Observations on naming and labelling practices in angle work with teachers: how might small language choices support mathematical activity?

Conference item

There is a growing interest in how word choice in mathematics classroom interactions can influence the meanings and perspectives that students develop. In this paper we contribute to this by offering examples to highlight the variation in how mathematical objects and relationships can be described and the implications these differences may have on the learning of some students. These examples are drawn from a discussion between a group of researchers and teachers working together on a geometric task as part of a project where they are collaborating to develop resources to support language-responsive teaching. We focus in particular on the naming and labelling of angles and the relationships between angles, and the different roles these names and labels may have for the fluency, precision and meaning in mathematical communication.

Authors: Ingram, J; Ward-Penny, R; Kimber, E; Planas, N

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: HAL CCSD
• Host title: Proceedings of the Sixteenth ERME Topic Conference on Language and Social Interaction in Heterogeneous Mathematics Classrooms
• Pages: 52-59
• Publication date: 2024-12-12
• Acceptance date: 2024-11-07
• Event title: ETC 16 Language and social interaction in heterogeneous mathematics classrooms
• Event location: Halle (Saale), Germany
• Event website: https://didaktik.mathematik.uni-halle.de/etc16/
• Event start date: 2024-08-20
• Event end date: 2024-08-22
• ISBN: 978-1-7384754-1-4
• Language: English
• Keywords: noticing; naming and labelling; fluency and precision