Research on mother tongue-based bilingual education in mathematics, science and technology education across Africa

Background: With the increased awareness of the role of language in enabling epistemic access in mathematics, science and technology education comes the importance of multilingual models that value the indigenous languages as important resources for meaning-making and knowledge construction. It is within this context that mother tongue-based bilingual education (MTBBE) was introduced in South Africa. Aim: This scoping review synthesises research outputs published between 2014 and 2025 on MTBBE in Africa at the primary level in mathematics, science and technology education. Setting: The surveyed research outputs were sourced from publications on MTBBE on the African continent from the years 2014 to 2025. Methods: We first reviewed domain-specific journals and conducted additional searches in general education journals, including book chapters published by key academic publishers, using Google Scholar. A total of 45 research outputs met the inclusion criteria. Results: Research outputs indicate a substantial increase in MTBBE research in mathematics, science and technology (MST) primary education across Africa in the last 6 years, with a strong geographic concentration in South Africa. Translanguaging practices and teacher preparation emerged as dominant themes. No research output on MTBBE in technology education was found in the review period. Conclusion: The review indicates that the effectiveness of MTBBE is contingent upon the strengthening of teacher preparation and the establishment of greater coherence between language-in-education policy and classroom-level implementation practices. Contribution: This review article contributes to the literature by providing the first comprehensive synthesis of research outputs on MTBBE specifically within MST education across African contexts.