How did Pakistani parents deal with the issues of language when supporting children’s mathematics learning?
As a majority of the Pakistani parents had learned mathematics in Urdu, they were by necessity forced to consider the role that language plays in learning mathematics. The researchers found that Pakistani parents took a variety of positions, ranging from only using Urdu, to ensuring that children discussed mathematical problems at home in English. One parent maintained that it was important to speak in Urdu with his children, including when helping with school work: “Some people … use English more because … [they were] born here so they speak their language less frequently, but … everyone has their own point of view, but we don’t want, they should continue to understand their language along with it, so that some of our own culture too.” (Parent of Pakistani, low achieving Y6 pupil) At the other end of the spectrum were parents who only spoke English with their children when supporting their school work. In circumstances where the mother did not speak much English, other family members
