The Intersections of English-Language Proficiency, Use

of Technology, and Teaching and Learning Mathematics

in Undergraduate Courses in the UAE

Nataliia Borysenko1, Magdaleen Corne Lotter2, and Panagiotis Papadopoulos3

1,2,3Higher
Colleges of Technology, P/O Box 17258,
Zayed Al Awwal Street, Falaj Hazza
Al Ain, Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE
[email protected]

Abstract. There is an undeniable link between student language proficiency and

mathematical performance. In institutions such as ours in the UAE, the medium
of instruction is English, which poses a further layer of complexity for Emirati
students in developing mathematical skills. How can math teachers overcome
these difficulties? Previous research indicated that explicit vocabulary
instruction, mnemonic strategies, and gamification strategies, including the use
of technology for teaching and learning, were proven effective in overcoming
poor math performance in the mathematical classroom. We consulted an
experienced mathematician who shed light on strategies to help students to
overcome their mathematics phobia and predisposed negative connotations to
mathematics as a science. We suggest that the use of technology, strategic
methods of explicit language teaching, storytelling, and gamification could
increase student motivation and performance in mathematics. Furthermore,
mathematical instruction should move from scientific pedagogy from facts and
specific principles to a language-focused, technology-infused pedagogy to
support students whose mother tongue is not English. We conclude that there is
a paucity of research on interdisciplinary approaches to teaching mathematics,
and it warrants further investigation by mathematicians, language teachers, and
technology experts in interdisciplinary studies rather than in separate sciences.

Keywords: language proficiency, technology, mathematics

1 Introduction

English has been increasingly used as a medium of instruction in higher education

programs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This poses a challenge for local students
and their teachers. Daleure (2011) reported that Emirati students have underdeveloped
reading skills in English and Arabic in her research on blended learning in the UAE.
The researcher reported that learners come to higher education unprepared for English
as a medium of instruction. Teaching and learning mathematics are simply not just

© The Author(s) 2023

A. Johnston et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the HCT International General Education Conference (HCT-IGEC 2023),
Atlantis Highlights in Social Sciences, Education and Humanities 13,
https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-286-6_13
166 N. Borysenko et al.

performing calculations, but also showing students mathematical ways of

communication (Planas et al., 2018). The link between literacy and mathematics has
ample evidence in research (Purpura et al., 2017). In addition, recent statistical studies
have shown that students with higher language proficiency outperform students with
lower language proficiency in mathematical exams (Erath et al., 2018; Greisen et al.,
2021; Hartanto et al., 2018; Xu et al., 2022).
Another factor reported to impact mathematics instruction significantly is the use of
technology, which has become a key driving force for innovation in all spheres of
human life, including education (Dinges et al., 2018). Teachers use a variety of
technology as a delivery mode of instruction as well as a toolset to support their
teaching and foster student learning (Halepoto & Lohar, 2022; Wang, 2021). Research
findings also indicate that mathematics students have positive attitudes toward using
digital tools in class (Eyyam & Yaratan, 2014; Murphy, 2016; Talib et al., 2018).
Moreover, the use of technology in teaching and learning mathematics enhances both
instructor-student and student-student interactions, promotes student collaboration,
supports accuracy of student mathematical computation, and fosters student self-
confidence in their abilities to learn mathematical concepts, which, in its turn, assists in
development of student mathematical competences and higher-order thinking (Murphy,
2016).
The crisscrossing of the use of technology, student English-language proficiency,
and mathematical pedagogy is discussed further. First, we present themes in the
literature about the use of technology and the role English proficiency plays in the
mathematics classroom. Gaps in the literature are identified. Next, we offer expertly
trailed methods from a math specialist. Finally, we suggest that technology-infused
pedagogy that supports learners who are not native speakers of English might improve
student mathematics-learning outcomes.

