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Math Ed Res J (2014) 26:169192
DOI 10.1007/s13394-013-0085-4
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Cris Edmonds-Wathen
Received: 5 September 2012 /Revised: 23 January 2013 /Accepted: 11 November 2013 / Published online: 27 November 2013# Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Inc. 2013
Abstract The Aboriginal English spoken by Indigenous children in remote communities in the Northern Territory of Australia is influenced by the home languages spoken by themselves and their families. This affects uses of spatial terms used in mathematics such as in front and behind. Speakers of the endangered Indigenous Australian language Iwaidja use the intrinsic frame of reference in contexts where speakers of Standard Australian English use the relative frame of reference. Children speaking Aboriginal English show patterns of use that parallel the Iwaidja contexts. This paper presents detailed examples of spatial descriptions in Iwaidja and Aboriginal English that demonstrate the parallel patterns of use. The data comes from a study that investigated how an understanding of spatial frame of reference in Iwaidja could assist teaching mathematics to Indigenous language-speaking students. Implications for teaching mathematics are explored for teachers without previous experience in a remote Indigenous community.
Keywords Indigenous Australian language . Remote . Language and cognition . Spatial frames of reference . Aboriginal English
Introduction
Language is a crucial factor in the learning of mathematics. Assessed in Standard Australian English, Indigenous students whose home languages are Australian languages1 have lower numeracy achievement than those who speak Standard Australian English (Frigo et al. 2004). Linguistic factors in learning mathematics include differences in semantic structure between the languages of home and school as well as fluency issues (Berry 1985; Watson 1988).
1A language which has its origin in Australia, from an Australian language family, spoken by the Indigenous peoples of Australia. In education in Australia, these are often called Indigenous languages.
C. Edmonds-Wathen (*)
School of Education, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia e-mail: [email protected]
Influences of indigenous language on spatial frames of reference in Aboriginal English
170 C. Edmonds-Wathen
There is a remarkable diversity in the ways that different languages talk about space that may be unexpected for those who see spatial language as reflecting a perceptual apprehension of the world (Levinson 2003). Such diversity has implications for mathematics teaching and learning in multilingual environments, especially where the...