ENHANCING ACCESS TO MATHEMATICS: ELEMENTARY TEACHERS INTERVIEWING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

The student populations in the U.S. schools continue to become more diverse, with the ELL population representing the fastest growing group. According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: “Expanded learning opportunities and instructional accommodations should be available to English language learners (ELLs) who need them to develop mathematical understanding and proficiency.” This presentation will describe how elementary mathematics teachers use the Clinical Interview method to respond to this call in working with English language learners (ELL) students. Drawing on both developmental psychology and mathematics education, we will report on a study of prospective and beginning teachers learning to conduct such an interview within the context of teacher education methods and research courses in New York City urban context. Descriptions of how teachers develop and/or modify interview protocols to support their teaching of mathematics to children whose first language is not English will be analyzed. A metanalysis of various interviews will be used to emphasize findings on how this experience affects beginning teachers’ questioning and lesson planning skills, and helps them understand and develop strategies to teach ELLs mathematics. We will zoom in on two case studies of teachers who developed these methods further to enhance ELL’s visualization and reflection skills while solving mathematical problems. Recommendations for mathematics teacher preparation programs will be presented.