Teaching Practices of Academic Language Support. A Video-based Analysis of Mathematics Lessons in Germany and in Switzerland

Sara Fürstenau^1,

¹University of Münster, Institute of Educational Sciences, Georgskommende, Münster, Germany

Cite this paper:
Sara Fürstenau. Teaching Practices of Academic Language Support. A Video-based Analysis of Mathematics Lessons in Germany and in Switzerland. American Journal of Educational Research. 2016; 4(1):91-103. doi: 10.12691/education-4-1-14

Abstract

Language teaching and learning is important in all school subjects. This is the underlying idea of this paper, which analyses teaching practices in mathematics lessons filmed during ‘The Pythagoras Study’. Qualitative methods are engaged to reconstruct how the teachers draw the pupils’ attention to linguistic features and language use in functional contexts of subject teaching. Specifically, it is investigated how teaching practices open students’ access to a subject-specific genre: a mathematical theorem. The theoretical framework includes the language concept of systemic functional linguistics. Theoretical concepts that are employed to identify promising teaching practices are a model for Introducing and Scaffolding Genres in the Classroom, the concept of Academic Discourse Practices and the concept of Dialogic Teaching. The findings inform us about teaching practices of academic and technical language support. They show how academic discourse practices of language observation as well as a cumulative classroom discourse can support the students’ access to a subject specific genre.

Keywords:
academic language Pythagoras lessons Germany Switzerland

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