Luận văn thạc sĩ a study on the teaching of mathematics in english at an 8th grade class at doan thi diem private secondary school m a thesis linguistics 60 14 01

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

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TRẦN THỊ THÙY

A STUDY ON THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS
IN ENGLISH AT AN 8TH GRADE CLASS AT
DOAN THI DIEM PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOL
NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC DẠY TOÁN BẰNG TIẾNG ANH TRONG MỘT
LỚP 8 TẠI TRƢỜNG TRUNG HỌC CƠ SỞ DÂN LẬP ĐOÀN THỊ ĐIỂM

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60 140 111
Supervisor: Dr. Mai Thị Loan

HANOI – 2015

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NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

TRẦN THỊ THÙY

A STUDY ON THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS
IN ENGLISH AT AN 8TH GRADE CLASS AT
DOAN THI DIEM PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOL
NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC DẠY TOÁN BẰNG TIẾNG ANH TRONG MỘT
LỚP 8 TẠI TRƢỜNG TRUNG HỌC CƠ SỞ DÂN LẬP ĐOÀN THỊ ĐIỂM

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60 140 111
Supervisor: Dr. Mai Thị Loan

HANOI – 2015

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DECLARATION

I certify my authorship of the thesis:
A study on the teaching of Math in English at an 8th grade class
at Doan Thi Diem private secondary school
is the result of my own for the Degree of Master of Arts at College of Foreign
Languages, Hanoi National University, and this thesis has not been submitted for
any degree at any other university or institution.
Hanoi, 2015
Signature

Trần Thị Thùy

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
From the bottom of my heart, I thank all people who have supported and
encouraged me through the process I completed this thesis.
First of all, I would like to send my most sincere and deepest gratitude to my
supervisor, Dr Mai Thi Loan for her wholehearted instructions, precious
suggestions and knowledgeable advice to my study. Without her enthusiasm, this
work would never have been accomplished.
Next, I sincerely would like to acknowledge other teachers at the Department
of Post-Graduate Studies for providing me numerous interesting, valuable lectures
and guidance.
I have profound regards for Mr David Devine, an excellent Math teacher and
for all 8M students, at Doan Thi Diem private secondary school who spent their
precious time answering my survey questions. Owing to their cooperation, my
thesis has been successfully completed.
Last but not least, I owe my life to my family and close friends for their
incessant encouragements which have raised me up a lot to finish my thesis.

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ABSTRACT

Math, Science and Literature have been taught to ELLs in parts of the word.
This research studies on the subject of Math because it is universal to people more
than any others; its aims are to examine whether teaching Math in English is
beneficial or not, the teaching methods used by the Math teacher, the challenges of
teaching Math in English in 8M at DTD School and to find out the
recommendations to improve the situation of teaching Math in English in the future.
To fulfill these targets, three instruments employed to collect data were the
classroom observations, the questionnaire for the students and the interview for the
Math teacher.
The study was carried out and involved an American teacher of Math and 16
Vietnamese students in grade 8 at DTD School. Statistical analysis revealed that
most of the students initially struggled with mathematical vocabulary, cultural
differences in teachers’ teaching methods and students’ learning styles and
especially, their English limited proficiency. Gradually, they had improvement in
their English competence and mathematical knowledge thanks to the Math teacher’s
relatively well-planned lessons. Several strategies which are recommended to deal
with the found challenges include differentiating specific instructions, teaching
mathematical

vocabulary

properly,

applying

technology,

enhancing

communications among students, parents, teacher and school and holding more

Math competitions to encourage students to study Math in English.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Candidate’s statement.................................................................................................... i
Acknowledgements........................................................................................................ ii
Abstract.......................................................................................................................... iii
Table of contents........................................................................................................... iv
List of abbreviations......................................................................................................vii
List of tables and figures............................................................................................. viii
Table of Contents
PART A: INTRODUCTON ...................................................................................... i
1. Rationale .................................................................................................................. 1
2. Aims and objectives of the study ............................................................................ 1
3. Research questions................................................................................................... 2
4. Scope of the study .................................................................................................... 2
5. Method of the study ................................................................................................. 2
6. Significance of the study ......................................................................................... 3
7. Design of the study .................................................................................................. 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT..................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ................................................ 4
1.1. Teaching Math in English to ELLs ...................................................................... 4
1.1.1. Definition of ELLs .......................................................................................... 4
1.1.2. Why to teach ................................................................................................... 4

