Towards the development of instructional strategies for teaching algebra in multilingual classrooms in South Africa :|ba study of two cases

Abstract

This study explored instructional strategies that teachers in multilingual mathematics classrooms use to support the development of mathematical proficiency in algebra. The need for improvement of mathematics matriculation results in many multilingual schools is a well accepted concern in South Africa. The research method used was two case studies. In one case, the teacher shared a home language with all the learners. In the other case, the teacher did not share a home language with most of the learners. Data collected revealed that the teachers used language strategies as well as other strategies that would be used in any other mathematics classroom. These strategies were: Interactive Instruction; Scaffolding; Multiple Representations; Code-Switching and Language Modes. The data further revealed that the strategies were not used in isolation but in different combinations as needed, to support the learners.