Language and Mathematics Education

A volume in Research in Mathematics EducationSeries Editor Barbara J. Dougherty Iowa State UniversityMarketing description: Issues of language in mathematics learning and teaching are important for bothpractical and theoretical reasons. Addressing issues of language is crucial for improving mathematicslearning and teaching for students who are bilingual multilingual or learning English. These issues are alsorelevant to theory: studies that make language visible provide a complex perspective of the role of languagein reasoning and learning mathematics. What is the relevant knowledge base to consider when designingresearch studies that address issues of language in the learning and teaching of mathematics? Whatscholarly literature is relevant and can contribute to research? In order to address issues of language inmathematics education researchers need to use theoretical perspectives that integrate current views ofmathematics learning and teaching with current views on language discourse bilingualism and secondlanguage acquisition. This volume contributes to the development of such integrated approaches to research on language issues in mathematicseducation by describing theoretical perspectives for framing the study of language issues and methodological issues to consider when designingresearch studies. The volume provides interdisciplinary reviews of the research literature from four very different perspectives: mathematics education(Moschkovich) Cultural-Historical-Activity Theory (Gutiérrez Sengupta-Irving & Dieckmann) systemic functional linguistics (Schleppegrell) andassessment (Solano-Flores). This volume offers graduate students and researchers new to the study of language in mathematics education anintroduction to resources for conceptualizing framing and designing research studies. For those already involved in examining language issues thevolume provides useful and critical reviews of the literature as well as recommendations for moving forward in designing research. Lastly the volumeprovides a basis for dialogue across multiple research communities engaged in collaborative work to address these pressing issues.