ABSTRACT
The research findings in Part 2 presents clear evidence that teachers play a significant role in the creation of learning environments that influence the experiences and engagement of English language learners (ELLs) in mathematics. What can teachers do to help facilitate their ELLs transition to their new environment and help them build the language skills needed to communicate basic needs and begin the process of learning mathematics? In addition to teaching mathematics, teachers will have to teach these students to function in the learning environment created within the classroom. When making choices about instructional approaches and activities, emphasis should be placed on methods tailored to meet students' needs, including direct instruction, guided discovery, cooperative learning, and technology-assisted learning (August & Pease-Alvarez, 1996). Which methods are selected depends on lesson goals and objectives, learner characteristics, English language proficiency, and available resources. Teachers modify instruction to support student learning no matter what type of instruction is provided. However, teaching mathematics to ELLs is not just “good teaching” (de Jong & Harper, 2005). It is “good” and “strategic” teaching that acknowledges and takes into account the specific needs of the ELL by incorporating strategies that directly address his or her needs. For example, orchestrating classroom discourse in classes with ELLs requires more than knowledge of mathematics and the language of mathematics; it demands the creation of learning environments that support and promote language development as well as mathematical development. That is, teachers must attend not only to ELLs' cognitive development, but also to the linguistic demands of mathematics language presented in oral and written discourse. All students need to know that their participation is not only required, but encouraged, and that teachers and peers are expected to work together to make sense of mathematics and support each other in their learning endeavors.
