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Numeracy and Literacy in a Bilingual Context: Indigenous Teachers Education in Brazil
Author(s): Jackeline Rodrigues Mendes

Source: Educational Studies in Mathematics, Vol. 64, No. 2, Multilingual Issues in Mathematics
Education (Feb., 2007), pp. 217-230
Published by: Springer
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JACKELINE RODRIGUES MENDES
NUMERACY AND LITERACY IN A BILINGUAL CONTEXT:
INDIGENOUS TEACHERS EDUCATION IN BRAZIL
(Received
9 December
2004;
accepted
14 October
2005)
ABSTRACT. This
paper presents
the results of a
study developed
in the context of in-
digenous
teachers education from
Xingu
Indian
Park,
Brazil. The
indigenous bilingual (or
multilingual
in some
cases)
teachers that
participated
in this education
program
were from
14 ethnic
groups.
The research focused on a mathematics textbook
production,
written in
indigenous language by indigenous
teachers to be used at schools in the Park. The
paper
dis-
cusses the
numeracy-literacy practices
in this
process
and focuses on the
meanings,
values
and
ways
of use that are related to
numbers, writing
and
drawing.
In
particular,
mathematics
problems
written
by
the
indigenous
teachers
(in indigenous language
and
Portuguese)
are
analyzed.
The
analysis
shows how
aspects
of
orality
influence the
writing
of these
problems.
KEY WORDS:
numeracy, literacy, indigenous,
education,
ethnomathematics
1. Introduction
Although
it is often believed that Brazil is a
monolingual country,
and
that the
spoken language
is
Portuguese,
there are several situations where
other
languages
are in
use,
integrating
a
specific
social-cultural context
as,
for
example,
the
indigenous
communities and the
groups
of
immigrants
who live in Brazil.
Focusing specifically
on the
indigenous
communities
in
Brazil,
we can observe that in such
societies,
the situation
concerning
mother
tongue (indigenous language)
use and the use and
knowledge
of the
official
language (Portuguese)
forms a
complex
and
heterogeneous picture
(MEC, 1994).
Indigenous
school education in
Brazil,
according
to Cavalcanti and
Maher
(1993),
was
historically
marked
by
two
prevailing
total immer-
sion
programs.
In
one,
indigenous
children were taken
away
from their
environment and submitted to a
monolingual
education in
Portuguese,
ac-
cording
to an official school curriculum. In transition
programs, bilingual
educational
practice
was
advocated,
although
the
indigenous language
was
actually given
a subordinate
role,
being
a means of instruction in Elemen-
tary
School until the
necessary proficiency
in
Portuguese
was attained. In
opposition
to such
models,
a third one has established itself in the search
for an
indigenous schooling
aimed at
linguistic preservation
and cultural
emancipation
of
indigenous peoples (Cavalcanti
and
Maher,
op. cit).
The
Educational Studies in Mathematics
(2005)
64: 217-230
DOI: 10.1007/sl0649-005-9009-x
Springer
2005
218 J.R. MENDES
search for such a model led to a discussion about the need for a
specific,
differentiated,
intercultural and
fully bilingual indigenous
school.
Since the 1988
constitution,
in which the 170
indigenous languages
in
the
country
were
recognized,
a
process
of
developing indigenous
schools,
was started which addressed the cultural
specificities
of each
group,
con-
tributed to the
process
of
acquisition
of
autonomy by indigenous
commu-
nities. This concern with cultural
specificities
and
autonomy acquisition,
together
with the
question
of social-cultural and
linguistic diversity
of the
indigenous groups
in
Brazil,
drew attention to the
necessity
of
having
in-
digenous
teachers work in the
schools,
and led to the
development
of ed-
ucation
programs
to
prepare
these teachers. These
programs began
in the
80s
through projects developed by non-governmental organizations.
In the
mid
90s,
other
programs
were constituted
by
the action of state education
bureaus.
The
attempt
to create and to establish a
bilingual,
intercultural and
spe-
cific
indigenous
school resulted in curricular discussion
processes (RCNEI,
1998),
and in the increased
development
of
bilingual
materials
by
the in-
digenous
teachers in the
process
of their teacher education.
