Canadian LLAMA Team Picture (2019, Ottawa)
Does language matter for math learning? Many children in Canada learn mathematics in a second language; that is, the language they use at school for math is different than the language they speak at home. Children in French Immersion programs, children from homes where a different language is spoken, and children who have immigrated from a country where the school language is not English or French may all be in this situation.
The Language Learning and Math Achievement project involves researchers from Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg, and Northern Ireland. Children in grades 2 and 3 are completing measures of math performance, math-specific vocabulary knowledge, math symbol understanding, and working memory. The goal of the project is to understand how language influences the ways in which children learn math.
In Canada, this project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through an Insight Grant to J. LeFevre, H. Osana, E. Maloney, and S. Skwarchuk.
In Northern Ireland, this project is funded by the British Academy through a grant to J. Wylie and V. Simms.