Exploring the potential of mathematical modelling for integrating issues about multilingual mathematics classrooms in teacher education

Abstract Earlier research has shown the potential of different mathematical topics as part of teacher education to provide opportunities for raising pedagogical issues to do with teaching in multilingual classrooms. In this article, we describe the possibilities that mathematical modelling provides in supporting teacher educators to integrate language diversity into their work with preservice teachers. We adapted an earlier framework focusing on the roles and responsibilities of teachers in such classrooms (Lange & Meaney, 2019) as the analytical framework for identifying the possibilities provided by mathematical modelling when working with preservice teachers. We use data from three workshops on mathematical modelling and multilingual classrooms, which were part of the first author’s action research project as a teacher educator. The results indicate three main aspects to do with mathematical modelling which provided opportunities to raise issues of multilingual classrooms, such as the role of context (un)familiarity in modelling activities when engaging students in problem posing. Other aspects include highlighting language diverse students’ resources across different phases of a modelling activity, and enacting policies and practices when discussing the planning of the activity. Insights gained from this study can support further research on teacher educators’ preparation to integrate issues of multilingual classrooms into specific topics or areas of mathematics teacher education.