Beyond the limits of language: An additive bilingual approach to Foundation Phase education as a social justice imperative

Background: Language remains a central determinant of epistemic access in South African Foundation Phase classrooms, where many learners begin schooling in a language other than their home language. The 2025 shift in language-in-education approaches renewed attention to mother tongue-based bilingual education (MTBBE) as a pathway to equity and meaningful curriculum access, particularly within Science, Technology, Robotics, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STREAM) education. Aim: This review explored how MTBBE supported conceptual understanding, learner agency and educational inclusion in the Foundation Phase through sustained home-language instruction and additive English use. Setting: A bibliometric analysis across global and South African contexts was conducted. Methods: We conducted a bibliometric review, complemented by qualitative thematic analysis. Guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta- Analyses (PRISMA) selection process, we sourced and screened Scopus-indexed litera