2 Literature Review

The literature review presents recent research results on the link between student
English-language proficiency and learning mathematics. In addition, findings of
empirical studies about the use of technology to support teaching and learning
mathematics are discussed. Many educators express their concerns that students who
are not native speakers of English often become invisible in mathematics classrooms
because they lack English-language proficiency to communicate their mathematical
reasoning. For example, Nikula et al. (2020) have found that using mathematical
diagrams can help students make sense of mathematics and facilitate their mathematical
communication and language development. “In this manner, diagrams promote student
agency and mathematical authority” (p. 80). Moreover, Erath et al. (2018) emphasize
that the language of explaining, or the discursive practice of explaining, should be a
learning goal in mathematics classrooms to optimize learning.
Fuchs et al. (2018) investigated mathematical word problems as a form of text
comprehension and the role of language in learning mathematics. They found that
language is significant in forecasting individual differences in word problem outcomes
 The Intersections of English-Language Proficiency 167

in mathematics. The researchers suggest that when teaching word problems, the focus
should not be only on calculation skills, as is often the case. Instead, they recommend
applying an approach to teaching mathematics, like teaching reading comprehension,
with a focus on vocabulary and syntactic composition.
Based on their study results, Planas et al. (2018) argue that research on mathematics
and language encompasses three main possible foci: (1) the language of the learner –
the linguistic skills a learner brings to the classroom; (2) the language of the teacher –
the linguistic skills teachers have in the classroom; and (3) the language of mathematics
– a set of linguistic features of the texts within mathematics. According to the
researchers, students “need to learn ‘the language of mathematics,’ which requires
access to and use of other languages and discourses of the classroom” (p. 200).
Early literacy skills and early mathematics may be predictive of each other. Purpura
et al. (2017) claim that mathematical skills are a measure of another skill, such as a
deeper knowledge of language in general. Moreover, Tennison (2018) emphasizes that
language support from a bilingual teaching assistant and access to recorded lessons that
allow students to learn at their own pace help non-native English speakers to grasp
mathematics in the English-medium class. Language support in terms of mathematical
vocabulary learning has also been highlighted in the study conducted by Riccomini et
al. (2015). These researchers argue that vocabulary learning is essential for
mathematical proficiency.
Next, Denfield et al. (2014) claim that English proficiency is a statistically
significant predictor of mathematics scores. Specifically, higher proficiency in English
results in higher mathematics scores; however, as the grade level increases, this
tendency reduces. In addition, grade level moderates the influence of English
proficiency on mathematics scores.
Moreover, current research shows that having high English-language proficiency is
not the only significant variable that is likely to impact learning mathematics in the
modern English-mediated class. It is quite challenging to imagine today’s instruction
without the use of a variety of hardware and software. Integration of technology in
teaching and learning has been proven beneficial because “…high-quality professional
development, digital standards-based content, and personalized learning plans can
increase student achievement, engagement, and critical-thinking skills, and provide
students with access to learning opportunities otherwise difficult to attain.” (Nebbergall
& Hambrick, 2012). However, one cannot use technology to enhance teaching and
learning without being “on good terms” with the digital tools.
Specifically, Sprenger and Schwaninger (2021) claim that “user acceptance is a pre-
requisite for technology effectiveness.” (p. 1) In a quantitative study, the scholars
examined student acceptance of the use of four types of technology: e-lectures,
classroom response system, classroom chat, and mobile virtual reality (VR). Based on
students’ feedback collected twice, before and after the use of each digital tool, the
acceptance of the classroom response system was the highest one. The second most-
accepted technology was e-lectures, followed by classroom chat. The least accepted
digital tool was mobile VR. The students specified that “the setup of the mobile VR
sequences took too much time––technical issues for some few students detained the
168 N. Borysenko et al.

