The Volatile Issue of Language(s) of Instruction in Foundation Phase Mathematics Teacher Education in a Multilingual Context

In multilingual countries, international and national studies indicate that issues around languages of instruction are challenging because of complex social, political and economic factors associated with language usage. However, the South African Language in Education Policy (1997) stipulates that foundation phase learners need to be taught in their mother tongue. Therefore, appropriate modules are required at higher education institutions to prepare foundation phase pre-service teachers for mother-tongue instruction. As mathematics teacher educator researchers, we acknowledge the challenges faced in teacher preparation for multilingual mathematics classrooms. Our findings indicate that some South African higher education institutions have responded to these challenges by using simultaneous translation methods or offering modules with an African language of instruction. We argue that it is important to identify these challenges but also to ‘start with ourselves’ to explore ways of improving foundation phase mathematics teacher preparation in our multilingual context.