ABSTRACT
In this volume, we find chapters that review research over several decades and chapters that provide us with insight into current theoretical and empirical research on language and mathematics in classrooms. Our intention in this chapter is to reflect and build on this work in order to look forward into the next decade: What are the major issues that our work needs to address? What theoretical perspectives seem likely to be particularly useful to advance the research field? What kinds of empirical research and methodological approaches should we consider for future research in the field? Answers to these questions cannot be derived solely from the current ‘state of the art’ in mathematics education but must also be informed by boundary work around developments in related disciplines, as well as by an understanding of how the world itself is changing and how this may affect classrooms, the people who inhabit them and the ways in which they communicate.
