Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Intersectionality as a lens for linguistic justice in mathematics learning

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
ZDM – Mathematics Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Language is a source of power that preserves the status quo in its relationships with learners and mathematics. However, there is a dearth of research that examines how multiple systems of power (e.g., racism, cisheteropatriarchy, colonialism) shape variation in structural inequality and experiences of oppression for language learners. This conceptual paper argues that intersectionality is a promising analytical lens to advance interdisciplinary research on language in mathematics education that nuances knowledge about linguistic justice for racially minoritized and Indigenous learners. To develop this argument, we present insights from a scoping review of research in language education and mathematics education. Our review shows how intersectional analyses can interrogate inequities of language in mathematics education contexts, which are entrenched in ideologies of neutrality that leave exclusionary practices of teaching and learning unchecked. The review also depicts how uptake of intersectionality extends sociopolitical research on language in mathematics education that left interplay between racism, colonialism, linguicism, and other power systems unexamined for nuanced insights on linguistic justice. Following the review, we look across three cases of research studies from our review that vary in terms of their designs and methodologies to illustrate the analytical possibilities of intersectionality in future research on language in mathematics education. We conclude with a discussion of how adopting the lens of intersectionality is necessary to advance interdisciplinary scholarship for linguistic justice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. To respect space limitations, we only cited publications throughout the paper that are representative of major themes from our review.

  2. Cisheteropatriarchy is a system of oppression at the juncture of cisheterosexism and patriarchy that marginalizes cisgender women (people assigned female at birth who identify as women) and queer people. Cisheterosexism is a system of oppression that upholds cisheteronormativity, or normativity of heterosexuality and cisgender identities.

References

  • Allen, P., & Trinick, T. (2022). Creating space for indigenous knowledge in Māori-medium mathematics classrooms. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2022.2025473.

  • Baker-Bell, A. (2020). Linguistic justice: Black language, literacy, identity, and pedagogy. Routledge.

  • Barwell, R., Moschkovich, J., & Setati Phakeng, M. (2017). Language diversity and mathematics: Second language, bilingual, and multilingual learners. In J. Cai (Ed.), Compendium for research in mathematics education (pp. 583–606). NCTM.

  • Block, D., & Corona, V. (2016). Intersectionality in language and identity research. In S. Preece (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of language and identity (pp. 533–548). Routledge.

  • Bose, A. (2019). Ethnography and critical theory lens to look into language diversity as funds of knowledge in mathematics classrooms. In M. Graven, H. Venkat, A. Essien, & P. Vale (Eds.) Proceedings of the 43rd Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (pp. 85–106). PME.

  • Bullock, E. (2018). Intersectional analysis in critical mathematics education research: A response to figure hiding. Review of Research in Education, 42(1), 122–145. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X18759039.

  • Byrd, J. (2011). The transit of empire: Indigenous critiques of colonialism. University of Minnesota Press.

  • Cascella, C. (2020). Intersectional effects of socioeconomic status, phase and gender on mathematics achievement. Educational Studies, 46(4), 476–496. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2019.1614432.

  • Cho, S., Crenshaw, K. W., & McCall, L. (2013). Toward a field of intersectionality studies: Theory, applications, and praxis. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 38(4), 785–810. https://doi.org/10.1086/669608.

  • Collins, P. H., & Bilge, S. (2020). Intersectionality. John Wiley & Sons.

  • Combahee River Collective. (1977). The Combahee River collective Statement. Kitchen Table.

  • Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039.

  • Cushing, I. (2021). Say it like the Queen’: The standard language ideology and language policy making in English primary schools. Language Culture and Curriculum, 34(3), 321–336. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2020.1840578.

  • Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction. NYU Press.

  • Erath, K., Ingram, J., Moschkovich, J., & Prediger, S. (2021). Designing and enacting instruction that enhances language for mathematics learning: A review of the state of development and research. ZDM – Mathematics Education, 53(2), 245–262.

  • Grant, R., & Sachs, G. (2019). Challenges and possibilities of intersectionality in the education of English language learners. In L. Jewett, F. Calederon-Berumen, & M. Espinosa Dulanto (Eds.), Critical intersections in contemporary curriculum & pedagogy (pp. 79–90). Information Age.

  • Gray, J., & Cooke, M. (2018). Intersectionality, language and queer lives. Gender and Language, 12(4), 401–415. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.37393.

  • Hawley, C., Cardoso, E., & McMahon, B. (2013). Adolescence to adulthood in STEM education and career development: The experience of students at the intersection of underrepresented minority status and disability. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 39(3), 193–204. https://doi.org/10.3233/JVR-130655.

  • Hopkyns, S. (2023). English-medium instruction in Emirati higher education. In M. Wyatt, G. El, & Gamal (Eds.), English as a medium of instruction on the Arabian Peninsula (pp. 70–85). Taylor & Francis.

  • Joseph, N. M. (2021). Black Feminist Mathematics Pedagogies (BlackFMP): A curricular confrontation to gendered antiblackness in the U.S. mathematics education system. Curriculum Inquiry, 51(1), 75–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.2020.1813002.

