Function and form in Research on Language and Mathematics Education

Abstract

My goal in this chapter is to examine the intersection of language and mathematics in educational research from a multidisciplinary perspective. My research addresses mathematics and science testing for English language learners in large-scale testing programs (e.g., NAEP) and the testing of linguistically diverse populations in international test comparisons (e.g., PISA and TIMSS). I develop assessment models and strategies that are informed by current knowledge from the language sciences. In addition to my formal training in psychometrics—the discipline that deals with the measurement of behavior and cognition in humans and social systems—my work has given me exposure to sociolinguistics, cognitive science, second language acquisition, translation, and cultural anthropology, among other fields. I have become aware that researchers from different specialties in education vary tremendously on how they think about language and what is necessary and acceptable practice to properly address issues of language in education. While those views are not necessarily incompatible, professionals tend to use only one view to inform their work. In this chapter, I submit the notion that four views of language—as a process, system, structure, and factor—shape how researchers of different orientations investigate language and its relation to mathematics. In order to attain more valid and fair mathematics testing practices for linguistically diverse populations, we need to learn to both use multiple views of language in combination and communicate more effectively across areas of specialty.

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