The Language Issue in the Teaching of Mathematics in South Africa

Dr Lindiwe Tshuma is currently a Teaching and Learning Advisor at University of the Witwatersrand Faculty of Humanities and a Research Fellow at University of Stellenbosch Curriculum Studies Department. Previously, she was a lecturer, a Primary Mathematics Specialist at the Schools Enrichment Centre of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Before becoming a Teacher Educator, she was a Curriculum Development Specialist responsible for developing Mathematics and Science teaching and learning resources for Dinaledi Schools in Gauteng Province and taught Mathematics and English in various under-resourced public schools in South Africa for several years. Her interest in educational linguistics emerged from her experience as an Intermediate Phase (IP) mathematics and science teacher within the deaf section of a school for the deaf and blind in Thaba Nchu, Free State Province. The experience of presenting mathematics and science content through languages foreign to both the teacher and learners made her realise the importance of harnessing together subject content and the language of instruction, rather than treating them as separate entities. Her research thus focuses on teaching and learning in multilingual settings, including the signposting of language issues in mathematics education for the purposes of better serving the learners.