  • Kangas, S. E. (2017). That’s where the rubber meets the road”: The intersection of special education and dual language education. Teachers College Record, 119(7), 1–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811711900701.

  • Lawrence, L., & Nagashima, Y. (2020). The intersectionality of gender, sexuality, race, and native-speakerness: Investigating ELT teacher identity through duoethnography. Journal of Language Identity & Education, 19(1), 42–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2019.1672173.

  • Lee-Johnson, Y. (2022). When immigrant mothers of color become public school teachers for English language learners: Intersectionality for transformative teacher preparation. TESOL Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3171.

  • Leyva, L. A. (2016). An intersectional analysis of Latin@ college women’s counter-stories in mathematics. Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 9(2), 81–121. https://doi.org/10.21423/jume-v9i2a295.

  • Leyva, L. A. (2017). Unpacking the male superiority myth and masculinization of mathematics at the intersections: A review of research on gender in mathematics education. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 48(4), 397–433. https://doi.org/10.5951/jresematheduc.48.4.0397.

  • Moore, A. S. (2021). Queer identity and theory intersections in mathematics education: A theoretical literature review. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 33(4), 651–687. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-020-00354-7.

  • Morgan, C., Craig, T., Schütte, M., & Wagner, D. (2014). Language and communication in mathematics education: An overview of research in the field. ZDM – Mathematics Education, 46(6), 843–853.

  • Naidoo, J. (2015). Pedagogic strategies: Using empowerment theory to confront issues of language and race within mathematics education. Power and Education, 7(2), 224–238. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757743815586522.

  • Ortiz, N. (2022). Let our rejoicing rise without bound: A focus on black language and mathematics learning. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2022.2061623.

  • Phakeng, M., & Moschkovich, J. (2013). Mathematics education and language diversity: A dialogue across settings. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 44(1), 119–128. https://doi.org/10.5951/jresematheduc.44.1.0119.

  • Planas, N., & Civil, M. (2013). Language-as-resource and language-as-political: Tensions in the bilingual mathematics classroom. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 25(3), 361–378. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-013-0075-6.

  • Planas, N., & Schütte, M. (2018). Research frameworks for the study of language in mathematics education. ZDM – Mathematics Education, 50(6), 965–974.

  • Qin, K., & Li, G. (2020). Understanding immigrant youths’ negotiation of racialized masculinities in one US high school: An intersectionality lens on race, gender, and language. Sexuality & Culture, 24, 1046–1063. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-020-09751-3.

  • Reinholz, D., & Wilhelm, A. (2022). Race-gender D/discourses in mathematics education: (Re)-producing inequitable participation patterns across a diverse, instructionally-advanced urban district. Urban Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859221107614.

  • Rosa, J., & Flores, N. (2017). Unsettling race and language: Toward a raciolinguistic perspective. Language in Society, 46(5), 621–647. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404517000562.

  • Rubel, L., & Ehrenfeld, N. (2020). Palestinian/Arab israeli women’s experiences in mathematics education: An intersectional analysis. International Journal of Educational Research, 102, 101616. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101616.

  • Schissel, J., & Kangas, S. (2018). Reclassification of emergent bilinguals with disabilities: The intersectionality of improbabilities. Language Policy, 17(4), 567–589. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-018-9476-4.

  • Svarstad, L. (2021). Cultural studies and intersectionality in English language education: Exploring students’ engagement in issues of celebrity, identity, gender and sexuality. The Language Learning Journal, 49(6), 740–752. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2019.1709885.

  • Takeuchi, M. A. (2021). Geopolitical configuration of identities and learning: Othering through the institutionalized categorization of “English language learners. Cognition and Instruction, 39(1), 85–112. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370008.2020.1825438.

  • Tan, P., Padilla, A., & Lambert, R. (2022). A critical review of educator and disability research in mathematics education: A decade of dehumanizing waves and humanizing wakes. Review of Educational Research, 92(6), 871–910. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543221081874.

  • Trainor, A., Murray, A., & Kim, H. (2016). English learners with disabilities in high school: Population characteristics, transition programs, and postschool outcomes. Remedial and Special Education, 37(3), 146–158. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741932515626797.

  • Warren, E., & Miller, J. (2013). Young australian indigenous students’ effective engagement in mathematics: The role of language, patterns, and structure. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 25(1), 151–171. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-013-0068-5.

  • Yeh, C., Martinez, R., Rezvi, S., & Shirude, S. (2021). Radical love as praxis: Ethnic studies and teaching mathematics for collective liberation. Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 14(1), 71–95. https://doi.org/10.21423/jume-v14i1a418.

  • Zavala, M. (2014). Latina/o youth’s perspectives on race, language, and learning mathematics. Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 7(1), 55–87. https://doi.org/10.21423/jume-v7i1a188.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luis A. Leyva.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Leyva, L.A., Joseph, N.M. Intersectionality as a lens for linguistic justice in mathematics learning. ZDM Mathematics Education 55, 1187–1197 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-023-01489-0

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-023-01489-0

Keywords

Navigation