From Zwiers, J., Dieckmann, J., Rutherford-Quach, S., Daro, V., Skarin, R., Weiss, S., & Malamut, J. (2017). Principles for the Design of Mathematics Curricula:

Promoting Language and Content Development. Retrieved from Stanford University, UL/SCALE 

website: Supporting ELLs in Mathematics | Understanding Language

4. MAXIMIZE META-AWARENESS

Strengthen the ”meta-” connections and distinctions between mathematical ideas, reasoning, and language.

Language is a tool that not only allows students to communicate their math understanding to others, but also to organize their own experience, ideas, and learning for themselves. Meta-awareness is consciously thinking about one's own thought processes or language use. Meta-awareness develops when students and teachers engage in classroom activities or discussions that bring explicit attention to what students need to do to improve communication and/or reasoning about mathematical concepts. When students are using language in ways that are purposeful and meaningful for themselves, in their efforts to understand – and be understood by – each other, they are motivated to attend to ways in which language can be both clarified and clarifying (Mondada, 2004).

Meta-awareness in students is strengthened when, for example, teachers ask students to explain to each other the strategies they brought to bear to solve a challenging multi-step problem. They might be asked, “How does yesterday’s method connect with the method we are learning today?,” or, “What ideas are still confusing to you?” These questions are metacognitive because they help students to reflect on their own and others’ learning of the content. Students can also reflect on their expanding use of language; for example, by comparing the differences between how an idea is expressed in their native language and in English. Or by comparing the language they used to clarify a particularly challenging mathematics concept with the language used by their peers in a similar situation. This is called metalinguistic because students reflect on English as a language, their own growing use of that language, as well as on particular ways ideas are communicated in mathematics. Students learning English benefit from being aware of how language choices are related to the purpose of the task and the intended audience, especially if an oral or written report is required. Both the metacognitive and the metalinguistic are powerful tools to help students self-regulate their academic learning and language acquisition.