Language of Learning and Teaching in Schools: An Issue for Research in Mathematics Teacher Education?

From Section:
Instruction in Teacher Training
Published:
Jun. 01, 2011

Source: Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, Volume 14, Issue 3, (June 2011), p. 231-246.

In this article, the author presents an analysis of the literature on multilingual teacher education in Africa.
Specifically, the author looks at what it is that governments in interested countries are doing in teacher education programs in response to the introduction of local languages in schools.

From the literature examined, the author found that although there is awareness in a number of countries of the need for multilingual teacher education, not much has been done in order to train mathematics teachers on how to use local languages in the classroom.

The author therefore recommends that, for those countries that have implemented or planning to introduce the use of local languages in schools, some reforms should also take place in teacher education programs in terms of training the prospective teachers how to teach in local languages.


Updated: Jan. 17, 2017
Keywords:
Africa | Mathematics | Multilingualism | Reviews of the literature | Teacher education | Teacher education programs | Teaching methods