Learning Mathematics Vocabulary: Potential Pitfalls and Instructional Strategies

Abstract

Do your students speak mathematics, or do they think that the mathematics classroom is another country where they must use a foreign language? Are they sometimes confused or overwhelmed by new vocabulary? Do they misuse words, forget key terms, or ignore important distinctions between words? Do they ask, “Where did anyone ever get a strange word like asymptote?” or “I forget, is twelve a factor or a multiple of twenty-four?”