Nanke Dokter

254 Stimulating academic language during mathematics instruction specific features at the lexical, morpho-syntactic, textual, socio-pragmatic and meta- linguistic level. Not only are subjects taught by using AL, the students’ understanding and knowledge of the subject is also assessed in AL. In addition, knowledge about AL itself is part of the content of schooling. AL is used in all school subjects, including mathematics. In the last decades, language and text comprehension have become important components of mathe- matics instruction. Firstly, language is not only the primary medium of mathematics instruction, but it is also the foundation of mathematical reasoning. Moreover, mathe- matical problems are placed in a contextual framework by using language. To solve a math problem, students need to decontextualize it, using higher order thinking skills like reasoning. When reasoning, a specific mathematical discourse (sometimes referred to as mathematical conversation) is used. Therefore, interactive instruction methods have become increasingly important in mathematics. As a consequence, teachers have to find effective ways to organize discourse in the mathematics lesson, in which students are stimulated to engage in cognitively complex processes. Teachers need to orchestrate whole-class discussions in which students’ thinking becomes visible and as a consequence can be guided by the teacher and used by other students to advance the mathematical learning of the whole class. Students need to learn specific language features of mathematics before they can really participate in such discourse. This language is part of the AL register and it differs substantially from the language most students learn at home. According to Dutch national standards for mathematics, students should start learning to speak in formal, mathematical language in the first and second grade of elementary school (i.e., age 6-8). To stimulate students’ AL development teachers should use AL themselves and show AL stimulating strategies. There are six strategies aimed at students’ AL under- standing (‘modeling with think-alouds’, ‘giving meaning’, ‘recasting own language’, ‘repeating own correct language’, ‘reformulating own language’, ‘visualizing’) and six strategies aimed at students’ AL production (‘asking to be more precise’, ‘giving directions’, ‘provocative statement’, ‘recasting language of the student’, ‘repeating language of the student’, ‘reformulating language of the student’). What is equally important, is that teachers connect the home language with the academic language. Strategies that change home language into language with more AL features are called power up , strategies where AL is unpacked back into home language are called power down. The goal of the first part of this research was to gain an insight in the AL stimulating behavior of teachers in grade 1 and 2 during mathematics instruction. The main research question was: To what extent do first and second grade elementary school teachers show academic language stimulating behavior (AL input and AL stimulating strategies) in whole-class mathematics instruction, and to what extent can differences in their AL stimulating behavior be explained by teacher characteristics, background characteristics and context? Video-observations of two mathematics lessons of 27 primary school teachers in grade 1 and 2 were conducted. Their AL knowledge, attitude and skills were inves- tigated using questionnaires and a writing test. Their AL input and AL stimulating strategies were analyzed using a validated coding scheme. Knowledge, attitudes and