This
study
was
developed
in the context of
indigenous
teacher educa-
tion courses at
Xingu
Indian Park
(area
2.642.003
hectares)
in Mato Grosso
State. The courses have been conducted
by
the
non-governmental organi-
zation Instituto Socioambiental-ISA since
1996,
with the
participation
of
50
indigenous
teachers
representing
the 14 ethnic
groups living
in the Park.
The
majority
of these teachers had not had
any previous schooling experi-
ence. The author's role in the
project
since 1997 was to contribute to the
teachers' mathematical education.
This
paper
is concerned with the
relationship
between mathematics
and
language
in
bilingual
contexts,
from the
perspectives
of
numeracy
and
literacy.
It includes issues that
spring
from
practices
constructed around the
use of
writing
in communities of oral
tradition,
in which the contact with
written
language
is recent. It first
presents
a theoretical framework related to
research on
literacy
and
numeracy
in
bilingual
contexts. The research
study
focused on the
process
of the
development
of a mathematics book written in
the
indigenous language by
the
indigenous
teachers
(Mendes, 2001).
This
paper reports part
of the research
results,
and leads to a discussion about the
numeracy
and
literacy practices
of the
indigenous
teachers
participating
in
this
process.
2. Literacy and numeracy
There are several theoretical
approaches concerning
the nature of
writing.
Two
important approaches
see
writing
as:
NUMERACY AND LITERACY IN A BILINGUAL CONTEXT 219
a form of
superior technology (Goody,
1977;
Goody
and
Watt, 1997);
related to the social contexts of use and
underlying ideologies (Street,
1984);
The view of
writing
as a
superior technology emphasizes
the advan-
tages
of the written mode over the oral
mode,
presenting
a western eth-
nocentric literate
view,
founded on the oral/literate
dichotomy.
As Graff
(1987) pointed
out,
literacy
is seen as a variable to
distinguish
modern
from
non-modern,
and
developed
from
developing.
The
concept
of
literacy adopted
in this
study,
however,
is in accordance
with that of Street
(1984, 1995)
in which
writing
is related to its social
contexts of use. From this
perspective,
different cultures
give
different em-
phases
to written
language learning
and make
specific
uses of the oral
mode,
which varies with
time,
space
and
objectives.
Street
points
out the
need to understand the social
meanings
involved in
writing,
and states that
it is not
possible
to refer to one
society
as
completely
literate,
since there are
mixed oral and literate
practices
within a
given society.
Street
(1995)
also
stresses the fact that much research into
literacy
has been based
mainly
on
conceptions
centered on the
meaning literacy
has to western culture. Much
research about the transition from
orality
to
writing
in 'other
cultures',
ac-
cording
to
Street,
tends to view how
'they'
become 'us' . Street criticizes the
western ethnocentric view in which
literacy
has been considered
always
in
positive
terms.
Concerning indigenous peoples
when faced with
European
domination,
Street
points
out that the
meaning
of
literacy
to
any group
is
related to the
way
it
experiences
it.
In this
sense,
literacy
can be seen as a social
activity permeated by
social
practices.
Street
(1995)
refers to
literacy practices
as social and cultural
behaviors and
conceptualizations
that
give reading
and
writing
a
meaning.
The
literacy practices
themselves
bring
social and cultural standards that
determine
values, beliefs,
and forms of
use,
objectives,
roles and attitudes
related to
writing
in a
specific
context.
Street's
perspective
on
literacy
is similar to studies
developed
in the area
of ethnomathematics
(D'Ambrosio, 1985, 1990; Barton, 1996;
Knijnik,
1996),
in which diverse mathematical
practices
are seen
according
to the
social and cultural contexts in which
they present
themselves. The idea
of
numeracy
in this work is based in such a
perspective.
That
is,
in the
same
way
as
writing
and
reading,
the
understanding
of numerical situa-
tions involves
knowledge, capacities
and abilities that do not
only
involve
mere number
decoding;
it
comprises
the
understanding
of diverse relations
according
to the social context in which
they
are inserted.