1.1.3. What to teach .................................................................................................. 5
1.2. Teaching Math in English – a CLIL approach .................................................... 6
1.3. Implementations of teaching Math in English ..................................................... 7
1.3.1. History of teaching Math in English in Asia ................................................. 7
1.3.2. Situation of teaching Math in English in Vietnam ........................................ 8
1.3.3. Benefits of teaching Math in English recognized by scholars ...................... 9
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1.3.4. Factors affecting Ells’ success in studying Math .......................................... 9
1.3.5. Challenges for Math teachers and learners ................................................ 10
1.3.6. Strategies for Math teachers and learners .................................................. 11
1.4. Review of previous studies related to teaching Math in English ...................... 13
1.5. Summary ............................................................................................................. 14
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 15
2.1. Setting ................................................................................................................. 15
2.1.1. The current situation of teaching and learning at DTD School ................. 15
2.1.2. Material description ..................................................................................... 15
2.2. Research design .................................................................................................. 16
2.2.1. Participants .................................................................................................. 16
2.2.2. Data collection instruments ......................................................................... 17
2.2.3. Data collection and analysis procedure ...................................................... 18
2.3. Summary ............................................................................................................. 19
3.1. Data analysis ....................................................................................................... 20

3.1.1. Classroom observations ............................................................................... 20
3.1.2. Questionnaire for the students ..................................................................... 26
3.1.3. Interview for the Math teacher .................................................................... 30
3.2. Findings ............................................................................................................... 35
3.2.1. Research question 1 ..................................................................................... 35
3.2.2. Research question 2 ..................................................................................... 35
3.2.3. Research question 3 ..................................................................................... 36
3.2.4. Research question 4 ..................................................................................... 37
3.3. Summary ............................................................................................................. 43
PART C: CONCLUSION....................................................................................... 44

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1. Recapitulation ........................................................................................................ 44
2.Limitations of the study .......................................................................................... 45
3.Recommendations for further studies .................................................................... 45
REFERENCES............................................................................................................46
APPENDICES ..............................................................................................................I

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

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ACP: American Credit Program
AAS: Association of the Advancement of Science
CLIC: Content and Language Integrated Learning
DTD School: Doan Thi Diem private secondary school
ELLs: English Language Learners
NCTM: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Math: Mathematics
OECD: the Organizations for Economic Co-operation and Development
PISA: Programme for International Student Assessment
SCS: Solomon Christian School
TESOL: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

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LIST OF TABLES &FIGURES
Page

Table 1: Jarrett’s and Kersaint’s strategies in teaching Math in English to ELLs…11
Table 2: Learning environment in the classroom………………………………….20
Table 3: Teacher’s instructional strategies in the classroom……………………....21
Table 4: Students’ learning strategies in the classroom……………………………23
Table 5: Teacher’s teaching strategies in the classroom………....……..…………26
Table 6: Students’ challenges of studying Math in English……………………….27
Table 7: Students’ suggestions to make the program better………...……………..29
Table 8: Types and frequency of work for students…………………...……….….31
Chart 1: Teacher monitoring in the classroom…………………………………….22
Chart 2: Teacher’s instructional tools in the classroom……………………………24
Chart 3: Teacher’s assessment in the classroom…………….……………...……..25
Chart 4: Students’ benefits of studying Math in English…………………………..28

