Halliday’s
article gives us an exciting reflection of language on the teaching of
mathematics in the ever-growing social context at a global level. I was
intrigued by the concept of ‘Math register,’ which made me stop and think how
realistic it is. Halliday (1978) gave his opinion on mathematics register as
“All languages have the potential of developing mathematical registers; but
since languages differ in their meanings, and in their structure and
vocabulary, they may also differ in their path towards mathematics, and in the
ways in which mathematical concepts can most effectively be taught” (p.204). It
made me think about whether all languages can contribute to the development of
the math register, but no language could complete it. How could a register maintain
and/or incorporate the language of emotions, non-verbal behavior, crucial
understandings of the word- problems, abstract thinking, mathematical way of
communications, apart from linguistic requirements of math register?
He proposed
another idea, “Relationship between mathematics and natural language,” which
fascinated me and made me think of the natural mathematical language of the
young ones. I could relate it to how children tried to communicate with their
elders through mathematical sign language in their early years. For instance,
they started to show their single finger to point out or to ask about any
object near them. It is amazing to note that young children want to convey
their messages through their wide range of real-life experiences around them
(p.201). I would like to give an example here by sharing the abstract checklist
(made by my 5-year-old daughter), which could provide a sense of how patterns
and different arrangements have mathematical language through which young ones
could convey their messages to their parents or their teachers.
I would like to raise this question as, what
do you think, how important it is to focus on non-verbal behavior and patterns,
arrangements, along with linguistic aspects in social context to make the
teaching-learning process effective in mathematics?
Sukh, thank you for bringing forward the idea of young children's ways of communicating mathematically. Non-verbal communication is very important in mathematics teaching and learning, and gesture, diagrams, pointing (with fingers and with words, like "this" and "there") are so much a part of face-to-face learning in mathematics. I wonder how this online learning affects that? And I love seeing your daughter's fantastic checklist! We should talk about that in class tonight too.
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