Barton
(1994),
when
discussing literacy,
makes a reference to other
symbolic systems,
such as those of
mathematics,
and
points
out that such
220 J.R. MENDES
systems
are embedded in
particular
human
languages
and therefore are
associated with
particular language practices.
For
Barton,
it is
necessary
to
view
numeracy
from the
standpoint
of its cultural
grounds, observing
how
it is used in
particular practices.
Thus,
numeracy
should not be seen as a
singular thing:
one can refer to diverse
numeracies,
in the same
way
that
the idea of
plurality
has been associated to
literacy.
Lave's
(1988)
work includes elements in this direction. Based on a
study
carried out with a
group
of
supermarket shoppers,
Lave shows how
arithmetic
practices change
with
location,
involving procedures
that are
associated with established choice criteria. These criteria are of social and
cultural
origin.
Lave stresses such
practices
differ from school
practices,
for the latter are
guided by
a
symbolic image
of
rationality,
usefulness,
and
objectivity
in the
relationship
between mathematics and
money.
The
plurality
of
numeracy
manifests itself in diverse social
practices present
around the notions
of,
for
example, quantification,
measurement,
ordering,
and classification in
specific
contexts,
where the
many
uses of such
practices
are
closely
tied to the social and cultural values that
permeate
them.
In the context of the
research,
the discussions about the mathematics
book and the
problems produced by
the
indigenous
teachers revealed as-
pects
that referred both to
numeracy
and to
literacy;
in other
words,
the
numeracy practices
were interlaced with the
literacy practices.
Because
of
this,
I decided to term them
numeracy-literacy practices.
The work of
Hornberger (1989)
offered a framework for a
conceptualization
of the idea
of
numeracy-literacy pratices
in
bilingual
contexts.
2.1. The oral-literate continuum in
biliteracy
contexts
Hornberger (1989),
draws on the
concept
of
biliteracy
as a common
grounds
between
literacy
and
bilingualism.
She
refers,
in other
words,
to the area
where
they overlap, emphasizing
the
complexity present
in both fields.
Hornberger proposes
a model for the
study
of
biliteracy
based on the lit-
erature on
bilinguism,
second
language
research,
and
literacy.
The model
distinguishes
three levels:
contexts of
biliteracy

development
of the communicative
repertoire
of the biliterate individual
(e.g.
written,
spoken)
modes of
biliteracy, though
which the biliterate individual communicates
(e.g.
forms of
writing, language structure)
Hornberger (1989) points
out that biliterate individuals "draw on
their communicative
repertoire
to
participate appropriately
in
any
given
context"
(p. 280).
This
repertoire
is defined
by
three continua:
NUMERACY AND LITERACY IN A BILINGUAL CONTEXT 22 1
reception-production;
oral
language-written language;
and L1-L2 trans-
ference.
For the
reception-production
continuum,
Hornberger
asserts that
language
and
literacy development
does not move in a linear
sequence
from
receptive (listening
and
reading)
to
productive (speaking
and
writing)
skills but
may begin
at
any point
of this continuum and
carry
on in either
direction. In a similar
way,
the oral
language-written language
continuum
suggests
that
reading
and
writing
are
complementary,
rather than
sequen-
tial, (i.e. assuming
a
'logical sequence'
of
language development through
listening, speaking, reading
and
writing).
The L1-L2 transference contin-
uum
suggests
that what is seen as interference from LI to
L2,
is better
construed as evidence for
learning
in that it
represents
the
application
of
LI
knowledge
to L2.
Hornberger (1989: p. 284) points
out that "native lan-
guage
discourse
patterns
have an
impact
on writers'
learning
of a second
language
and its discourse
patterns".
This focus on the oral-literate continuum is
present
in
biliteracy
con-
texts,
and is used here with the aim of
understanding
the
literacy-numeracy
practices analysed
in the
production
of the mathematics textbook. In the
same
way
as
Street,
Hornberger (1994)
asserts that
biliteracy,
as well as
all
literacy
events,
are constituted
by
the contexts of use. She
gives
the ex-
ample
of the Ute
group,
in northern
Utah,
in which the
patterns
of the oral
speech
in Ute
appear
in the written
English.
