Building Students’ Academic Language in Mathematics

Building Students’ Academic Language in Mathematics Through Integrated English Language Development

A design and development study funded by the National Science Foundation

Overview

Our team is partnering with the Multilingual Multicultural Education Department of the Los Angeles Unified School District to address an urgent need to improve opportunities and resources for emergent bilinguals. Our partnership focuses on supporting Title III English Learner coaches and teachers to build students’ academic language in mathematics through integrated English language development (iELD/Math) in primary grades. 

Project Overview

Our collaborative, design-based approach to professional learning will incorporate research-based essential practices for teaching ELD and Common Core math standards, with a focus on understanding students’ thinking about fractions and using translanguaging pedagogies to leverage students’ home language as a valuable resource for thinking and communicating mathematically. UC Davis researchers will engage participating practitioners in monthly cycles of collaborative discussion and learning to deepen pedagogical knowledge and iteratively design tools and practices that support integrative teaching and learning. 

Content Focus

  • Fractions
  • Oral language development
  • Whole class math discussion

Rectangular graphic with quadrants for each pedagogical approach

Pedagogical Approaches 

Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI): Equal sharing, multiple groups, equivalent fractions, operations on fractions, and decimals

Integrated ELD Math/Local District Strategies: Constructive Conversation Skills, Three Phase Lesson, Instructional Approaches

Engaging students in productive language: Exploring the pedagogical approach of Translanguaging to provide students opportunities to develop linguistic practices for academic context in math.

Project Goals

  • Develop a deeper understanding of emergent bilinguals’ thinking about mathematical solutions using equal sharing problems
  • Leverage emergent bilinguals’ full repertoire of oral and written language, with an emphasis on mathematical precision in conversations with peers
  • Integrate culturally sustaining pedagogical practices, including collaborating with families to support emergent bilinguals’ language and math identities

Meet the Design Team

The following design leaders will be collaborating with teachers and coaches in school districts to design teaching practices and learning experiences that help bilingual students thrive. 

Rebecca Ambrose, Ph.D.
Rebecca is a professor at University of California-Davis. She works with children and their teachers in classrooms to find good tasks that lead to interesting discussions. She studies the ways that children use Spanish and English while doing math. She has worked in schools in Madison, WI, San Diego & Sacramento.

Margarita Jimenez-Silva, Ph.D.
Prof. Margarita Jimenez-Silva’s research focuses on preparing and supporting teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse learners, especially in addressing emergent bilinguals’ linguistic and academic content development. She has worked with newcomer students as a middle-school math and science teacher in Oakland, California, and began her work with pre-service teachers at Concordia University in Irvine, CA. She herself is a former English learner from the San Fernando Valley in Southern California.

Rachel Restani, Ph.D.  
Rachel’s experience teaching mathematics in economically and socially diverse communities motivates her to support teachers in humanizing the learning experience so that minoritized students have more agency in the classroom. She recently worked with teachers and students in New Zealand.

Suzanne Abdelrahim, Ed.D.
Suzanne is a former elementary school teacher and former researcher with the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition. Suzanne helps educators to reflect on teaching practices to improve learning for linguistically and culturally diverse learners.

Project Importance

Why should students explain their mathematical ideas? Why should they use ALL their languages to explain? 

  • Research shows students develop a deeper understanding of math concepts when they explain their ideas to other people.
  • Math explanations can include explaining what you understand about a problem, how you solved it, and why you think it works to answer the question.
  • Explanations of fractions include many components, such as explaining what “whole” you’re referring to and the size of the pieces. 
  • Communication can and should include using ALL of the students’ communicative resources to explain complex ideas. This includes visuals, symbols, manipulatives, and gestures to show their thinking. It also includes using home languages and dialects in addition to English. 
  • When students discuss their ideas in English and their home language, they have opportunities to develop their bilingualism, biliteracy, and strong bilingual math identities. They can make cross-language connections that help them develop in both languages. They can also further develop their mathematical understanding by communicating their ideas more fully.
  • Students and teachers can work towards communicating in more and more precise ways, in all their languages.
  • We support teachers in learning to attend to students’ thinking, listen deeply for their mathematical understanding, probe for more detail, and know when the right time is to push for greater precision in communication. If we push too soon, it can interrupt students’ mathematical thinking! 

