Research on multilingualism in mathematics education in South Africa: 2000–2007

Setati, Mamokgethi; Chitera, Nancy; Essien, Anthony A.

doi:10.1080/10288457.2009.10740662

Cited by 53 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Some models of bilingual education academics(Setati and Adler 2000;Setati et al 2009), Australasian academics(Clarkson 2009; Edmonds-Wathen 2017; Meaney et al 2017; Jorgensen 2018), European academics(Planas 2018;Prediger 2019) and academics working in the USA (see, for example, Moschkovich 2010; Civil 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Language as an including or excluding factor in mathematics teaching and learning

Robertson

Graven

2019

Math Ed Res J

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This article explores the power of language to either include or exclude certain groups of students from genuine opportunities for mathematical sense-making. The substantial increase worldwide in the number of students learning mathematics through a language other than their primary language makes this a particularly urgent issue. This paper focuses on the South African situation, where, because English is widely perceived as the language of opportunity, it is, by grade 4, overwhelmingly the chosen language of learning and teaching. The epistemological and pedagogical consequences of this choice are evidenced in the poor performance of the country's students on national and international assessments of mathematical proficiency. Drawing on research literature around language immersion education models and the extent to which these align with certain key principles of second language acquisition, this position paper motivates for a stronger and more sustained commitment to providing students, particularly those from marginalized and vulnerable communities, with opportunities for becoming both bilingual and biliterate. Empirical data from two South African grade 4 mathematics classrooms are used to illuminate aspects of the mathematical sense-making challenges students and their teachers face without such commitment.

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confidence: 99%

Language as an including or excluding factor in mathematics teaching and learning

Robertson

Graven

2019

Math Ed Res J

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“…It is also the language of prestige and is seen as the language that provides access to the workplace and the world. The research of Setati (see Setati, et al, 2009 for list of Setati's publications) and Adler (2001) has done much to legitimise the practice of code-switching. Webb and Webb (2008) showed that real explorative discourse can only be reached if learners use their main language, while Vorster (2008) and Setati, et al (2008) indicated that it may be beneficial to complement code-switching with written notes in the relevant indigenous languages.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Research on dual language use in multilingual classrooms has been forthcoming from contexts all over the world. In mathematics education in southern Africa, the different aspects of code-switching have been particularly scrutinised (Adler, 2001;Setati et al, 2002Setati et al, , 2009Webb & Webb, 2008). This paper focuses on another strategy closely related to code-switching, namely that of educational simultaneous interpreting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Educational simultaneous interpreting as tool to stimulate reflection on multilingualism in mathematics teacher education programmes

Vorster

Zerwick

2013

South African Journal of African Languages

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“…A recent review of research on multilingualism in mathematics education in South Africa highlights the need for more research in this area of study (Setati et al 2009 ) . This area of research is crucial, not only because it is important for equity and access for all to mathematics, but also because a majority of learners in South Africa learn in a language that is not their fi rst, main or home language.…”

Section: What Is It That We Still Do Not Know?mentioning

confidence: 99%