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PART A: INTRODUCTON
The part is to introduce the rationale for the study, the aim and objectives of the study
as well as the research questions for this study to search for the answers. Furthermore, this
part presents the scope, the method, the significance and the design of the study.
1. Rationale
After nearly two years of academically teaching at DTD School, the researcher realizes
and highly appreciates the positive effects of teaching Math in English in M classes in
which students are bilingual and learn four American subjects. To be more specific, M

classes are connected to the program ACP at SCS in Edmonds, Washington, United States.
Besides Vietnamese curriculum, the students in this program have to study four
compulsory American subjects, namely English, Literature, Science and Math. The results
are counted according to the grading system in the United States and are accepted by SCS
if the students wish to continue this program there. In this program, the learners have
experienced interesting and informative lessons which are totally taught by American
teachers. These native teachers have been certificated by TESOL before they come to teach
Vietnamese students. In particular, among four subjects, Math is commonly preferred by
the Vietnamese learners because it is an international language (Dale & Cuevas, 1992) and
they can compare and follow like studying Math in their home language. Studying Math in
English brings the students skills of problem-solving, reasoning and communicating, which
strongly supports learning English language (Jarrett, 1999). As a result, this potential
situation motivates the research to conduct a paper on how to assist the educators to reach
the recognition and application of teaching Math in English in Vietnamese educational
environments.
2. Aims and objectives of the study
For the aim of promoting the teaching of Math in English, the researcher desired to
undertake a research with the following objectives:

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(1) to discover the teaching strategies used by the teacher in Math lessons,
(2) to examine the benefits of teaching and learning Math in English,
(3) to investigate the challenges of teaching and learning Math in English,

(4) to suggest recommendations to help the teachers and learners in this program.
3. Research questions
With a view to accomplishing the objectives of the study, these three research questions
were raised:
(1) What are the teaching strategies often applied by the teacher in the Math classes?
(2) What are the benefits for the teacher and learners in teaching and learning Math in
English?
(3) What are the challenges for the teacher and learners in teaching and learning Math in
English?
(4) What are the recommendations to a more effective application of teaching and learning
Math in English at DTD School?
4. Scope of the study
It can be widely recognized that a variety of subjects have been taught in English to
ELLs such as Science or Literature in order to improve their English abilities; however, the
researcher only focused her study on one subject and its effectiveness – i.e. teaching and
learning Math in English. In addition, only a limited number of students, not all of the
students at DTD School in Hanoi, were chosen as the subjects of the study.
5. Method of the study
The study was carried out following these steps:
First, the classroom observation was made by the researcher to discover the learning
environment, teacher’s instructional strategies, teacher monitoring, students’ learning
strategies, teacher’s instructional tools and the ways of assessment.
Next, the questionnaire was delivered to the 16 Vietnamese students to investigate their
thoughts about teacher’s teaching activities, students’ benefits and challenges in this

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program as well as their recommendations to promote the teaching and learning Math in
English more effectively.
Third, a personal interview with the Math teacher was conducted so as to indicate the
teacher’s teaching strategies, the advantages and difficulties of teaching Math in English to
ELLs and several of his suggestions to enhance this program.
After that, the data was collected and analyzed to reveal the major findings and give
answers to the research questions in detail.
6. Significance of the study
After this study, the participants were expected to be more aware of the relatively new
education approach of teaching Math to bilingual students. In the light of teaching
methodology, the results of this study can be set as the framework for English teachers and
Vietnamese educators at DTD school in particular and other schools across the country in
general to design suitable, effective lessons and activities that encourage students to
practice English in a communicative and academic approach.
7. Design of the study
The main body of this thesis consists of three main parts:
Part I – INTRODUCTION states the rationale, aims and objectives of the study, the
research questions, method, significance and design of the study.
Part II – DEVELOPMENT consists of three chapters:
Chapter 1: Theoretical background provides the literature review of teaching and
implementation of teaching Math in English to ELLs and review of previous related studies
Chapter 2: Methodology describes the setting and the research design including the
participants of the study, the data collection instruments, data collection and analysis
procedure.
Chapter 3: Data Analysis and Findings releases the findings of the study after analyzing
the collected data in categories and summarizes the answers to the three research questions.
Part C – CONCLUSION abridges the results of the entire research and discusses the

