Culture Counts: Culture, Language & Mathematics in the U.S.

• This study explores the interaction between culture, language, and mathematics through the experiences of multicultural individuals in the United States as they learn math in English as a second language. I focus on the power relations implicit in not only the standard English of the classroom, but also the standard forms of mathematics that students must learn to succeed, and the effects that this power has on student comprehension and on students as subjects. • As subjects, the students were forced to assimilate in the different linguistic and cultural contexts of the classroom. They described their math experiences in terms of struggles that extended into conflicts their own identities as they confronted their differences and conformed to the dominant form of mathematics that they learned at school in standard English. It is critical that the effects of the standardization of math in the classroom are acknowledged when educating students so that students like those in this study do not continue to be devalued and to struggle without knowing why. Language & Mathematics • Some languages make mathematics more intuitive than others. • For example, to say 20 in English may require more linguistic knowledge than 20 in Chinese, since 20 in Chinese literally translates to “two tens”. • Addition and multiplication are built into Chinese numbers, while doing math in English requires language skills. • Hence, it is easier for Chinese children to learn numbers and basic arithmetic (Devlin, 2001)