Teaching 1.5 generation students

Often, when the topic of diversity in today’s classrooms comes up, the discussion centres on language abilities—mostly because the students come from such varied backgrounds.

So it’s a natural assumption that, with such linguistic and cultural diversity, the biggest challenge is to overcome the language barriers that may arise.

But what about the other subjects?  Take math, for example. How can lessons be designed to facilitate mathematics learning for all students in today’s diverse Canadian classrooms?

That’s what Miwa Takeuchi wants to find out, and she’s just been awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant to study this issue.

“In mathematics classrooms,” Takeuchi explains, “group work has been used to promote a wide range of mathematics learning, which involves explaining and justifying how to solve problems, along with writing and talking mathematically.”

The adjunct assistant professor and postdoctoral scholar in the Werklund School of Education says while this focusing on group work has been successful, little is known about students’ perspectives on the challenges and benefits of group work for mathematics learning in linguistically and racially diverse schools.

“In the classroom, relational dynamics deriving from students’ social identities—that is—their linguistic, racial, and immigration backgrounds--can affect, and sometimes hinder students’ collaborative learning.”

Takeuchi will focus her research at the middle school level, where the linguistic demands and complexity of academic language significantly increase. She’s particularly interested in examining the experiences of what she calls “1.5 generation students”, those who immigrated to Canada after the age of nine and whose first language differs from the instructional language at school. She says this group’s unique academic and linguistic challenges have started to be addressed but believes there is still more to explore.

Takeuchi hopes that this work will aid in preventing a widening mathematics achievement gap in high school years by way of proposing a pedagogical intervention to develop both language and mathematics.

It’s her hope that her findings will help to develop a better sense of group work that can assist all students in learning in the diverse classrooms of today.

“Providing equal and high quality opportunities to learn mathematics for all students is key for a more equal Canadian society,” she says.  “I hope to use the results gained from this study to propose mathematics pedagogy, which will enrich mathematics and language learning opportunities.”