entire class” (p. 13). Another barrier to the mobile VR acceptance increase could be
students’ underwhelming because of the simplicity of the mobile VR modules offered.
Another study, conducted by Prifti (2022), measured student satisfaction in a
blended course. The researcher focused on identifying Learning-Management-System
(LMS) factors that might affect student self-efficacy and influence their overall course
satisfaction. Study results indicate that LMS self-efficacy positively impacts learner
satisfaction. Specifically, LMS content, its accessibility, and components that foster
student critical thinking (quizzes with open- and closed-ended questions, diverse
assignments, and case studies) are the factors that are likely to enhance LMS self-
efficacy and increase blended-course effectiveness.
Recent research findings also reveal that instructors and students should acquire the
necessary skills to use technology in class to benefit both teaching and learning
(Buentello-Montoya et al., 2021; Herbst et al., 2022; Papadakis et al., 2021). In
addition, instructors’ paying specific attention to the number of digital tools they intend
to use in one course as well as their variety, is emphasized in recent studies. For
example, in a mixed-method study, Wang (2021) analyzed the implemented multimedia
distance-learning environment at an entry-level mathematics university classroom and
its resulting consequences on student mathematics learning and assessment
performance. The scholar used Moodle, Zoom, and Campuswire as delivery-mode
digital tools. Research findings indicate that students prefer using a smaller variety of
technology in one course because it is challenging to manage a range of digital tools to
complete one task or project. Wang (2021) also pointed out that Moodle was the most
used platform for her teaching “because of its clarity and functionality” (p. 28).
Findings of the reviewed research on the use of technology in mathematics class
show that diverse digital tools are to be part of everyday instruction. The use of
technology in mathematics classes has been proven to support teaching and enhance
student learning. However, researchers also reason that teachers should be cautious
when deciding which available digital tools are the most appropriate to use for a target
activity, task, or project. In addition, scholars emphasize that a wider variety of
technology used in one course does not imply a better quality of instruction and/or
higher student achievement. Therefore, these multiple factors should be considered
when planning a technology-supported activity, task, project, or entire course.
Moreover, when the language of mathematics instruction is English, and mathematics
students are English-language learners, this should also be considered. Explicit
vocabulary instruction, mnemonic strategies, and gamification strategies, including
technology, were proven effective in mathematics teaching and learning.

3 Gaps in the Literature

Little attention has been given to subjects taught in English in the Middle East
(Alhassan et al., 2021). Similarly, the mechanisms by which mathematics and language
proficiency are related and how these connections may differ over time need further
investigation (Purpura et al., 2017). According to Planas et al. (2018), there is also a
gap in research on how language competences may be influenced by using innovative
 The Intersections of English-Language Proficiency 169

technology that enables new discourse practices in mathematics instruction. Similarly,

more empirical research is needed regarding the efficacy of instructional technology
for teaching vocabulary specific to mathematics to low achievers (Riccomini et al.,
2015). There is also a lack of research on the use of emerging digital tools for teaching
certain mathematical concepts. Moreover, educators are in a constant and intensive
search for the best ways to integrate technology in their teaching as well as in
independent student-learning activities. Finally, the impact of using different digital
tools on student learning outcomes must also be investigated thoroughly (Rodriguez,
2020; Thurm & Barzel, 2022).

4 Expertly Trialed Methods

Many efforts have been made in the last years by mathematicians, experimenting with
numerous techniques in learning mathematics to engage students who major in different
subjects. In educational courses, learners study philosophy, history, culture, music,
language, and other liberal arts courses, exploring tangible ideas. However, in
mathematics, teachers need to make the abstract concrete. What are the ways they do
this? A mathematician expert with more than 35 years of teaching experience (one of
the chapter’s authors) starts his class by asking an attention-grabbing question, such as
“How long will it take you to climb a 2-km-tall building vertically, like a spider-man?”
In the lesson, he aims to include fascinating ideas and exciting concepts to grab student
attention and, hopefully, get them on good terms with mathematics and even have fun
when dealing with mathematical tasks. According to this expert, concepts such as
infinity, certainty, uncertainty, fractals, or chaos should be taught in between liberal arts
and science pedagogy. By doing this, the mathematician implies that science pedagogy
should not focus on just presenting formulae without providing proper context,
meaningful to his students. This approach helps to avoid presenting mathematics to the
students scientifically. Including stories, anecdotes, visuals, and other teaching
strategies and techniques in everyday instruction may foster student engagement in
learning mathematical concepts. Formal definitions, statements, lemmata, corollaries,
propositions, and theorems are unattractive to non-mathematics majors. A fascinating
journey into the science of numbers and figures begins by illustrating techniques to
develop ways to formulate questions that arise from real-life observations. This enables
students to find the beauty in mathematics by looking for patterns and generalizations
and making conjectures based on their observations. Here is one of the word problems
suggested by the mathematician expert as an example: “You are meeting seven friends.
In total, you are a group of eight people. If each of you shakes hands with everybody,
how many handshakes are there in total?”. This question creates some fun in the
classroom while students try to get the correct answer.
Next, the students are encouraged to look for a mathematical pattern. The following
technique is applied to find the pattern. If there are only two people in the group, and
you name them A and B, there is obviously only one handshake (A–B). If there are three
people in the group, A, B, C, there are three handshakes (A–B, B–C, and A–C). If there
170 N. Borysenko et al.

are four people in the group, A, B, C, D, there are six handshakes (A–B, A–C, A–D, B–
C, B–D, and C–D). Have you seen a pattern yet? (See Table 1)

Table 1. Number of handshakes with no apparent pattern.

