Language of instruction and learners’ participation in mathematics: Dynamics of distributive justice in the classroom

Abstract

The policy makers in education, in the post-colonial contexts, often introduce the ex-colonial language with perceived or real power and privilege as a medium of instruction, ostensibly for distributive justice for all learners. Since language of power is part of the cultural capital needed for social mobility, its use in classrooms is assumed to help distribute this capital through formal education.