to learn mathematical concepts that differ in a monolingual context.
He cited an example where bilingual third-grade students used the made up word of “dedometro” — which would translate into “finger meter”— as a unit of measure.
“I see all of the brilliance of these children and how they’re using their languages in ways that are creative and that are different and that original,” he said. “At the same time, [they] are very mathematically meaningful.”
The research will begin Fall 2023.
It will involve around 250 elementary school students from second through fourth grade, and six of their teachers.
