Bilingual materials for mathematics in Malta

Abstract

In Malta, mathematics is frequently accessed through translanguaging with English and Maltese. This is certainly the case when the teacher’s and students’ home language is Maltese, because textbooks and other written materials – including examinations – are in English, a legacy of British colonisation that ended in 1964. However, although much translanguaging occurs in verbal interaction, Maltese is not used for written mathematics. In this paper, I describe classroom materials that I designed, which included Maltese text, as part of a design-based research project carried out in an elementary school. The inclusion of Maltese text was viewed positively by both teacher and students, and I suggest that this approach might be taken on board as an integral part of a translanguaging pedagogy.