COGNITIVE DEMANDS AND
SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Sample problem
• Sandy’s family does its laundry at a coin-operated laundromat.
It costs $1.25 per load to use the washing machine and 25
cents per load to use the dryers for 10 minutes. Sandy’s family
has 5 loads of laundry to do and each load will need to be in a
dryer for 30 minutes. Which expression will give Sandy’s
family the total cost of doing these loads of laundry?
•
•
•
•
A. ($1.25 + $0.25) x 3 x 5
B. [$1.25 + (3 x $0.25)] x 5
C. [(3 x $1.25) + $0.25] x 5
D. 3 x ($1.25 + $ 0.25) x 5
A framework for planning and reflecting on
Mathematics Instruction
A) Academic content
B) Mathematical and cognitive processes
1. How experienced are students with
mathematics concepts and
procedures?
2. How experienced are students with
concepts from other content areas?
1. What mathematical processes are
needed and how experienced are
they using them?
2. What cognitive processing skills are
needed?
C) Mathematical and Contextual
Language
D) Cultural/Life Experiences
1. Do students prior experiences include
the development of mathematical
language?
2. Do words that have specialized
meanings in mathematics have
different meanings in natural
language?
1. What knowledge of cultural or life
experiences is needed to understand
the problem statement?
2. What connections need to be made
between the mathematics of the
classroom and student experience?