There is a disconnect between what most curricular documents suggest about connecting classroom pedagogy with learners’ language and everyday context, and what the language of mathematics textbooks and the language of mathematics classroom practices present. Attempting to bridge this gap is often a design challenge for classroom teaching practices that face multiple languages during mathematics learning processes. In this paper I discuss results from a teaching design experiment for fostering meaning, using language support, in a middle grades mathematics classroom. I analyse the complexities and challenges that arise, as a way forward for purposefully relating with teaching practice. Following the design principles of connecting students’ language varieties and engaging them in rich discourse practices during lessons, in this paper I show that enabling shifts in classroom norms by moving from oral to written mathematics, and moving from private to public and shared expressions, fostered meaning making and empowered students’ mathematical communication. Data are drawn from an empirical study conducted in a low-income community engaged in micro-enterprises dispersed among households in India. Children in the community have access to the work-contexts and hence to the mathematical knowledge and language repertoires embedded in them.

在大多数课程文献中提出的关于将课堂教学法与学习者的语言和日常情境联系起来的建议与数学教科书的语言以及数学课堂实践的语言之间存在脱节。对于在数学学习过程中面对多种语言的课堂教学实践来说，试图弥合这种差距通常是一项设计挑战。在本文中，我将讨论一个教学设计实验的结果，该实验旨在通过语言支持在中等年级的数学课堂中培养意义。我分析了所产生的复杂性和挑战，以此作为与教学实践有目的联系的前进之路。遵循将学生的语言多样性联系起来并在课程中让他们参与丰富的语篇练习的设计原则，在本文中，我表明，通过从口头数学过渡到书面数学，从私有数学转换为公共表达和共享表达，可以促进课堂规范的转变，促进了意义的形成并增强了学生的数学交流能力。数据来自在低收入社区中进行的一项实证研究，该社区从事散布在印度家庭中的微型企业。社区中的孩子可以使用工作上下文，因此可以访问其中包含的数学知识和语言资源。数据来自在低收入社区中进行的一项实证研究，该社区从事散布在印度家庭中的微型企业。社区中的孩子可以使用工作上下文，因此可以访问其中包含的数学知识和语言资源。数据来自在低收入社区中进行的一项实证研究，该社区从事散布在印度家庭中的微型企业。社区中的孩子可以使用工作上下文，因此可以访问其中包含的数学知识和语言资源。