limitations of the study along with suggestions for further research.
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PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This chapter reveals an overview of related literature and researches that deal with
teaching Math in English to ELLs.
1.1. Teaching Math in English to ELLs
1.1.1. Definition of ELLs
This term was initially originated in the United States when there was a huge flow of
immigrants and refugees coming there. These newcomers changed America into the most
multicultural and multilingual nation in the world. Hence, ELLs were known as a new and
homogenous population who were limited or empty-minded in English when they entered
America (as cited from NCTM, 2008, p.1). However, this concept has been generalized
over the time since English became the international language, and almost every country in
the world teaches English to their citizens to be adaptive to the globalization. The current
circumstance is that people who want to study English do not need to immigrate or move to
Britain or America to communicate with native speakers. The reason for this is the much
appearance of the English or American natives in foreign countries. Besides, as cited in
Santa Cruz (2009), Fitzsimmons (2007) wrote that ELLs were second language learners
who were still developing their proficiency in academic English and simultaneously
studying content areas through English.
To sum up, ELLs can be generally portrayed as ―active learners of the English language

who may benefit from various types of language support programs‖ (NCTM, 2008, p.2).
1.1.2. Why to teach
Written in a publication of Cardiff School of Mathematics in 2006, Math is a universal
part of human culture. It is also the language of almost every field of people’s life such as
commerce, engineering, physics, computing, and biology.

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With regard to its importance, Math is one of the greatest cultural and intellectual
achievements of human-kind; hence, people should develop an appreciation and
understanding of that achievement (NCTM, 2000, p.4).
Obviously, Math can assist the people to recognize patterns and to understand the
world around. Furthermore, learning Math can force the people to learn how to think
logically and to solve problems using that skill. It also teaches them to be precise in
thoughts, words and life skills, especially when they are living in an extremely complex
society (Wiśniowski, 2014, p.19).
For all of these reasons, over the last few years, the issues connected with learning and
teaching Math have become matters of high importance for everyone involved in
education, training and publishing.
1.1.3. What to teach
Math education in the United States varies considerably within its 51 states. More
noticeably, America differs from most other countries in which Math is generally separated
by topic at high-school level (Wikipedia, 2014).
Generally, the students in this country start studying Math at about five or six years of

age, continuing through secondary school and into higher education.
According to the information updated from the websites of Wikipedia (2014) and
NCTM (2014), the standards and focal points of mathematical content taught in American
can be generalized as follows. During the grades of elementary school, students are taught
basic arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Later on, these concepts
are interpreted more specifically at middle schools, where students will learn basic algebra
and concepts of variables, integers and polynomials. At high schools, the general Math
curriculum contains algebra 1, algebra 2 and geometry in grades 9 and 10. At this level,
algebra 3, otherwise known as trigonometry can be taught for 11th graders. Additionally,
either pre-calculus or calculus can be completed by students at an honor level in their
senior year.

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Asian countries such as Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Vietnam and Singapore scored
above international averages (Kelly, Mullis & Martin, 2000 as cited in Hoang (2007). The
proof is that on December 3rd 2013, OECD officially published the results from the PISA,
an exam administered every three years to the 15 and 16-year-old students in several
countries. Although Vietnam joined the test for the first time, the whole score in Math and
Science was surprisingly higher than America and Britain (Hefling, 2013).
In short, the students in Vietnam can follow the Math curriculum in America because
this Common Core State Standards Initiative has been effectively used in American states
(Wikipedia, 2014) and can be flexibly applied in Vietnamese schools. The problem is
whether the students’ English proficiency allows them to study with the native speakers

