Volume: 8  Number: 4  Page: 313–327

Empowerment, EAL and the National Numeracy Strategy

Richard Barwell Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, UK

This paper concerns the relationship between learning English as an additional language (EAL) and school mathematics. In bilingual education, Cummins has proposed a distinction between coercive and collaborative power-relations as an important consideration in the education of such students, advocating collaboration as a means to empower such students, and so enable more effective learning. In this paper, I explore these ideas through a discursive examination of two texts: extracts from the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS) concerning EAL; and extracts from a transcript of two EAL students working on a mathematics classroom task. My analysis highlights the multilayered nature of collaborative and coercive powerrelations within mathematics classrooms.

Keywords: bilingual education, inclusion, mathematics education

© 2005 R. Barwell

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