This edited book attempts to foreground how challenges and complexities between policy and practice intertwine in the teaching and learning of the STEM subjects in multilingual settings, and how they (policy and practice) impact on educational processes, developments and outcomes. The unique feature of this book, thus, lies in its combination of not just language issues in the teaching and learning of the STEM subjects, but also in how these issues relate to policy and practice in multilingual contexts and how STEM research and practice may inform and shape language policies and their implementation in multilingual contexts. This book is of interest to stakeholders involved in STEM education such as researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, tertiary level teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers as well as other professionals with responsibilities in STEM education subjects. The book is written in a way that is accessible to a wide range of backgrounds, including those who are in language education.

This edited book attempts to foreground how challenges and complexities between policy and practice intertwine in the teaching and learning of the STEM subjects in multilingual settings, and how they (policy and practice) impact on educational processes, developments and outcomes. The unique feature of this book, thus, lies in its combination of not just language issues in the teaching and learning of the STEM subjects, but also in how these issues relate to policy and practice in multilingual contexts and how STEM research and practice may inform and shape language policies and their implementation in multilingual contexts. This book is of interest to stakeholders involved in STEM education such as researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, tertiary level teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers as well as other professionals with responsibilities in STEM education subjects. The book is written in a way that is accessible to a wide range of backgrounds, including those who are in language education.

Research studies and philosophies dealing with the relationship between language proficiency and mathematical proficiency have either positioned the one as dependent on the other or the two as autonomous. In South Africa, even though the constitution and the Language-in-Education Policy give provision for learners to learn in any of the 11 official languages of their choice, research has shown that due to economic, political and ideological factors, most learners prefer to learn mathematics in English which for most, is not their first or home language. Using both qualitative and quantitative (quasi-experimental) approaches, this book investigates whether and how improvement of learners' English language proficiency enables or constrains the development of mathematical proficiency. The analysis should contribute to the debate as to whether or not developing learners' English language proficiency for mathematical proficiency is the key; or whether it is more important to harness the home languages which learners bring to class. Educators in multilingual classrooms and educationists should find this book useful.

This book presents research on the teaching and learning of mathematics in multilingual settings from across multiple countries in Africa, including Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Malawi, Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. One of the distinguishing factors of the African continent lies in the fact that it has one of the highest linguistic diversities in the world, so multilingual classrooms are a norm rather than an exception. But beyond the issue of multilingualism in African classrooms is the fact that the language of instruction is rarely the first or home language for a majority of students who learn mathematics. The chapters explore language policies and their implementation in mathematics education; curriculum development and pedagogy issues; support and development of mathematical practices for teachers; language issues in teaching with mathematics register in indigenous languages and directions for future research.