For this
example Hornberger
states that each
particular
instance of
literacy
can be
placed
at a
point
on
the oral-literate
continuum,
and that a strict relation exists between oral
and literate uses of a
language. Going
further,
Hornberger
asserts that a
relation of
complementarity
exists between
orality
and
literacy,
rather than
one of
linearity. Similarly,
we could trace a relation between
numeracy
and
bilingual
contexts under this
perspective,
in which the
numeracy
events
should be visualized in their contexts of use.
3. Numeracy-literacy practices of indigenous teachers
3.1. The
writing presence
in
Xingu
Park
The
presence
of written
language among indigenous peoples
in
Xingu
is
a recent
experience.
It was first introduced in
Portuguese through
contact
such as health
education,
the use of radio transmitters to link
villages,
and
trade with mainstream
society.
Due to difficulties in this
contact,
and the
dependence
on
non-indigenous
intermediation,
communities demanded the
presence
of schools in the Park. The first schools
began
to function
through
the
Fundao
Nacional do Indio-FUNAI
government agency
in the
80s,
with
non-indigenous
teachers
teaching Portuguese
to
monolingual
Indian
students.
222 J.R. MENDES
The failure of such
experiences triggered
an
indigenous
teacher educa-
tion
programme
in the
90s,
in which the teachers
played
an
important
role
in the
community
as mediators in activities that
required writing.
With the
creation of schools within the communities and the
presence
of
indigenous
teachers,
writing
was
given
center
stage.
The
development
of an
indigenous
written
language began
with the
presence
of these
teachers,
who defined their
respective alphabets
based
on
linguistic description,
and started
producing literacy
material for the
schools. Some of them demonstrated an interest in
producing
a mathe-
matics textbook in the
indigenous language.
In order to introduce the four
operations,
teachers decided to
pose problems
that
presented
the
concept
of
each
operation.
We started to write down the
problems,
both in
Portuguese
and in the
The
production
of mathematical
problems
can be seen as
numeracy-literacy
events whose
underlying practices
are
related to how these communities
employ language,
in the sense
proposed
by
Street
(1995).
3.2.
Writing
mathematics
problems
Although
an
expectation
existed on the
part
of the
indigenous
teachers
in
writing typical
mathematical school
problems,
several of them did not
follow the
expected
structure in school
context,
that
is,
the insertion of
data and
question(s). Analysis
of the written
problems
showed
that,
even
when
following
the school
model,
the
indigenous
teachers
only partly
appropriated
the dominant school
numeracy-literacy practices.
This use
presents
discursive characteristics for the
problems
that could be associ-
ated with the
language
used to solve
problems
in
daily
life. For exam-
ple,
a common difference between the texts
produced by
the
indigenous
teachers and the model school
problems
was in the
proposition
of the
question.
This feature was
recurrent, because,
at diverse moments dur-
ing
the
courses,
situations occurred in which
problems
were
presented
without a
question.
In such
cases,
a situation was
presented
and soon af-
ter the teachers showed the solution to an
implied problem, using
num-
bers and
drawings.
Thus
they
transferred oral narrative characteristics
of an
everyday problem
situation into
writing.
The
example
is
presented
below:
"Look,
my pupils, yesterday
I went
fishing
with
my
brother. I
got
three
piraras,
he
got
five
pacus totaling eight
fish. We arrived home then we shared fish with
folks,
we
gave
two for our
neighbors". (Takapeu'i Kaiabi)
In the text above we can observe that Kaiabi's
speech
is directed to
pupils, presenting
a characteristic of involvement with the text
interlocutor,
an
orality
trace.
Moreover,
the narrative is the main
part
and there is no
attempt
to include a
question
that the
pupil
should answer.
These characteristics are distinct from
typical
school
numeracy-literacy
practice. Generally,
the text of a
typical
school
problem
focuses on the con-
tent,
not
presenting any
trace of
intimacy
with the interlocutor.
