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Doing and Talking Mathematics: Engaging ELLs in the Academic Discourse of the Mathematical Practices

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Teaching the Content Areas to English Language Learners in Secondary Schools

Part of the book series: English Language Education ((ELED,volume 17))

Abstract

It is critical that educators promote full inclusion of English language learners (ELLs) in STEM courses. This chapter presents a process and resources for enacting a discourse-centered pedagogy that builds mathematical understanding while simultaneously engaging and supporting students to develop the language of complex thinking. Using a small set of Teacher Discourse Moves and Student Discourse Moves, teachers focus on deepening students’ mathematical reasoning in ways fully inclusive of ELLs, while also helping all students build the language of complex thinking and mathematical argumentation.

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Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful for the support of the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1346491. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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Correspondence to Rita MacDonald .

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MacDonald, R., Lord, S., Miller, E. (2019). Doing and Talking Mathematics: Engaging ELLs in the Academic Discourse of the Mathematical Practices. In: de Oliveira, L.C., Obenchain, K.M., Kenney, R.H., Oliveira, A.W. (eds) Teaching the Content Areas to English Language Learners in Secondary Schools. English Language Education, vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02245-7_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02245-7_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-02244-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-02245-7

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