APOS Theory-based research in Mathematics Education: A systematic literature review

The APOS Theory is one of the most widely used theoretical frameworks in mathematics education research, and it has enjoyed significant popularity among mathematics education researchers, especially over the last decade. In this study, we did a systematic literature review of APOS Theory-based studies published in the Scopus database over the last two decades (2005 – 2024). The aim of the study was to highlight the specific gaps in APOS Theory-based research. The results showed that a total of 125 APOS Theory-based studies were published in the Scopus database from 2005 to 2024. The trend analysis also shows that, over the last decade (2016-2024), a significant increase of an average of 12 articles per year was published as compared to an average of 3 articles per year in the previous decade (2005 – 2015). Additionally, a significant proportion of these studies (83%) were done for study groups at the university level as compared to 17% for the secondary and primary levels. The mathematical concepts in advanced undergraduate Calculus and Algebra constituted 79% of the studies. Finally, it was also found that APOS Theory was complemented with eight different theories in all the studies published. In this regard, Tall’s three worlds of mathematics and the Semiotic Representation theories were the most used to complement APOS Theory. These findings bring to light, the specific gaps in APOS Theory based research, which were discussed in detail