Number of people Number of handshakes

2 1
3 3
4 6

Not yet? How about now? (See Table 2)

Table 2. Number of handshakes with a pattern.

Number of people Number of handshakes

2 1=2*1/2
3 3=3*2/2
4 6=4*3/2

In other words, if there are five people, the number of handshakes will be: 5*4/2=10.
To answer the original question about the number of handshakes for a group of eight
friends, the answer will be 8*7/2=28. This way, students create a new formula: the
number of handshakes amongst a number of people (n) is n(n-1)/2. This activity, known
as the Handshake Problem, has been proven to involve even the least interested and/or
motivated-to-do calculations students.
In addition, educators should never forget that when a student hates or dislikes
mathematics, this feeling might be lifelong. Even just mentioning the word mathematics
can cause issues in class! So, using simple everyday English when explaining
mathematical concepts to the students and sharing captivating real-life stories with them
could make learning mathematics more enjoyable. Here is where appropriate English-
language competences come to the fore. For instance, when talking to students about
the history of numbers, how people started counting using their fingers, one, two, …,
and because this was the natural way to count, the {1, 2, 3, …} is called the set of natural
numbers and is denoted by N. Amazingly, this is the reason we have a decimal system
today because we have ten fingers and ten digits, namely 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, where
each finger corresponds to a specific digit. Students love this story, and it reduces the
phobia of using numbers from the early lessons as they view all the sets of numbers
(integer, rational, real, imaginary, and complex) as a manageable range. Another
supportive technique would be adding a fairy tale to calculations, telling the students
that “… during a quiet night, I was walking alone in the desert, and I met a creature
from another planet. He had one eye in the middle of his forehead, and four fingers on
each of his two hands…”. Next, he would ask students: “What numeric system do you
think the extraterrestrial creature uses on his planet? Binary, decimal, or another one?”
 The Intersections of English-Language Proficiency 171

The answer, of course, is “octadic” because the creature had eight fingers on his two
hands.
Ongoing mathematics class observation shows that the use of everyday language
helps the teacher to introduce mathematical concepts and contexts in a motivating
manner. It also assists in developing student mathematical skills by using those in real-
life examples; it acts as a bridge for mastering problem-solving skills. Thus, the
beginning of mathematical learning is based on creating a connection between the use
of a language and physical objects. As children grow up, the use of the language fosters
their “acquaintance” and “friendship” with the symbolic nature of numerals. In other
words, English and mathematics create a perfect partnership since mathematics
embraces the content and boosts students’ cognitive skills and logical and creative
thinking. At the same time, English supports verbal communication, which teachers
desperately need to be able to explain the complexity of mathematics to students.
From the perspective of an English-language instructor, mathematical terms must be
explicitly taught in addition to other definitions of words and how to use them correctly
in a mathematical context. For example, the word plus means “addition”; however, so
do total, together, sum, and add. What a nightmare for students of other languages! To
overcome these vocabulary challenges, students should be encouraged to support each
other in their mother tongue. When it comes to word problems, visual cues, graphic
representations, and realia can help students to grasp a mathematical problem.
Furthermore, reading a mathematical problem several times by using different lingual
expressions meaning the same concepts (for example, we can use difference, minus, or
take away) and discussing what that means might be more effective than just focusing
on keywords in the word problem. Krick-Morales (2006) provided a good example that
illustrates what is stated above. “Maria has 24 marbles, which is 8 fewer than Paolo
has. How many marbles does Paolo have?” (para. 3) If teachers focus on keywords, the
expression fewer than might confuse students because they might have been taught that
fewer than means to subtract. However, it is not the case in this word problem.
Mathematics teachers, therefore, should also focus on the context in which keywords
are used.
The second variable impacting mathematics teaching and learning, the use of
technology in the classroom, provides additional opportunities for learners to interact
with mathematical concepts. Students can discover more aspects of mathematical
objects by playing games and using simulations. For example, the use of Kahoot
(www.kahoot.com), a digital quiz-based learning platform to incorporate gamification
in teaching and learning mathematics, affords creating multiple-choice, multiple-
answer, type-an-answer, and puzzle questions that help students both to learn new
mathematical concepts and to review their already obtained knowledge. In addition,
using Kahoot in class makes students active learners, which is likely to foster their
learning outcomes. For instance, when teaching an equation of straight lines, the
mathematician expert divides students into two groups to create a competitive
environment and enable their peer support. Specifically, he assigns two distinct points
of a straight line to one group and asks them to find the correct straight line passing
through the given points. At the same time, another group performs the same task using
different data (i.e., different points). Both groups work hard to find the correct answer
172 N. Borysenko et al.

