{"id":1877,"date":"2026-06-01T11:36:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T11:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magrid.education\/language-barriers-in-math-learning\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T18:10:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T18:10:55","slug":"language-barriers-in-math-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magrid.education\/es\/language-barriers-in-math-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Language Barriers in Math Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teaching Math without Language<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

One of the most common questions in a job interview \u2013 \u201cTell us about your strengths and weaknesses\u201d. But what if we flip the question to \u2013 \u201cHow did you get these strengths or work on your weaknesses?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you remember if language was involved in learning any of these skills? For example, say that you are a talented artist. How did you learn to draw? Did your teachers help you, or was it videos you saw online?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe, you read some books and taught yourself?<\/span><\/p>\n

As you might have noticed, the common thread among all these methods is language. It could be your mother tongue or the one you are proficient in. Can you imagine how good you would be at drawing if your art class were in a language you were not good at?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Learning in a foreign language<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

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In the era of globalization, you will need to learn another language at some point. You may live in a foreign country with different cultures at some point. After all, we live in a century with mass migration rates (Castles & Miller, 2009). Sound exciting, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine a situation where you are moving to a new country with your family. In what language would you converse with your children? It would be your mother tongue. Yet, when they go to school, the language of instruction is \u2026 you guessed it \u2013 the local language. Will they be great at drawing if she does not master the language of teaching? Maybe she will not be great at drawing because it is not her thing. Of course, this is not limited to a teacher but to every field of interest.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Math Learning In a Second Language<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Let\u2019s go to our favorite subject: Mathematics<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In our previous blogs, we discussed how important math is for everyone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What was it like for you to learn Math? Can you imagine what would happen if you were learning Math in a foreign language? Would it have been the same experience?<\/span><\/p>\n

These kids have to work substantially harder compared to their native speaker classmates. Besides paying attention to learning math concepts, they also have to translate words and explanations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This adds extra effort to math classes and may decrease the success rate in the math activities. Does this mean they are not good at math?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a teacher or parent, you might have seen children getting dejected about not being good at math. More often than not, they could just be struggling with the language, not the math per se.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The problem is not limited to children with migratory backgrounds. The same is applicable for other situations, such as children with:<\/span><\/p>\n