Língua materna e linguagem matemática: Influências na resolução de problemas matemáticos

Abstract

In this study we will try to explain the difficulties of the students before the set of mathematical problems, in particular the obstacles in understanding both their Mother Tongue and the Mathematical Language, and the influence of them in the mathematical problem solving process. For the foundation of this study, we conducted a literature review on national studies that have addressed this question in order to understand what they point out about the issue of reading and interpretation problems in Mathematics classes. The researches point out to a lack of an adequate job with the issue of reading and interpretation of texts in Mathematics classes, in a context where this work is only restricted to teachers of Portuguese Language, which, of course, is not enough, since the preoccupation concerning the issue of reading and interpretation should be given in all subjects, especially in Mathematics classes, given the specificities of this area of knowledge. So based on several researches about this subject, we could see the need in try to understand the difficulties that the students of the first year of high school have before the statements of mathematical problems regarding Mother Language and Mathematics Language, as well as the influence of these languages in the process of problem solving, since most of the surveyed research was located in Elementary Education I and II. The research was developed in three steps: application of a previous questionnaire, application of a list of problems, and didactic intervention. The intervention was developed in a regular class of the first year of high school, in a public school of Paraíba state network, where the work consists in 15 questions, within a period of 10 meetings. The research is qualitative (SAMPIERI, COLLADO AND LUCIO 2013; STAKE, 2011), in the pedagogical research mode (LANKSHEAR AND KNOBEL, 2008). In some of the obtained results it was possible to highlight the limited vocabulary used by the students, before the lack of several words, whether Mother Language or Mathematics Language, written with many spelling and grammatical errors, a weak argument, while they also have difficulties in various mathematical knowledge series earlier, mainly in fraction, algebra and in the understanding of different words that have a frequently use in the mathematical Language (perimeter, consecutive numbers, folded, progression ) as well as in their Mother Tongue.