Intersections of literacy, cognition, and culture in mathematics: Themes for advancing research and instruction

Abstract

Relationships between literacy and mathematics have been robustly established in prior research. The current narrative literature review further examined scholarship on the literacy-math connection to articulate actionable themes for future research and instruction. We derived six broad themes via iterative exploration of numerous studies on skill measurement, language contexts, instruction, and cultural considerations. The overarching topics of the identified themes related to operationalizing literacy-math connections (themes 1 and 2), language and culture (themes 3, 4, and 5), and adult learners and Contexts (theme 6). The themes described contribute to work on operationalizing and researching math learning in children, instruction of various populations (e.g., children, adults, L2 speakers, different cultural contexts), and highlight a distinct skew toward studies of children.

Keywords: literacy, cognition, culture, mathematics

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/16-1-09

Publication date: January 30th 2025