and whether the teaching and learning style can be integrated in harmony.
1.2. Teaching Math in English – a CLIL approach
1.2.1. What is a CLIL approach
The CLIL approach is the short abbreviation of the term Content and Language
Integrated Learning‖ which was created in 1994 by David Marsh and Anne Maljers
(Wikipedia, 2015). It is an approach for learning content through a foreign or second
language, thus teachers covers both teaching the subject and the language. The aims of
CLIL is generalized in four Cs: Communication, Content, Culture and Cognition.
Specifically, the communication aims at improving overall target language competency;
the content is to study the knowledge and skills of the subject learnt; the cognition heads
for developing learners’ thinking skills (Coyle, 2007 as cited in Spratt, 2011).
In this integrated approach, the target language is the means used to teach the subject
content. Hence, its success depends mostly on learners’ language competency so that
learners can understand and study the subject. In his publication, Dalton-Puffer (2011)
implied that teachers in this approach will normally be nonnative speakers of the target
language but instead content experts. However, there is a doubt about this idea because the
applications of CLIL to teaching Math in English in the Asian area were not successful
because the Math teachers were not English natives.
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1.3. Implementations of teaching Math in English
1.3.1. History of teaching Math in English in Asia
The idea of teaching Math in English has been imported into Asian countries for
nearly a decade such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Several of these programs

showed a variety of advantageous aspects on the learners’ progress of studying Math and
English. On the other hand, a quantity of different programs did not receive many
approvals and encouragements. To be more specific, in Indonesia, a reform for
International Standard High School was suggested to teach Math and Science in English
according to the Decree of Ministry of Education in 2009. It was required that the native
teachers used English and Indonesian in teaching and learning activities, and the proportion
of the use of English in the classroom should be gradually increased 100 % in four years.
Despite this requirement, the teachers at R-SMA-BI 1 SUTUBONDO, in East Java,
Indonesia did not use English as often as expected because they themselves were well
aware of their limited English. As a consequence, the example of teaching Math in English
in this context did not achieve significant successes (Hidayat & Anugerahwati, 2012).
Another application of this method was carried out in 2003, in Malaysia. The
background was in an urban school in Perak. Since 2002, the Malaysian government had
issued a new policy in which the schools in Malaysia had to use English as an instruction
language to the subjects including Math, Science and Technology. The reason for this was
that the government realized English as an important mechanism for the direct acquisition
of knowledge in the field of Math, Science and Technology (Anian, 2003 as cited in Tan &
Ong, 2007, p.2). A good point was added to this program when the government organized
professional development course for the native teachers to improve subject content and
linguistic skills because they knew that the Malaysian teachers and learners were not
proficient in English. On the contrary, the students still looked empty and seemed unable to
understand. Consequently, a research by Nor, Aziz and Jusoff (2011) testified whether the
learners of such a program in Malaysia had improved in English. Their participants were
students at a well-known boarding school in Johor. After the researchers collected the data
through the questionnaires, they concluded that the students’ academic performances
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declined. Even though they felt several improvements on their English, there was no
positive indication of these feelings in English exam outcomes. The findings of the
research lead them to a disentangling situation whether English for teaching Math and
Science in Malaysia should be abolished or not.
1.3.2. Situation of teaching Math in English in Vietnam
Teaching fundamental subjects in English, including Math, is one of the main issues
indicated in projects No. 1400 and 959 approved by the Prime Minister of Vietnam (Chien,
2010). From the very first applications of these projects at various level of education, those
who taught Math in English were Vietnamese teachers of Math at Foreign Language
Specialized School or Amsterdam Hanoi Specialized School. These teachers might have a
strong foundation and good knowledge about this specified subject. On the other hand, the
majority of them were not sufficiently equipped with English proficiency to teach their
students. As a result, the primary objectives set by the administrators could not be fulfilled
(Chien, 2010).
Recognizing the above problems, many of the Vietnamese schools had been applying
the teaching of Math in English by a relatively different approach. These schools employed
English native speakers to teach Math for their students. However, the point was that these
teachers had to come from Great Britain, America or at least from English-speaking
countries such as Singapore or Australia; they already graduated in the major of Math and
qualified by TESOL about their ability of teaching in English to the students in English
non-speaking countries. The main difficulty for these schools was a large amount of budget
they had to spend hiring English natives to teach their students. Due to this reason, in big
cities, there have been a few private and international schools which can afford the salary
for the foreign teachers. Several reputable schools are Hanoi Academy, British Vietnamese
International School, Singapore International School, Doan Thi Diem School, Brendon
School, American International School, Saigon South International School, and RMIT Viet
Nam and so on. These schools have been given good compliments for their foreign

