Kate le Roux is an Associate Professor in Language Development for Science and Engineering in the Academic Development Programme in the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED) at the University of cape Town (UCT). She has academic qualifications in pure mathematics, English language and literature, teaching, and mathematics education research. During her academic career at UCT her research, teaching and leadership have converged at the intersection of language, mathematics and the learning of disciplinary knowledge in science and engineering.  This work has a particular focus on equity issues related to access, identity and power in multilingual education contexts. She draws theoretically and methodologically on critical scholarship in mathematics education within the sociopolitical, multilingualism and multimodality for learning, and Southern Theory.

Kate was awarded her PhD in Mathematics Education by the University of the Witwatersrand in 2011. At UCT she has served as director of the Centre for Research in Engineering and Science Education at the University of Cape Town, and Chair of the CHED Faculty Research Committee.

Internationally, Kate was a Mandela Mellon Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African & American Research at Harvard University in 2014, and is a long-standing member of the International Committee on Mathematics Education and Society. Recently, she co-chaired the Topic Study Group: Social and Political Dimensions of Mathematics Education for the 14th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME14), and the Worldwide Universities Network funded project: Innovating the mathematics curriculum in times of change: Towards local and global relevance.

More information about Kate's research can be found at http://uct.academia.edu/KateLeRoux and https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kate_Le_Roux
 

Selected publications

Journal Articles

Le Roux, Taylor, D.L., Kloot, B., & Allie, S. (2021). Research on higher education: A perspective on the relations between Higher Education Studies and Discipline-Based Education Research. Teaching in Higher Education. 26(1), 50-64. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2019.1634538

Le Roux, K., & Kloot, B. (2020). Pedagogy for modelling problem solving in engineering dynamics: A social semiotic analysis of a lecturer’s multimodal language use. European Journal of Engineering Education, 45(4), 631-652. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2019.1657068

Le Roux, K. (2019). Navigating the discursive tensions of the public university: The case of a South African student. Teaching in Higher Education. 24(2), 231-247. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2018.1485644

Roberts, A., & le Roux, K. (2019). A commognitive perspective on grade 8 and 9 learner thinking about linear equations. Pythagoras, 40(1), a438. https://pythagoras.org.za/index.php/pythagoras/article/view/438

Andersson, A., & le Roux, K. (2017). Towards an ethical attitude in mathematics education research writing. Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 10(1), 74-94. https://doi.org/10.21423/jume-v10i1a303

Shaw, C., & le Roux, K. (2017). From Practitioner to Researcher: Designing the Dissertation Process for Part Time Coursework Masters Students. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 30, 433–446.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-016-9402-7

Le Roux, K. (2016). Re-imagining mathematics and mathematics education for equity and social justice in the changing South African university. Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning (CriSTaL), 4(2), 45-67. https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.14426/cristal.v4i2.74

Le Roux, K., & Adler, J. (2016). A critical discourse analysis of practical problems in a foundation mathematics course at a South African university. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 91, 227-246. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-015-9656-5

Kapp, R; Prince, R; Pym, J; Badenhorst, E; Bangeni, B; Craig, T., Janse van Rensburg, V; le Roux, K, Van Pletzen , E. (2014). ‘Out of order’: Negotiating working-class schooling and identity in post-Apartheid South Africa, Perspectives in Education, 32(3), 50-61. https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/pie/article/view/1871/1843

Chapters in edited books

Le Roux, K., & Rughubar-Reddy, S. (2021). The potential of an Africa-centred approach to theory-use in Critical Mathematics Education. In A. Andersson & R. Barwell (Eds.), Applying critical perspectives in mathematics education (pp. 100-122). Brill.  https://brill.com/view/title/59686

Le Roux, K., Bangeni, B., & McKinney, C. (2021). Language policy for equity in university STEM education in postcolonial contexts: Conceptual tools for policy analysis and development. In A.A. Essien & A. Msimanga (Eds.), Multilingual Education Yearbook 2021: Policy and Practice in STEM Multilingual Contexts (pp. 195-293). Springer. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030720087

