ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a commentary and reflections on classroom research on mathematics and language, focusing on the language of the learners and summarizing where we are and where we might wish to go next. The chapter addresses two questions: What do we know about mathematics and the language of learners? And what research questions still need to be addressed that are relevant to the language of the learners? What we still need to know may exceed what we already know. However, we now have an established research domain that provides theoretical assumptions and empirical studies, and so we are able to both summarize what we know and consider what we do not know. The chapter overviews the multiple theoretical frameworks used for this research, summarizes the complexity of learners’ language, and critiques deficit views of bilingual learners. In looking to future research, the chapter suggests some important questions, including how learners’ multiple languages provide resources for learning mathematics, how learners’ use informal language practices, and how learners learn to participate in formal language practices.