teachers who are young, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and adaptive to Vietnamese learners.
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1.3.3. Benefits of teaching Math in English recognized by scholars
It is commonly known that ELLs have to spend more than one year developing
conversational language and approximately five years equipping sufficient academic
language to learn in English. Otherwise, they can learn English easily and quickly by being
exposed to and surrounded by English native speakers (Harris, 2007, p.5). Because of the
factors related to the learning environment in which ELLs have more chances to interact
with the English native teachers, the program of teaching Math in English has been widely
applied in the context of Vietnam. The primary purpose of such educational programs is to
enable the students to acquire English proficiency while they learn a specified area – Math.
According to AAS (1998), the ability to speak English as a 2nd language, combined with
strong skills in Math and Science would provide unlimited opportunities (as cited in Jarrett,
1999, p.6).
1.3.4. Factors affecting Ells’ success in studying Math
When considering the benefits of teaching Math in English to ELLs, educators also
have to look inside the factors affecting ELLs’ success. The most influential features have
been discovered as follows:
Cultural differences: Math has been regarded as a universal language where numbers
connect people regardless of culture, religion, age or gender. However, there is a big
difference in learning styles across countries. For example, in many Asian countries, rote
memorization and self-study underlies the motive of schooling and learning. Thus, these
students may have little or even no experience in working in cooperative groups, sharing

and discussing how to solve problems (Harris, 2011, p.25).
Linguistic knowledge: A number of the ELLs do not have enough knowledge of
academic English to use in school. This causes troubles as they face the challenge of
understanding and learning specified vocabulary (Dale & Cuevas, 1992; Hallidat & Martin,
1993; Kang & Pham, 1995).
Conceptual

knowledge

or

background

knowledge:

Depending

on

various

fundamentals, students may not have adequate education or lack basic Math skills and the
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ability to grasp the new concepts taught in Math courses. Consequently, the interference in
their studying can become more and more problematic (Moschokovish, 2000).
The complexities of reading mathematical texts and understanding its language are
always challenging for almost ELLs. Math teachers are advised to study these factors that
may meddle the teaching and learning Math in English.
1.3.5. Challenges for Math teachers and learners
As mentioned above, in the exemplifications in Malaysia and Indonesia, these
programs failed to meet the demands which had been targeted by the ministers and
educators as the teacher staff were natives and their English proficiency was not strong
enough to transfer mathematical concepts and teaching instructions effectively. In addition,
the content knowledge and language proficiency of the learners themselves in these
countries were limited to get the lessons through. Thus, the expected improvements could
not be satisfactory. Regarding other contexts such as in Vietnam, the teachers and students
also have to cope with a variety of difficulties although their Math teachers are English
native speakers. The most challenging and most easily recognized problem is that Math
language consists of a huge number of specialized vocabulary and discourse features (Kang
& Pham, 1995; Jarrett, 1999, p.8). Moreover, everyday language with different meanings is
popularly used in Math textbooks. Several specific examples are extracted from Harris
(2005, p.15) as follows:
Addition: add, plus, and, combine, sum, total of, more than, increased by, etc.
Subtraction: subtract, minus, less, less than, fewer than, decreased by, difference,
lower, take away, from, shorter, etc.
Multiplication: multiply, times, product, as a factor, twice, double, etc.
Division: divide, divided by, quotient, separated into equal groups, etc.
Equal: is, are, result, make, etc.
Additionally, the symbols of Math are sometimes totally different in use from one
country to another. For instance, in the United States, the dot is functioned as the decimal