Project Research

International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education

Teaching for Equity and Excellence in Mathematics

  • Jiménez-Silva, M., Abdelrahim, S., Restani, R., Martin, R., & Albano, T. (2025). Leveraging Children’s Multicultural Literature to Support Students’ Math Identity and Problem Solving. Teaching for Equity and Excellence in Mathematics, (in press).

Edutopia

Education Sciences Journal

Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia

  • Restani, R., Jimenez-Silva, M., Albano, T. Abdelrahim, S., Martin, R., & Ambrose, R. (July, 2024). Engaging multilingual students in frequent and supported opportunities for discourse to strengthen their mathematical thinking. In J. Višňovská, E. Ross, & S. Getenet (Eds.), Surfing the waves of mathematics education. Proceedings of the 46th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (pp. 439–446). Presentation at the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia. Gold Coast: MERGA.

Psychology of Mathematics Education – Conference

  • Restani, R., Jimenez-Silva, M., Albano, T., Abdelrahim, S., Ambrose, R., & Martin, R. (July 2024). Following a conversation script: addressing the discord of the impact of language supports in peer interactions for multilingual students. In T. Evans, O. Marmur, J. Hunter, & G. Leach (eds.). Proceedings of the 47th conference of the international group for the psychology of mathematics education (Vol. 1, pp. 205). PME.
  • Abdelrahim, S., Restani, R., Jimenez-Silva, M., Albano, T., & Martin, R. (July 2024). Using children’s texts to support multilingual students’ math identity and problem-solving. Presentation at Psychology of Mathematics Education – Teacher Day Conference. Auckland, NZ.

California Mathematics Council, South (CMC South)

  • Abdelrahim, S., & Restani, R. (2025). Enhancing ML Partner Conversations Using a Framework to Plan. Presentation at the California Mathematics Council Conference. Palm Springs, CA.
  • Abdelrahim, S., Yudess, H., & Restani, R. (2024). Sequencing Strategies in Discussions With Bilingual Learners. Presentation at the California Mathematics Council Conference. Palm Springs, CA.
  • Abdelrahim, S. & Restani, R. (November 2023). Using Peer Feedback to Support EL Students’ Understanding of Fractions. Presentation at the annual conference of California Mathematics Council, South. Palm Springs, CA.
  • Restani, R, Abdelrahim, S., Yudess, H. (November 2022). Using Student Explanations as a Tool to Understand Fractions. Presentation at the California Mathematics Council. Palm Springs, CA.

 California Mathematics Council, North (CMC North)

  • Restani, R., Jiménez-Silva, M., & Ambrose, R. (2025). Enhancing ML Partner Conversations Using a Framework to Plan. Presentation at the California Mathematics Council Conference. Pacific Grove, CA.
  • Restani, R., & Jimenez-Silva, M. (2024). Sequencing Strategies in Discussions With Bilingual Learners. Presentation at the California Mathematics Council Conference. Pacific Grove, CA.
  • Restani, R & Abdelrahim, S. (December 2023). Using Peer Feedback to Support EL Students’ Understanding of Fractions. Presentation at the annual conference of California Mathematics Council, North. Pacific Grove, CA.
  • Restani, R, Abdelrahim, S., Yudess, H. (December 2022). Using Student Explanations as a Tool to Understand Fractions. Presentation at the California Mathematics Council. Pacific Grove, CA.

Hawaii International Conference on Education (HICE)

  • Abdelrahim, S., Jimenez-Silva, M., Restani, R., Martin, R., & Albano, A. (2026). The Power of Pláticas: Uncovering Teacher Learning in Integrated ELD Mathematics Classrooms. Presentation at the 2026 Hawaii International Conference on Education. Honolulu, HI.
  • Albano, A., Rios, O., Xu, X, Jimenez-Silva, M., Abdelrahim, S., Restani, R., & Martin, R. (2025). Translanguaging and extending the repertoire of supports in standardized testing. Presentation at the 2025 Hawaii International Conference on Education. Honolulu, HI.
  • Abdelrahim, S., Restani, R., Jimenez-Silva, M., Martin, R., & Albano, A. (2025). Addressing the discord: Affordances and limitations of language supports during multilingual peer interactions in math. Presentation at the 2025 Hawaii International Conference on Education. Honolulu, HI.
  • Jimenez-Silva, M., Guerrero, K., Abdelrahim, S., Albano, T., Rillero, P. (January 2024). Tranlanguaging in Practice: Challenges, Rewards, and Examples from Science, Math, and GeoCivics. Presentation at the Hawaii International Conference on Education. Waioloa, HI.
  • Abdelrahim, S., Jimenez-Silva, M., Albano, T., Zunino, V. (January 2024). Discovering our Math Identities and Those of our Students. Presentation at the Hawaii International Conference on Education. Waioloa, HI.

