Natural language is known to play a crucial and specific role for children's learning in school mathematics. Not only does it carry special vocabulary, but subtle differences between natural languages may lead to surprising challenges, for instance, for learners who are not taught mathematics in their mother tongue. In this paper, the…

Students' proficiency in the language of instruction is essential for their mathematical learning. Accordingly, language-responsive instruction, which includes adapting teaching material to students' language needs, is thought to promote mathematical learning, particularly for students with lower levels of proficiency in the language of…

In this study of a postcolonial school, we expand understandings of epistemic justice from the perspective of language, addressing issues of know-ledge, understanding, and participation in communicative practices. We suggest that monoglossic language-in-education policies constitute a form of epistemic injustice by diminishing learners' ability to…

How does early educational quality affect longer-term academic outcomes? We shed light on this question via a natural experiment in the Philippines--the implementation of a mother tongue education policy in public schools in kindergarten to Grade 3. This policy led to an unexpected decline in educational quality, but differentially in a subset of…

Using a national database, this study examined the relationship between the language of instruction models and the frequency of peer-mediated learning activity on English learners' reading achievement (N = 1,004). Results from the Multilevel Modeling (MLM) analyses revealed an interaction between the language of instruction and the frequency of…

Knowledge of symbols, which can be influenced by school ethos, informs identity construction in primary school children. This study aimed to explore Gaelscoil (Irish-medium) and English-medium primary school children's familiarity with Irish and European symbols. Thirty 9-12-year-old children in Ireland participated in this study; 15 from two…

Recent studies in the field of language education policy (LEP) have emphasized the agency of educators in language policy implementation, which considerably influences the policy outcome. These studies, however, often focus on LEP measures for newcomers or ethnic minority students, and on the language used for instruction as the main LEP…

In many countries, children need to become proficient in both their home language (L1) and an international language, such as English (L2). Governments face tradeoffs in how to prioritize these two objectives. We provide empirical evidence on cross-linguistic transfer between L1 and L2, using the results of two randomized evaluations of Structured…

In this qualitative study, the experiences, training, and challenges of teachers in primary schools in a community in southwest Nigeria were explored. The purpose of this study was to identify the experiences of teachers about their training for mother tongue instruction and how they teach pupils with the mother tongue or local language of the…

In this study we critically investigated English as the language of learning and teaching (LoLT) in the Chivi district (Zimbabwe) and the implications of its use as the LoLT for social justice education. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, focus-group interviews, observation and document analysis. The results show that social…

Mathematics is one of the critical subjects studied worldwide and is a major for all science faculties and careers. However, it is 1 of the subjects in which performance is poor in all educational phases and bands. Therefore, with this research we aimed to consider the use of mother tongue in the learning and teaching of mathematics in schools.…

This article explores cross-linguistic lexical influence (CLI), i.e. idiosyncratic borrowings and creations based on other languages, in texts written by pupils learning French and English as foreign languages, and whose language of instruction is German. The study, carried out in German-speaking Switzerland, was based on a plurilingual conception…

There are over 30 million people living as refugees today, nearly half of whom are under 18. For most young people fleeing conflict and persecution, their only option is to pursue education in already-stretched national school systems in host countries neighboring those they have left, often in unfamiliar languages. Despite the pressing issue of…

This study investigates teachers' beliefs and practices in implementing CLIL in an Indonesian primary school context. Drawing on narrative inquiry, fruitful themes and subthemes were generated from the thematic analysis of teachers' stories, representing their teaching experiences in CLIL classes. Involving four CLIL teachers with 5--11 years of…

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 marks a significant shift in India's educational framework, particularly with its emphasis on multilingual education (MLE) and mother tongue-based instruction (MTI). Recognizing India's vast linguistic diversity, the policy advocates for teaching in the mother tongue or local language until at least Grade…