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point to separate whole numbers from decimal numbers such as 0.5 whereas for the same
idea, Vietnamese teachers and learners write the comma instead like 0,5.
Last but not least, the use of mathematical concepts, problems and instructions in
English differs in word expressions (Jarrett, 1999). As cited from Dale and Cuevas (1992,
p.335), the number a is five less than the number b, which the student may mistakenly
restate as a= 5-b, which it should be a= b-5.
Besides the examples of content-related issues, other problems that ELLs have to
experience may be concerned with cultural differences, difficulties in learning English or
limited prior knowledge of mathematical concepts in the learners’ mother tongue language.
Towards the English native teachers, for instance, they come to Vietnam and absolutely
encounter certain kinds of cultural shock when they communicate and teach in Vietnamese
educational environments. The style of teaching and learning in their own country also
varies in aspects in comparison with that of Vietnam, which occasionally troubles and
stresses them.
1.3.6. Strategies for Math teachers and learners
From the troubles raised above, numerous strategies were suggested to make teaching
Math in English more compressible to ELLs. With respect to this issue, Jarrett (1999) and
Kersaint (2009) proposed several similar and different strategies as illustrated in the
following table:
Jarrett’s Strategies

Kersaint’s Strategies

1. Simplify and instruct the language in the lessons elaborately to provide assess and

opportunities for ELLs.
2. Engage ELLs in the classroom discourse so that they can participate in Math lessons.
3. Choose appropriate types of assessment for ELLs.
4. Promote cooperative learning

4.Express mathematical information in
various ways

5. Enhance inquiry and problem solving 5.Use drawing and illustrating to support
skills.

communication
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6.

Develop

ELLs’

mathematical 6.Eliminate

vocabulary

or

address

linguistic

complexities inherent in English

7. Be aware of affective influences such as
visual aids or games during the lessons
8. Involve the family in teaching ELLs
Table 1: Jarrett’s and Kersaint’s strategies in teaching Math in English to ELLs
However, in some researches, the environment for teaching and learning Math in
English is the most important and influential factor to learners (NCTM, 2000;
Moschokovish, 2000; Jasper & Huber, 2005). They believed that establishing a good
learning context could help the learners feel safe, comfortable, motivated and engaged
instead of being anxious and disruptive in Math lessons.
Similarly, Hoffert (2009) and Jasper & Huber (2005) showed out a specific list of
strategies to accelerate the teaching of Math in English such as highlighting key words, use
graphic organizers, use technology, enhance students’ English language skills and so on.
Overall, the writer relied on the findings by Harris (2005) when he summarized the
strategies into three categories: classroom management strategies, instructional strategies to
increase comprehension and assessment strategies. These categories almost systematically
covered the strategies previously discussed by other authors. He reckoned that an effective
environment should have comprehensible input, provide contextual clues, facilitate verbal
interaction and encourage active participation. Additionally, the teachers are supposed to
integrate language and content to increase the learners’ comprehension by using daily and
popular vocabulary to explain mathematical problems, starting lessons with warm-up
activities and designing pair or group work, for instance. More importantly, assessment
strategies such as authentic performance tasks for example learning logs, exercises and

problems, should be put into great consideration because they help the teachers check and
promote their students’ understanding and progress before, during and after the lesson.

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1.4. Review of previous studies related to teaching Math in English
Evidently, the teaching and learning of Math in English has appealed much attention of
international and Vietnamese researchers when it is increasingly becoming a global
tendency to help ELLs develop their English language skills as well as mathematical
knowledge.
Initially, Cuevas (1984) did research on the learning of Math in English as a second
language. He concluded that to apply this way, learners had to require a variety of
linguistic skills. Furthermore, teachers and schools ought to assess students’ mathematical
achievement properly and draw out a well-designed curriculum to develop the second
language skills.
After that, Moschokovish (1998) discovered the needs of Latino students in reformoriented Math classrooms. From the findings, he stressed that classroom instruction for the
Latino students had to be designed based on mathematical discourse and students’
participation. Two years later, this scholar conducted a study to help teachers and learners
change challenges into resources when teaching Math in two languages (Moschokovish,
2000).
In the context of Malaysia, there were at least three studies which investigated the
teaching of Math and/or Science in English after the educational reform in this country.
Namely, Nordin (2004) explored students’ perception on teaching and learning Math in
English. This research found out that the respondents were well aware of the importance of