Moreover,
the aim of the
question
is to make the
pupil
turn his attention
exactly
to the
text content.
In the school
numeracy-literacy practice
there is a belief in text auton-
omy
in relation to mathematical
problems, fitting
the autonomous
literacy
model
proposed by
Street
(1984).
We believe that the
presented
data and
the
question proposition
are
enough
for its
interpretation.
It is
expected,
from the
presented
information,
that the students will establish relations
with the
necessary
mathematical
operations
to reach the
expected
result,
independently
of whether or not
they
make sense.
Figure
1,
for
example,
written
by
the teacher
Tarupi
Kaiabi,
places
the
emphasis
on the narrative
and,
through
the use of
drawings
and
numbers,
incorporates
the solution into the
problem.
There is no formal
question.
In this
example,
the teacher
presents
a narrative. On the
right
side of
the
figure,
he
gives
a
drawing
of canes and on the left
side,
the numerical
Figure
1 .
Tarupi
's
problem
(One
day, my nephew
went to
pick
cane and he invited his
cousin to
go
with him. When
they
arrived at the field,
my nephew picked
10
pieces
of cane
and his cousin did not
pick any.
Then he
gave
4
pieces
of cane to his
cousin).
224 J.R. MENDES
writing
of the related
operation (10
-
4
=
6).
Beneath this
calculation,
he drew a
picture
with the letters D
(set
of
ten)
and U
(unit)
that refers to
abacus use. In this
case,
the solution was not
incorporated
into the written
text; however,
the
drawings,
the numbers and the
operation signs
confer
a narrative character to the
problem.
In the abacus
drawing,
the teacher
shows how the
operation
of subtraction was
concretely
done. In order for
this
drawing
to 'be
read',
a
previous knowledge
of how the abacus works
in this situation of reduction is
necessary.
An
interesting point
is that the
drawing
and the numbers in the
problem
also assume a narrative function.
Although
this
problem
was written in
Portuguese,
it holds a close con-
nection to the
Its aim is to
portray
an
everyday
situa-
tion in which arithmetic is
present.
This elaboration
brings
with it
language
traits used in such situations.
If we
bring
the oral-literate continuum
proposed by Hornberger (1989)
to this
problem-posing
event,
we can
identify
the narrative forms
present
in the
indigenous language
as
occupying
the oral
end,
and the school
prob-
lem text the literate end. The use of narrative is
present
in
many
cultural
practices experienced by
the
indigenous
teachers,
while access to school
problems
has been achieved
through
school manuals written in
Portuguese.
The teachers who
participated
in the
problem-setting
event have built a new
numeracy-literacy practice by resignifying
the written text
by
means of their
experiences
both with
orality,
as well as with
writing
in the school context.
The idea of a continuum
operating
between these two
languages,
in this
case,
may
be
analyzed by observing
the construction of another kind of
text that
presents
characteristics of both ends of the
continuum,
that
is,
an
oral-literate
blend,
as
proposed by
Street
(1984),
the ends of the continuum
being occupied by
both
languages.
Figures
2 and 3 show the idea of narrative associated with the visual
representation
of the
problem.
Narrative is a
strong
trait in the
process
of
production, incorporation
and
maintenance of social and cultural
knowledge
and norms
among indigenous
groups.
It should be
stressed,
as
Finnegan (1970) points
out,
that there
is a
complex
network involved in the
production
of
signification
in such
cultures,
which are not
exclusively
oral. A number of codes relate to the
senses such as
smell, vision,
etc. In the construction of narratives for the
mathematics
problems,
the
indigenous
teachers
assign drawings
a
particular
value as will be
presented
in the
following
discussion.
3.3. The role
of drawing
in
In other
events,
drawing
was also
present
in the
numeracy-literacy prac-
tices, as,
for
example,
in
indigenous
teachers' classroom diaries. In
these,
Figure
2. Turtle
Hunting
( I and
my
cousin went to hunt turtles in the river. I took four turtles
and
my
cousin took
three.Together
we took seven
turtles).
the
drawings
were associated with narratives about the lessons and the
arithmetic and
literacy
activities
they developed. Figure
4 comes from a
teacher'
diary.