first because they want to win the game. The number of members in a group may vary
from three to five depending on the overall number of students in the classroom.
Students can play the Kahoot game on their laptops or smartphones. The mathematician
guides students through every step to ensure that each student has accessed the Kahoot
web page and entered the pin for the game he provided. Our expert’s classroom
observation data indicate that students like group participation more when they are
taught a new mathematical notion. This is because when students are introduced to a
new mathematical concept, they have opportunities to interact and collaborate using the
English language, request support from their peers, and develop an answer as a group.
The mathematics expert’s experience indicates that using the classic/individual
Kahoot play mode is more beneficial for student achievement during in-class reviews
of already-learned concepts before a benchmark assessment. For instance, the expert
usually includes multiple-choice and jumble questions in applied mathematics final
review class. He uses multiple-choice questions to review fundamental mathematical
terms. In the case of statistical concepts, jumble questions are used. Moreover, these
students insist on the classic/individual Kahoot play mode before benchmark
assessments to assess their current mathematical competences and identify gaps in their
knowledge before formal assessment. Kahoot’s competitive features help students to
engage in in-game activities and focus on winning.
Another example of the beneficial use of technology for mathematics learning is
Desmos (www.desmos.com), a web-based graphing calculator. For example, if a
2𝑥 +𝑥 2
student wants to graph a complicated function, such as f(𝑥) = , with a couple of
𝑥−2
clicks, the student will see Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Mathematical complicated calculations in Desmos.

Students can easily change the domain of the function to “play” with it to find
maxima or minima points, x- or y-intercepts, or use any of the numerable features that
the application provides. They can also simply find the intersection point(s) of the
 The Intersections of English-Language Proficiency 173

above curve with another curve so they can easily solve simultaneous equations. For
example, the intersection point(s) of the above function with the additional function
𝑦 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑥 is needed. Then, the result will show as it is in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Display in Desmos with more than one graphed function.

Other digital tools to enhance mathematics learning include applications where a

derivative, an integral, or other mathematical objects can be calculated with a click of
a button, suggesting, if the user wishes, the steps for the solution. A well-known website
to do these calculations is Symbolab (symbolab.com), see Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Symbolab website view.

The above digital tools were chosen to provide examples because they belong to
open-source software. This means that no instructor or student may have any
restrictions on their usage. As such, they can be deployed to spark student interest in
learning mathematics and increase their motivation and performance (Zakaria &
Khalid, 2016). Moreover, Talib et al. (2018) claim that mathematics students involved
174 N. Borysenko et al.

in using technology for learning purposes can work at higher levels of generalization
and abstraction.

5 Conclusion

Recent research studies highlight the link between language proficiency and
mathematical performance and the benefits of using technology to support both
mathematics and language learners. When the medium of instruction in a mathematics
classroom is English, there is a further layer of complexity in acquiring mathematical
skills. However, teachers can overcome these challenges by applying tried and tested
strategies. These include (1) teaching mathematical concepts through explicit
vocabulary instruction, (2) providing mathematical tasks meaningful to students, (3)
suggesting equations within real-life contexts and storytelling, (4) adding gamification
elements in classroom activities by giving students applicable tasks and deploying
gamification software; this implies that both teachers and students are technology-
savvy enough to apply digital tools successfully, and (5) using software to create
mathematical diagrams and solve equations.
Such strategies can be effective in overcoming poor mathematical performance in
the classroom. Moreover, using those strategies will help students overcome their
phobia and predisposed negative connotations to mathematics as a science. The authors
suggest that math instruction should move from scientific pedagogy with its facts and
specific formulae to a language-focused, technology-infused pedagogy to support non-
native English-speaking students. More research on interdisciplinary approaches to
teaching mathematics is needed to warrant further investigation by mathematicians,
language teachers, and technology experts in cooperation rather than in separate areas
of study.

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