English in daily life and career development. Conversely, they admitted that studying this
subject in English was extremely challenging when they lacked of mathematical
knowledge and instruction language.
After that, Tan and Ong (2007) academically dug into teacher’s experiences and
classroom practices in the implementation of the change in language of instruction for
Math and Science. From the result, he collected three factors influencing this
implementation were teacher’s prior educational background, school’s linguistic
environment and students’ linguistic abilities.
As followed, Nor, Aziz and Jusoff (2011) carried out a research to answer whether
English for teaching Math and Science in Malaysia should be abolished as he proved that
his participants made a little progress after studying this program.
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In the context of Indonesia, Hidayat and Anugerahwati (2012) examined the use of
English in the teaching of Math and Science at R-SMA-BI 1 SUTUBONDO. However,
this author indicated that this approach was not effective when the teachers used their
mother tongue in almost all the time during the teaching process.
Although the issue of teaching and learning Math in English has been widely
researched on for a long time, a few studies have been published on it in Vietnam.
Hoang (2007) investigated the relationship between learning and instruction in Math
instruction of 12-year-old students in Saigon, Vietnam. In conclusion, he strongly approved
of the use of cooperative learning activities in class and active learning strategies as well as
homework after school to facilitate learners’ academic achievement and self-confidence to
study Math.

Chien (2010) reported the realities of teaching Math in English at Vietnamese high
schools. This teacher also proposed some feasible approaches to deal with these problems
at Vietnamese high schools in general and at Foreign Language Specialized School in
particular.
Last but not least, Phuc (2010) discovered the difficulties most teachers and students at
Minh Khai 1 primary school faced with in teaching and learning English for Math by the
textbook Practice Math 1. After analyzing the difficulties, the author listed out practical
solutions and suggestions to promote this program.
As a teacher of English and having participated in the Math classes taught in English
by native speakers, the researcher of this study did recognize much improvement of her
students’ English language skills and mathematical knowledge. However, she also
witnessed the difficulties being struggled by both teachers and students. Thus, she studied
on the use of teaching and learning Math in English for her students with a view to support
this program more effectively.
1.5. Summary
In short, this chapter has clearly touched upon the issues associated to the topic of the
study. It discusses the notion of ELLs, the application of teaching Math in English and
previously related literature. The following Chapter 2 will be devoted to the discussion of
the methods of the study in the light of the above-mentioned theories.

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
2.1. Setting

2.1.1. The current situation of teaching and learning at DTD School
DTD School has been a reputed educational environment in Hanoi for a long period of
time because this school has been considerably successful in teaching its students both
subjects in Vietnam’s educational curriculum and several basic subjects in English
according to the international systems of Singapore and America. In general, the students at
DTD School not only accomplish the compulsory subjects in Vietnam but also master their
English communication skills and Vietnamese common core knowledge.
In particular, the students from grade 6 to 9 can attend M classes to follow a program
joint with ACP at SCS in Edmonds, Washington, the United States. This means that
besides compulsory subjects of Vietnam, they must study other four subjects: English,
Science, Math and Literature as required in America. Specifically, the M graders learn
weekly 15 periods with American natives for Science, Math and Literature; three periods
for English whereas 20 periods for the subjects are taught in Vietnamese. It can be seen
that the number of periods during a week for two educational programs are almost equal.
Thanks to spending a big amount of time working with the native speakers, the students
were expected to make much progress in their English proficiency and increase in their
specified knowledge.
2.1.2. Material description
Holt McDougal Algebra 1, which is included in The Holt McDougal High School
Mathematics series with Geometry and Algebra 2, was compiled and published by Burger,
Kennedy, Chard, Leinwand, Renfro, Roby & Waits (2012).
Algebra 1 is designed to the philosophy of the Common Core State Standards as a
program that prepares high school students for college and career readiness. These
textbooks provide comprehensive instructions focused on conceptual understanding,
supported with ongoing progress-monitoring and intervention tools, to make a balanced
and complete standard-based curriculum.
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