9725928 Moschkovich This project will examine the nature and development of mathematical discourse in bilingual settings. The premise of this research is that the design of teaching environments for this population of students would be facilitated by developing a deeper understanding of classroom mathematical discourse in general, descriptions of how learning mathematics in two languages involves acquiring more than a technical vocabulary, and a consideration of the resources bilingual students bring to the mathematics classroom. The main research questions to be examined are 1) how bilingual students negotiate the meaning of mathematical descriptions, explanations, and arguments and what resources they use in constructing these; and 2) whether and how students' mathematical discourse and conceptions change as a results of participation in conversations with their peers or a teacher. Observational, videotape, and interview data will be collected in secondary classrooms reflecting "best instructional practices" related to success with bilingual Latino students. The project will focus on two types of data: classroom conversations (among students or between teachers and students) and non-classroom discussion among students arranged to occur after school. Based on the results of this research, the project will provide 1) a descriptive and theoretical account of classroom mathematical discourse in bilingual settings, 2) a collection of illustrative resources that can support bilingual students' learning, 3) a set of principled teaching strategies for supporting the refinement of students' mathematical discourse, and 4) a pilot set of video cases of mathematical discourse in bilingual settings for use in preservice and inservice teacher education.