California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)

  • Jimenez-Silva, M., Abdelrahim, S., Restani, R., & Yudess, H. (2025). Beyond Burrito Math Problems & Salsa Gardens: Culturally Responsive STEM Curriculum. California Association of Bilingual Education Conference. Long Beach, CA.
  • Abdelrahim, S., Jimenez-Silva, M., Yudess, H., & Restani, R. (2025). Supporting Teacher Enactment;  Uptake of Practices to Support Math Conversations. California Association of Bilingual Education Conference. Long Beach, CA.
  • Abdelrahim, S., Jimenez-Silva, M., Restani, R., & Yudess, H. (February 2024). Discovering our math identities and those of our students. Presentation at the annual conference of the California Association for Bilingual Education. Anaheim, CA.
  • Jimenez-Silva, M. Abdelrahim, S., Restani, R., & Yudess, H. (February 2024). Using children’s texts to support students’ math identity & problem-solving. Presentation at the annual conference of the California Association for Bilingual Education. Anaheim, CA.

National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE)

  • Jimenez-Silva, M., Abdelrahim, S., Yudess, H.  (2025). Leaping Tall Buildings and Side Stepping Kryptonite: Translanguaging in Science and Math as a Superpower. National Association of Bilingual Education Conference. Atlanta, GA.
  • Abdelrahim, S., Yudess, H., Jimenez-Silva, M. (2025). Building Students’ Academic Language in Math: Co-Creating a Digital Binder of Bilingual Resources. National Association of Bilingual Education Conference. Atlanta, GA.
  • Jimenez-Silva, M., Abdelrahim, S., Yudess, H., & Guerrero, K. (2024). The Power of Pláticas Methodology to Understand Latiné Teachers’, Parents’ and Students’ STEM Identities. Presentation at National Association for Bilingual Education Conference. Anaheim, CA.
  • Abdelrahim, S., Jimenez-Silva, M., & Yudess, H. (2024). Moving Beyond “Just” Representation: Leveraging Multicultural STEM Texts to Support Identity & Discourse. Presentation at National Association for Bilingual Education Conference. Anaheim, CA.
  • Abdelrahim, S., Jimenez-Silva, M., & Yudess, H. (March 2024). Promoting positive math identities by exploring our math identities and those of our multilingual students. Presentation at the annual conference of the National Association for Bilingual Education. New Orleans, LA.
  • Jimenez-Silva, M., Abdelrahim, S., & Yudess, H. (March 2024). Using children’s multilingual books to to support students’ math identities and foster family engagement. Presentation at the annual conference of the National Association for Bilingual Education. New Orleans, LA.
  • Banes, L., Abdelrahim, S., Yudess, H., Ambrose, R. (April 2021). Translanguaging Practices for Understanding and Discussing Fractions. Presentation at the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), Houston, TX.

American Educational Research Association (AERA)

  • Restani, R., Martin, R., Jimenez-Silva, M., Abdelrahim, S., Ambrose, R., Hunter, J., & Albano, T. (2025). Mathematical Rigor, Linguistic Scaffolds, Cultural Responsiveness: Working Toward a Common Goal of Deepening Student Interactions. Roundtable session presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. Denver, CO. View iPoster presentation.
  • Restani, R., Ambrose, R., Abdelrahim, S., Jimenez-Silva, M., Albano, T., & Martin, R. (April 2024). Exploring multilingual children’s conversations with peers about equal-sharing fraction problems. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. Philadelphia, PA.

Classroom Presentations

  • Abdelrahim, S. & Restani, R. (May 2025). Building Students Academic Language in Math through Integrated English Language Development (iELD). Guest speaker presentation to Professor Jimenez-Silva’s EDU PhD students.

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