Marie Therese Farrugia

In Malta it is a common practice to use code-switching or mixing for the teaching and learning of mathematics. While this offers pedagogic benefits, some educators have argued in favour of using English throughout. It is less common for educators to argue that mathematics should be taught wholly in Maltese. In this paper, I take up this latter idea and discuss the creation of a standard Maltese mathematics register, which would be necessary for such a hypothetical context. Using Halliday’s (1978) definition of register, wherein he considers how grammar is used to express interpersonal, textual and ideational elements, I consider the availability of Maltese mathematical terminology that parallels English expression. I conclude that Maltese lends itself well to expressing mathematics, although some new nouns and verbs may need to be established. On the other hand, while the passive voice in English renders a mathematical text more ‘formal’, the restricted use of the passive voice in Maltese implies that this grammatical function may not be a key feature of formality. Finally I note the unavailability of some verbs in Maltese that in English are used when mathematics serves as its own context, and wherein mathematics is rendered an autonomous system devoid of real life contexts or human agency.

A crucial part of mathematics education is the teaching and learning of mathematical language, which includes subject-specific vocabulary. In a study carried out in two Maltese primary classrooms wherein mathematics was taught through the students’ L2 (English), and a teacher-directed ‘whole-class’ approach was used, it was noted that three conditions for vocabulary use – frequency, significance and clarity - appeared to be necessary for teaching new topic-related vocabulary. In this paper, I explain these conditions as they emerged from my empirical data and then conjecture on their relevance to other classrooms wherein both Maltese and English might be used, since code-switching is the most common approach used in Malta for teaching mathematics. I suggest that while frequency of use of words is likely to depend on the teaching methods employed, code-switching might further promote the significance of mathematical words; furthermore, I suggest that using both languages might actually support clarity of the meaning of the topic-related words. Finally, if we wish to make a shift away from traditional whole-class teaching, we will need to equip students with the language necessary to engage differently with mathematics, irrespective of the medium of instruction used.

This paper describes how a Primary school teacher in Malta used Maltese and English to teach her 8-year-old pupils meanings for the money-related English words value, cost and change. Classroom interaction data is presented to illustrate how the teacher drew on the pupils’ previous knowledge of money, using related Maltese vocabulary and then introducing the English translations. My observations support international evidence of the richness of bilingual educational contexts. The translanguaging is discussed in relation to whole-class scaffolding strategies as conceptualised by Anghileri, and by Smit, van Eerde, and Bakker. I conclude that while the observed teacher appeared to be successful in her aims, her teaching style appeared to limit the potential generation of conceptual discourse on the part of the pupils. I highlight the need for research to be carried out on how scaffolding through translanguaging might pan out in learning contexts that aim to increase pupil engagement with mathematical discourse.

This paper introduces learning spaces in two multilingual countries, Switzerland and Malta, with the aim to interpret space in terms of social practices related to teaching and learning. The visual study draws on schoolscape studies and the conceptualization of space in education. The comparative analysis of 913 photographs collected from two schools aims to bring to light the similarities and differences in the respective learning spaces. A comparative approach is taken in order to explore the strange in the familiar context and to prompt reflections about learning spaces. Further, based on the result of the visual study, this article discusses how schoolscape studies may prove to be a potentially useful pedagogical tool in teacher education.