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Improving Primary Mathematics Education, Teaching and Learning pp 115–128Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Language in Early Number Learning in South Africa: Linking Transparency and Explicitness

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Abstract

The focus of this chapter is on how language is used in primary mathematics teaching to support children in learning the decimal structure in their home language. An excerpt from a Sepedi-medium classroom is used to understand how the teacher uses language to support early number learning. The notions of language, as having different degrees of explicitness, and being a transparent resource, form the theoretical framing. This framing is applied to an excerpt of early number classroom interaction, and from the analysis, I argue for the explicit use of language as a transparent resource to support children to better understand the base ten number system in early mathematics learning.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Manono Poo

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  1. Manono Poo
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Education Department, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa

    Mellony Graven

  2. School of Education, Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Hamsa Venkat

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Poo, M. (2017). Language in Early Number Learning in South Africa: Linking Transparency and Explicitness. In: Graven, M., Venkat, H. (eds) Improving Primary Mathematics Education, Teaching and Learning. Palgrave Studies in Excellence and Equity in Global Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52980-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52980-0_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-52979-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-52980-0

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

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