In
Figure
4, the
indigenous
teacher
speaks
of the activities that he de-
veloped
with his students. The
drawings
in his
diary
are
typical patterns
from baskets made in the teacher's
community. They
are
incorporated
into
the account with the
following phrase:
"Entcw en ensinei assim" (Then
I
taught
like
that).
This
phrase
also
gives
the
drawing
the role of
informing.
This
question
of the use of
drawing
in classroom diaries is discussed
in Monte's work
(1994, 1996),
which is based on classroom diaries of
Kaxinawa
(Acre)
indigenous
teachers. In a similar
way
to the
Xingu
teach-
ers'
diaries, the author
(
1 996: 1 1
4)
observed that Kaxinawa teachers' draw-
ings
are an established
part
of curriculum. Monte asserts that these
drawings
do not
represent
a mere aesthetic and ornamental
exercise, but an author
conception
with
regard
to the
study
and to the act of
writing.
This
concep-
tion is based on the word kene sense for the
Kaxinawa,
which
means,
in
the same
way, drawing
and
writing.
226 J.R. MENDES
Figure
3. Harvest of cane
(Yesterday,
I went to
pick
cane and I
picked
10
pieces
of cane.
After,
I met
my
brother and I
gave
to him 4
pieces
of
cane).
Figure
4. Teacher
diary:
a math's lesson
(I
worked with children and I asked them to count
the
fingers
until 10.
After,
I asked them to draw a tatu and the
drawings
in Kaiabi' baskets.
Then I
taught
like
that).
As we can observe in Monte's work
(
1
996),
and in the
Xingu indigenous
teacher
diary examples, drawings
and
writing
are
assuming
similar func-
tions. This
suggests
that the construction of
in
these
groups
has associated elements that are based on other
representation
systems present
in such
groups.
The works of Muller
(1976),
Vidal and Muller
(1986),
and Ribeiro
(1986),
show that
indigenous
societies use other code
systems,
structural-
ized and
symbolic,
for their
representations. Paintings
and
adornments,
for
example, represent
a
message
code that
gives
information about structural
aspects
of the
group's
social
organization.
The relation that has been estab-
lished between
drawings
and
writing
can also be observed in words from
indigenous languages
that have been attributed to
writing.
For
example,
the
words kwasiat
(in Kaiabi), kwatsiarapat (in Asurini)
and kwanchiana
(in
Tapirap),
mean
drawing
or
painting,
and were extended to the word "writ-
ten" after contact with
writing (Ribeiro, 1989).
In the case of the Guarani
group,
the term
ipara,
which can be translated as trace and
appears
in
the
categorization
standards of craftwork
drawing,
is
assigned
to describe
writing.
In the same
way,
the Kaxinaw word
kene,
which is associated
with the
geometric drawings
that
appear
in
corporal
and facial
paintings,
in
fabrics and
ceramics,
has been
used,
according
to Gavazzi
(1994),
to refer
to
alphabetic
letters and to the act of
writing.
The creation of a narrative for school
problems by
the
indigenous
teach-
ers from
Xingu
also
assigned
to
drawing
the function of
conveying
both the
mathematical situation and the
problem solving process.
In conventional
school
texts,
the use of
drawings
and numerical
writing
assists the
problem
solving process,
and the
question proposition generally
makes a water-
tight
division between the verbal text and the arithmetical
one,
suggesting
the idea of translation from one
language
to the other. The
drawing,
in
turn,
serves
only
as visual
support.
The
way
the teachers were
constructing
the
problem
text does not establish this
watertight
division,
because the
narrative
incorporates
the visual and the arithmetical text in the action of
identifying
the situation
and,
within
it,
they
both
identify
the
sequence
of
arithmetical towards the desired
objective. Figure
5 illustrates this charac-
teristic.
The
presence
of
drawings
in
in this context
shows that the
meaning given
to
writing
remains connected to other
systems
of
representation present
in these communities. In order to understand such
practices
it is
necessary
to
go beyond meanings given
to
literacy by
western
culture,
as
pointed
out
by
Street
(1995).
