Austrian comparison of language teachers’ and mathematics teachers’ views on teaching mathematics in a foreign language

The interviewed teachers were very ambitioned ones with a good knowledge of bilingual education. The mainly mentioned language is English. Concerning the proposals for the topics or other methodologies the interviewed teachers don’t say so much without having tried before. All of the 19 interviewed teachers teach at least two subjects (as per the Austrian teacher education system), all of them teach mathematics as one of their subjects.

They all see it as a profit to teach Mathematics in a foreign language. They mentioned an expansion of the language competence for both pupils and teachers, the profits from the second language for the professional future, the overcoming of inhibitions at mathematical or language questions and the support of the mental mobility. The teachers most fear is to have a too low language competence and the related problems of misunderstanding in the classroom.