Le Roux, K. (2017).  “Eish, iyangbhayizisa (it’s confusing)”: A critical discourse analysis of what learners say and do in a research interview. In J. Adler & A. Sfard (Eds.), Research for educational change: Transforming researchers' insights into improvement in mathematics teaching and learning (pp. 100-119). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Research-for-Educational-Change-Transforming-researchers-insights-into/Adler-Sfard/p/book/9780815364450

Le Roux, K. (2017). “Closing the gap”: Three mathematics students talk about their transitions to and through their undergraduate degrees in the sciences. In B. Bangeni & R. Kapp (Eds.), Negotiating learning and identity in Higher Education: A longitudinal perspective on access, persistence and retention in higher education (pp. 31-60). Bloomsbury. https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/negotiating-learning-and-identity-in-higher-education-access-persistence-and-retention/

Le Roux, K., Mwakapenda, W., Pournara, C., Chitera, N., Pillay, V., & Tobais, B. (2016). Defining the problems of mathematics education, getting the description right and making it count: Jill Adler’s contribution and beyond. In M. Phakeng & S. Lerman (Eds.), Mathematics education in a context of inequity, poverty and language diversity: Giving direction and advancing the field (pp. 89-110).  Springer. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319388236

Peer-reviewed published conference papers

Le Roux, K., & Swanson, D. (2021). (Re)Imagining spatialities for equity in mathematics education. In D. Kollosche (Ed.), Proceedings of the Eleventh International Mathematics Education and Society Conference (Vol. 2, pp. 603-612). Tredition. https://zenodo.org/record/5415154#.YVnqXZpBztQ. https://zivahub.uct.ac.za/articles/presentation/_Re_Imagining_Spatialities_for_Equity_in_Mathematics_Education_MES11/16578590/1

Le Roux, K., & Kloot, B. (2019). Multimodal representations for teaching problem solving in engineering dynamics: The case of a lecturer at a South African university. Proceedings of the Eighth Research in Engineering Education Symposium (pp. 693-702). Cape Town, South Africa. 

Le Roux, K. (2019). An Africa-centred knowledges approach to theory use in research about mathematics education and society. In Subramanian, J. (Ed.), Proceedings of the Tenth International Mathematics Education and Society Conference. Hyderabad, India: MES10. https://www.mescommunity.info/proceedings/MES10.pdf

Le Roux, K. (2017). Moving up or down the ladder: University mathematics students talk about progress. In A. Chronaki (Ed.), Proceedings of the Ninth International Mathematics Education and Society Conference (Vol.2, pp. 665-675). Volos, Greece: MES9. https://www.mescommunity.info/mes9b.pdf

Andersson, A., & le Roux, K. (2015). Researchers and researched as Other within the socio-p/Political turn. In S. Mukhopadhyay, & B. Greer (Eds.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Mathematics Education and Society Conference (Vol.2, pp. 255-269). Portland, Oregon: MES8. https://www.mescommunity.info/MES8ProceedingsVol2.pdf

Le Roux, K. (2014). Explaining mathematical meaning in “practical terms” and access to advanced mathematics.  In P. Liljedahl, C. Nicol, S. Oesterle, & D. Allan (Eds.), Proceedings of the 38th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education and the 36th Conference of the North American Chapter of the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 4, pp. 65-72). Vancouver, Canada: PME. 

Edited works (conference proceedings and special issues)

Blackie, M., le Roux, K., & McKenna, S. (2016). Possible futures for science and engineering education. Higher Education (Special Issue), 71(4), 755-766. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-015-9962-y

Berger, M., Brodie, K., Frith, V., le Roux, K. (Eds.), (2013). Proceedings of the Seventh International Mathematics Education and Society Conference. Cape Town: MES7.

Collier-Reed, B., le Roux, K., Rollnick, M. (Eds.), (2010). Tertiary engineering and science education - Conceptualising learning through the lens of discourse and identity. Special Issue of the African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/10288457.2010.10740677