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Abstract
The complexity of teaching and learning mathematics in contexts of language diversity has long been acknowledged. This study provides an overview of research that has been conducted in sub-Saharan Africa from 2010 to 2023 on language and multilingualism in the teaching and learning of mathematics. The surveyed research outputs were sourced from mathematics education and general education journals in Africa and top international mathematics education journals. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of these research outputs generated five conceptual themes, namely language as a tool used to create mathematical knowledge and understanding; the teachers’/students’ proficiency in the language of learning and teaching; language policy and policy planning in African multilingual contexts; practices in multilingual mathematics classrooms (MMCs); and theory in researching language and communication in mathematics education. Among other findings, the study revealed where much research has been carried out in sub-Saharan Africa and highlights what education levels have been less focused on in research in mathematics education in multilingual classrooms. Drawing on Ruiz’s (1984) orientation to language, the corpus of literature revealed overall awareness of language as a resource and among its recommendations, the article argues for the operationalisation of the concept of language-as-resource that lends to content and context specific practices such as translanguaging in multilingual mathematics classrooms in sub-Saharan African.
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