Research focused on learning mathematics in a 2nd language is generally located in individual 2nd-language contexts. In this ethnographic study, I investigated mathematics learning in 4 different second-language contexts: a mainstream classroom, a sheltered classroom for Indigenous students, a welcome class for new immigrants, and a French-immersion classroom. The study was framed by a view of learning as socialization and the Bakhtinian notion of centripetal and centrifugal language forces. I present 7 socialization events that were particularly salient in 1 or more of the classrooms. For each socialization event, I identify various socialization practices. Based on a comparison of socialization practices in the 4 classrooms, I propose a distinction between language positive and language neutral mathematics classrooms. In language positive mathematics classrooms, students’ socialization into mathematics and language includes explicit attention to different aspects of language use in mathematics. In language neutral mathematics classrooms, the role of language in mathematics tends to be implicit.

Productive struggle—expending effort to make sense of something beyond one’s current level of understanding—aids in learning mathematics concepts and procedures. In this study, we surveyed 197 parents with children in the 1st to the 5th grade on their beliefs about productive struggle. Beliefs were assessed via questionnaire and rating of a recorded lesson involving productive struggle. Parents also reported how often they helped with math homework and their child’s ability in math. The results show that parents had diverse beliefs about the efficacy of productive struggle, with fathers favoring it more than mothers. A significant relation was found between parents’ beliefs about productive struggle and reports of their child’s ability in math. The findings of this study suggest that for productive struggle to be effective, parents must intentionally facilitate experiences through student-centered approaches. Programs for parents should emphasize specific evidence-based behaviors rather than broad generalizations about increased involvement with homework. Schools and educators should also provide guidance for parents to explain the potential harmful effects of gender stereotypes and parents’ own math anxiety and to teach methods for limiting homework interaction while students grapple with difficult problems.

Textbooks are a standard component of undergraduate mathematics courses, but research shows that students often do not view textbooks as productive resources to support learning. This article seeks to understand the factors affecting how individuals engage in reading a calculus textbook excerpt and what they learn from reading. To better understand the separate roles of background knowledge and other reading practices, we compare 2 readers: a 2nd-semester calculus student and a nonmathematics STEM professor. We employ the concepts of sense making and the implied reader to analyze each reader’s experience and a disciplinary literacy perspective to explain the similarities and differences we find between the 2 readers. We propose the concept of didactical disciplinary literacy—an adaptation of disciplinary literacy applied to didactical texts—to describe the ways that the professor drew on his identity as a teacher to shape his reading practices.

A major influence on mathematics teachers’ instruction is their beliefs. However, teachers’ instructional practices do not always neatly align with their beliefs because of factors perceived as constraints. The purpose of this article is to introduce a new approach for examining the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices, an approach that focuses on specific instructional practices that support the development of students’ conceptual understanding and on mismatches that occur between what teachers believe to be important and what they report actually doing in the classroom. We also examine the relationship between teachers’ self-reported constraints and mismatches between teachers’ beliefs and practices.