Besides the
specific
uses of written
and oral
means,
indicated
by
Street,
it is
necessary
to add the role of visual
communication in
specific groups.
In the context of
indigenous
teachers'
numeracy-literacy practices,
not
only
the
verbal,
but also the visual
aspect
are
important,
and are different from the
way
visual communication is
conceived in the western
view,
particularly
in the school context. In this
respect,
Kress and van Leeuwen
(1996), point
to the need to understand
the
place
of visual communication in a
given society,
which can
only
can
be
understood,
on the one
hand,
in the context of the available forms in this
228 J.R. MENDES
Figure
5. Harvest of
papaya (One day,
two women went to
pick papayas
in the field. Each
one
brought
a basket with four
papayas
inside.
After,
they put
the
papayas together
and
divided
among
two
children).
society
and,
on the
other,
through
the uses and values
given
to these visual
forms.
The
profusion
of
drawings present
in the
writing
of the
indigenous
teachers
may
be found in other
groups
in
Brazil,
such as the
Kaxinaw,
in
the state of Acre. Souza's
(2000)
work discusses the multimodal
aspect
of
the texts of Kaxinaw
teachers,
asserting
that the
presence
of the
drawings
in the teachers' texts indicates "the resistance of the Kaxinaw writers to
the
temporal
and
space linearity
and to the limitations of the
alphabetical
writing." (Souza,
2000:
p. 83)
The multimodal character that Souza refers
to could also be attributed to the mathematical
problem
texts
produced
by
the
indigenous
teachers.
Verbal,
numerical and drawn features were all
incorporated
in
writing
mathematics
problems, giving
a narrative form to
them.
Another
important aspect
that should be
addressed,
concerning
the use
of
drawings
in the
of
indigenous
teachers is
that it is considered
writing.
This can be seen in their
growing
narrative
function. This
aspect may
be related to the discussion
presented by Mignolo
(1994)
about Mesoamerican
literacy
in colonial
times,
since
they presented
different
conceptions
of
writing. Mignolo
states that there is a
separation
between
drawing
and
writing
in the western
perspective,
which
grounds
the
belief that the dominant
literacy practice
is
fully alphabetic,
that
is,
entirely
phonetic,
which is not the case when one considers the use of
capital
letters,
italic,
etc as visual
non-phonetic representations
of written texts.
4. Conclusion
In this
paper,
I have discussed the role of
in
bilingual
contexts,
specifically
in the context of
indigenous
teacher educa-
tion.
Analysis
of the data has shown that the construction of such
practices
is related to
language practices
lived
deeply by
these teachers.
They
show
an oral-literate
blend,
as
proposed by
Street
(1984),
where
aspects
of in-
digenous language orality
have influenced the
writing
of mathematical
problems.
Although
the written
problems sought
to follow a school
numeracy
practice
model,
they
have revealed
language practices
that are related to
indigenous language
use in
everyday problem
situations.
Moreover,
the
presence
of
drawings
in these narratives shows that a value is attributed
to visual
representation
that is different from the western
point
of view.
These
drawings
are therefore
part
of the
in
these
groups.
Such issues
suggest
the need for reflection
upon
the
understanding
of nu-
meracy
in
billingual/multilingual
contexts.
Although
common sense
might
indicate that the
symbolic systems
in mathematics are self
contained,
as
Barton
(1995) points
out,
they
are
taught, argued,
drawn and used in the
context of a
language.
Thus,
it is
necessary
to observe the
ways
that numer-
acy appears
in
particular languages practices
and how these forms
operate
in each
language.
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JACKELINE RODRIGUES MENDES
Programa
de
Ps-Graduao
Stricto Sensu em
Educao
Universidade So
Francisco,
R. Alexandre
Rodrigues
Barbosa, 45,
CEP
13231-900, Itatiba,
So
Paulo, Brazil

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Numeracy and Literacy in a Bilingual Context: Indigenous Teachers Education in Brazil

Author(s): Jackeline Rodrigues Mendes

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