Plural or singular? Linguistic discrepancies in grammatical numbers in textbooks of mathematics used in Italian primary and secondary schools

Abstract

Starting from the corpus of the project Italmatica. Comprendere la matematica a scuola, fra lingua comune e linguaggio specialistico, the present contribution proposes an analysis of the expression of the gram­matical category of number within specific statements of geometry: the definitions of the elements of the polygon. The analysis is based on the combination of research in linguistics and mathematics education. In particular, examples taken from the corpus are examined with the aim of analyzing the homogeneity or discrepancy in number and the linguistic strategies that convey it. The results show how a widespread linguistic discrepancy in the category of number corresponds to a significant lack of adherence to mathematical contents, which may negatively affect students' understanding.

Keywords

• language for special purposes
• language of mathematics
• grammatical number
• reading literacy
• textbook analysis
• primary school
• lower-secondary school