In this, paper we attend to epistemological potentials of multilingual language use and mathematics in connection to the 'language-as-resource' idea and how the idea is actualised in Swedish mathematics education contexts. In this paper we develop and propose a framework for considering different epistemological potentials for multilingual…

When a Year 7 student physically reacted to a prompt of another student by anxiously drumming the desk with his ruler, exclaiming "uuuuhh", the initial thought of the observing researcher, Laura, was: "this is an interesting account". This started a reflective journey of first applying robust research methodologies to the…

Dialogue has been characterised as a communicative pattern that supports critical learning in education. Seeking to analyse this relationship, we investigated the interaction between teachers and students in two classes, a Third Grade and a Fifth Grade of São Paulo State public school. During the interaction, we identified a variety of dialogic…

By combining linguistic analysis with metaphors for mediating between a body of knowledge and teaching practice, we exemplify curriculum developers' voices in teacher guides. We discuss two types of voices, that of the Expert, who talks through the teacher and restricts the pedagogical agency of the teacher, and that of the Philosopher, who speaks…

Prior to the 2016 Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group/Groupe Canadien D'étude En Didactique Des Mathématiques (CMESG/GCEDM) meeting at Queen's University in Kingston a Pre-Conference session was organised to discuss the theme of "Challenges and opportunities related to linguistic and cultural diversity in research and publishing /…

This article developed from a request by a German mathematics educator (Rudolf) to an Australian colleague (Vince) for a language check of an international conference presentation. Because of a history of cooperation, Rudolf trusted that Vince could provide a faithful translation. Vince happily accepted but had two reservations: he did not wish to…

Classroom mathematics in Malta is generally communicated through code-switching between the national language Maltese and the country's second language English. This is because not all mathematical words have Maltese equivalents and furthermore, mathematics textbooks are UK publications. I consider the language used for spoken communication and…

Weber and Alcock's (2004, 2009) syntactic/semantic framework provides a useful means of delineating two basic categories of proof-oriented activity. They define their dichotomy using Goldin's (1998) theory of representation systems. In this paper, I intend to clarify the framework by providing criteria for classifying student reasoning into…

In this paper I take a positive view of ambiguity in the learning of mathematics. Following Grosholz (2007), I argue that it is not only the arts which exploit ambiguity for creative ends but science and mathematics too. By enabling the juxtaposition of multiple conflicting frames of reference, ambiguity allows novel connections to be made. I…

How are we to understand the power of certain literary metaphors? The author argues that the apprehension of good metaphors is importantly similar to the apprehension of fruitful mathematical analogies: both involve a structural realignment of vision. The author then explores consequences of this claim, drawing conceptually significant parallels…

This article describes aspects of classroom discourse, illustrated through vignettes, that reveal the complex relationship between the forms in which mathematical objects exist and their ostensive representations. We illustrate various aspects of the process through which students come to consider the reality of mathematical objects that are…

Error analysis is a basic and important task for mathematics teachers. Unfortunately, in the present literature there is a lack of detailed understanding about teacher knowledge as used in it. Based on a synthesis of the literature in error analysis, a framework for prescribing and assessing mathematics teacher knowledge in error analysis was…

This communication supports an argument that preservice elementary teachers ought to study number language as part of their mathematics content courses, just as they study relationships between numeration and quantity. In particular, the paper spells out some ways in which number language can be seen as problematic by carefully detailing various…

I adopt a poststructural perspective to argue that the current focus in mathematics education on measuring, reducing, and explaining the achievement gap is dangerous and can be counter-productive to the equity-oriented arguments that those mobilizing "gap" language want to make. The reiteration of the achievement gap in scholarly arguments can…

We introduce Lesson Play as an imaginary interaction between teacher and students presented in a form of a dialogue or play. We suggest that lesson plays are a valuable professional development tool in preparing for teaching that can be juxtaposed with, or used as a replacement for, traditional lesson planning. The article begins with an…