It all adds up to languages…
Scientific studies have proven that honing literacy skills directly affects mathematical skills, and that the best practices in literacy education should be applied in all subjects: If students applied reading comprehension tools like translating abstract concepts into their own words, defining difficult vocabulary, and finding concrete and semi-concrete examples in order to make real world connections to what they are learning, these students would ultimately be far more successful in maths than they might be otherwise.
As well as developing literacy skills, the study of languages also affords many opportunities to develop pupils’ proficiency with numbers.
“When evaluating the achievement of pupils, inspectors consider…..how well pupils develop a range of skills, including reading, writing, communication and mathematical skills, and how well they apply these across the curriculum” Ofsted, The Framework for School Inspection from January 2012
A new international study has reported that learning grammatical structures in language could greatly influence how children learn and understand maths: Teaching children how to use numbers in everyday language could help with their mathematical development down the line.
According to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, research shows that language learning correlates with higher academic achievement on test scores across the board, including in Maths and English.
Languages and numeracy resources from CILT Cymru: A free to download pack of materials commissioned by CILT Cymru on why languages count.
It all adds up to MFL: Incorporating mathematical skills into language teaching.
MFL + Maths: It’s all in a day’s work for a language teacher…! How language teachers can and do reinforce literacy and numeracy in their teaching.
MFL and numeracy: More ways of incorporating Maths into language lessons.
Matemáticas, ciencia e español: A ¡Vámonos! blog post on teaching maths in Spanish.
My Money Week: A useful site with ideas and further links on currencies, mathematics and language learning.
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