Personal and formal backgrounds as factors which influence linguistic and cultural competency in the teaching of mathematics

This dissertation addresses the need for effective teaching approaches in a society with increasing numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. The focus of this study is on teachers' linguistic and cultural competency (LCC), which I define as teachers' critical thinking and sensitivity concerning issues of language and culture that are relevant to the effective teaching of CLD students. The dissertation examines whether personal background (e.g., ethnicity, language background) and formal background (e.g., having taken formal courses on language and culture in education) shape teachers' LCC and factual and conceptual knowledge relevant to teaching mathematics to CLD students.;Participating teachers are classified according to the combination of two factors. One factor is personal background (PB): teachers who identify themselves as white and whose first language is English versus teachers who identify themselves as belonging to non-white ethnicities and who also may be native speakers of languages other than English. The other factor is formal background (FB): being enrolled in a master's program that focuses on language and culture in education versus being enrolled in master's programs that do not focus on language or culture.;A scenario instrument was constructed which targeted LCC on three dimensions, Cognitive- Linguistic, Socio-Cultural, and Affective. This instrument was intended to be sensitive to the level of depth and sophistication with which teachers reason about culture and language in mathematics teaching. A second instrument was developed which targeted factual and conceptual knowledge on the relationship between mathematics, language, and culture in the teaching of CLD students. This instrument was intended to be sensitive to the extent to which teachers' reasonings about CLD students in the teaching of mathematics were driven by accurate or inaccurate conceptions about language and culture.