Operationalising Language-Responsive Mathematics Teaching for use in the context of mother tongue-based bilingual education

Abstract This study operationalises the language responsive mathematics teaching (LRMT) framework for use in the context of mother tongue-based bilingual education (MTBBE) – a language imperative that has recently been introduced in South Africa from Grades 4–7. The analytic framework is rooted in previous work where LRMT was merged with the translanguaging framework to produce a LRMT-Translanguaging (LRMT-T) framework. What the current article does is to provide a methodological approach for analysing classroom data based on the LRMT-T framework. This methodological approach (also called analytic framework) is the culmination of research work that uses data drawn from two three-year studies in two different research sites; one located in Grades 1–3 and the other in Grades 4–6. Using illustrative episodes, we show how, in the context of MTBBE, this framework identifies factors that enable or constrain both content- and language-learning goals, and how analysis of classroom practice using the LRMT-T framework can help in reframing MTBBE to support meaning-making in South Africa and similar contexts.