1. Teaching Strategies: The story element comprehension questions
were created to activate prior knowledge through the student’s literacy
skills. The students were given sentence frames to scaffold academic
language in their responses. Based on their independent responses, I did
follow up word problems as a whole class to model breaking down word
problems by each story element.
Data Collected:
Mathematical Language Development
Kailyn Ono
University of California Davis
INTRODUCTION
Long Term Goal
• To support student’s understanding and use of academic
language to progress their English Language Development and
mathematical thinking through the understanding of
mathematical word problems.
Classroom Context
Purpose of Inquiry
• The California Language Development Standards require
students to closely examine text to determine meaning in the
language. Achieving this goal will help build their
comprehension strategies in other language heavy content
areas besides mathematics and stretch beyond schooling to
becoming global citizens.
70%
ELL
2nd
GRADE
Title 1 elementary school with
70% ENGLISH LANGUAGE
LEARNER populaAon.
2nd Grade classroom with FIVE
focal students ranging in CELDT
levels: KAY, CHRIS, BRYCE, ALI,
AND LANI
ROUND 1
ApplicaAon of Story
Elements QuesAons to
Enhance Comprehension
in Story Problems
ROUND 2
Applying Graphic
Organizers to Scaffold
Student’s Breakdown of
Story Problems
ROUND 3
Explicit Language
InstrucAon for
MathemaAc Content
INQUIRY OVERVIEW
DATA ANALYSIS
Limited
progress
Progressing
toward
Proficient Exceeds long-
term goal
Language
Resources
Students can tell
what the
problem states.
Tell what the
problem states
and use some
key words that
show
reasoning.
Tell what the
problem says,
uses key academic
language,
describes steps.
Tell what the
problem says,
explain and use
meaning behind key
academic language
to describe steps.
Literary Skills With prompAng,
idenAfy key
details in the
text
IdenAfy the
main topic
(what they are
trying to solve)
in the word
problem.
IdenAfy what they
are solving, where
the quesAon is,
and retell ideas in
own words
Meets proficient
expectaAons and
recounts which key
details helped build
their reasoning
Mathema6cal
Thinking
Lible
understanding
of problem and
no reasoning
behind soluAon
Basic
understanding
and chooses a
strategy to
solve problem
correctly.
Understanding of
complex ideas and
provides
reasoning for
strategy used to
jusAfy procedure.
Meets proficient
expectaAons and
student explains
approach with
reasoning of
procedure for
mulAple strategies
METHODS
Story Elements in Math Graphic Organizer Explicit Language Instruction
0
1
2
3
4
Kay Lani Bryce Chris Ali
Ini6al Assessment
Language
Resources
Literacy Skills
MathemaAcal
Thinking
0
1
2
3
4
Kay Lani Bryce Chris Ali
Language
Resources
Literacy Skills
MathemaAcal
Thinking
0
1
2
3
4
Kay Lani Bryce Chris Ali
Round 3 Data
Language
Resources
Literacy Skills
MathemaAcal
Thinking
Data Analysis:
Scores
demonstrate
need for more
scaffolding in
all three
needs.
Findings and Next Steps: The students demonstrated limited
progress toward meeting the long-term goal. For example, a,
How can we find a solution, they struggled with using
mathematical language to explain the strategy and operation
needed. For example, Chris’ answer stated, “We need more
cookie dough.” These results led me to model the breakdown
as a whole class in a heavily scaffolded lesson. The next step
is to allow students to work in pairs on a graphic organizer to
break down story problems with less scaffolding.
Teaching Strategies: The graphic organizers were used to structure
students mathematical thinking and comprehension strategies at a
more independent level from the last round. For additional support,
especially for language, students worked with partners and pair-shared
their answers.
Data Collected:
Data Analysis:
Kay’s graphic organizer
showing proficient
understanding
NEXT STEPS References
Golden, M. (2007) 10 Ways to Imbed ELA Skills into the Math Curriculum,
Language and Literacy Spectrum, v17 p47 - 60.
Orosco, M, J. (2014) A Math Intervention for Third Grade Latino English
Language Learners at Risk for Math Disabilities, Exceptionality,
22 (4), 205 – 225.
Rigelman, N. R. (2007). Fostering Mathematical Thinking and Problem Solving.
Teaching Children Mathematics, 309.
Sistla, M. & Feng, J. (2014) More than numbers: Teaching ELLs Mathematical
Language in Primary Grades, ChineseAmerican Educational
Research & Development Association Annual Conference (1-12).
Zacharos, K., & Koustourakis, G. (2011). A critical approach to school mathematical
knowledge: The case of realisticproblems in Greek primary
school textbooks for seven-year-old pupils. Acta Didactica
Napocensia, 4(1), 39-51.
Zollman, A. (2009). Students Use Graphic Organizers to Improve Mathematical
Problem Solving Communications. MiddleSchool Journal (J1),
41(2), 4-12.
Findings and Next Steps: The graphic organizers helped
improve my focal student’s literacy skills showing that they were
able to identify the problem in the text and highlight it. They also
improved in mathematical thinking by identifying a strategy and
using it to find a solution. Kay was the only one to score proficient
in her language skills due to her accurate use of academic language
in her rationale for her strategy, arrow notation. From these results I
believed that my next steps were to provide students with an explicit
language lesson prior to the next story problem to see if providing
multiple opportunities to utilize the language correctly and an anchor
chart for a resource will improve their independent usage and
understanding.
Findings and Next Steps: The explicit language instruction
helped improve Bryce and Ali’s language abilities on their
graphic organizers. However, when the students were discussing
as a whole group, the students used the correct operation terms
and strategies to explain their thinking. Bryce demonstrated his
language skills the most when using the correct operation terms
when identifying his reason for his strategy. The students
showed the best use of language during their discourse.
Therefore, I think my next steps are to provide students with
more group discussions to practice their explanations.
Teaching Strategies: Prior to the story problem I gave
students a mini lesson on the explicit language strategies and
their functions to discuss accurate reasoning for each strategy. I
continued with the graphic organizer to promote structure in their
mathematical thinking and literacy skills, however I changed the
questions to promote more explanation. I also did a group
interview of my focal students for additional differentiated
language level practice.
Data Collected:
Data Analysis:
Bryce’s work
exceeded my
long-term
goal!
• Continue to provide my students with a graphic organizer to
help scaffold their literacy skills to break down the story
problem and for their mathematical thinking. I think I am
going to change the graphic organizer to four boxes with the
four following questions:
• What does the problem want you to solve?
• What important information is given to you?
• Choose one or two strategies to solve the problem
• Why did you choose that (those) strategies for this
problem?
• To enforce student’s continuous use of academic language
used in the story problem and used to solve the problem, I will
be doing more group and partner discussions so that students
have the opportunity to use the language at each of their
differentiated language levels.
• My student’s were most challenged by the language of the
story problems. In order for me to support this challenge, I
need to continue to introduce students to the important
language of the content and chart the language as a resource.
(Sistla & Feng, 2014)