Abstract
Linguistic relativity, the idea that language affects the way that people think, and that people who speak different languages think differently, has implications for mathematics education because people use different languages to teach, learn and practice mathematics. This paper reviews research on linguistic relativity and number, looking at languages with very few number words, languages with extensive and regular number systems and the order of composition of numbers. Linguistic relativity appears to involve memory more than perception. Linguistic relativity effects involving number need to be taken into account in designing mathematics education research.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 38th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education and the 36th Conference of the North American Chapter of the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 2) |
Editors | Cynthia Nicol, Peter Liljedahl, Susan Oesterle, Darien Allan |
Publisher | PME |
Pages | 433-440 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Volume | 2 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780864913623 |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |