Investigating the effects of mathematics language factor on 11th grade foreign students' reasoning and proving skills

One of the important skills that students are expected to acquire in mathematics education is reasoning skill. When the Mathematics Curriculum is examined, it is seen that reasoning skills and the ability to make proofs are emphasized at all grade levels. Mathematical proofs, which are among the concepts that develop students' reasoning skills, serve as a tool that makes learning permanent and improves it in mathematics education. The use of mathematical language is among the factors affecting students' proof skills. The importance given to reasoning and proof skills in mathematics education has led to an increase in the number of studies examining students' reasoning and proof processes. In this study, it was aimed to examine the reasoning skills of foreign secondary school students, to reveal their reasoning and proof skills, to determine the effect of mathematical language on these skills and to develop suggestions on this issue. The study was based on a case study, which is one of the qualitative research approaches. The study was conducted with 20 Syrian male students. As a result of the study, it was observed that students mostly formed arguments based on external authority and at the experimental level and found these arguments convincing. It was found that the students showed the characteristics of symbolic proof schema in the questionnaire in which mathematical language was predominant, while they showed the characteristics of pure empiricism proof schema in the questionnaire in which everyday language was used intensively.