Te Reo Pāngarau: Communicating mathematically in Māori-medium classrooms

Abstract

Oral and written communication about mathematical ideas are not always recognised as an important part of mathematics education. This thesis argues that mathematical communication is an essential process for learning mathematics because through communication, students reflect upon, clarify and expand their ideas and understanding of concepts. However, in order to communicate mathematically in the various categories of mathematical communication, students require knowledge of the mathematics language, that is, the register. This raises a pedagogical issue in Māori-medium education, where many students are second language (L2) learners of te reo Māori. Critically, teachers need to be confident in their ability to model the specialised language of the pāngarau register in order to support student learning. If teachers have not had minimal learning in the pāngarau register, either in their own education or in their teacher training, encouraging student communication in Māori-medium pāngarau classrooms can be challenging. The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of a small-scale intervention with a group of students that provides opportunities for the simultaneous acquisition of numeracy content/concepts and the pāngarau register. The intervention is based on a learning model that draws upon task-based learning, the numeracy teaching model of the Numeracy Development Projects/Te Poutama Tau, the teaching as inquiry cycle and Kaupapa Māori research methodologies. The intervention and associated study was conducted in a Level 1 Māori-medium primary school pāngarau programme over a period of 15 weeks. The study focuses on data collected for four of the students who participated in the intervention. The findings of the study indicate that materials and diagrams, used as mathematical representations, can aid students’ communication of mathematical concepts in their L2. A range of materials and language models were provided by the facilitator in this study and students were given opportunities to reflect their own language selection. Capturing students’ language use and providing these recordings in a format that can be used for reflection and subsequent adaptation also provides opportunities for students to deepen their understanding of their own language choices.