MATHEMATICS PROBLEM SOLVING: EXPLORING THE LEARNING EXPERIENCES OF NEW-ARRIVAL AFRICAN IMMIGRANT LEARNERS IN GRADE 9 AT TWO SCHOOLS IN THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE.

The South African education system is experiencing a high increase in immigrant learners from African countries who have different home languages and mediums of instruction to that of South Africa. This study explores the learning experiences of newly arrived immigrant learners as they navigate a comparatively dissimilar and unaccustomed education system in South Africa as they learn mathematics. Phenomenology was used as the theoretical framework underpinning this study. This qualitative study used interviews to collect data from participants. Participants were selected purposefully. The sample comprised of 4 mathematics teachers and 10 newly arrived immigrant learners from a population of 2059. Collaizi's data analysis strategy was used to analyse participants' recorded experiences. The findings showed that newly arrived immigrant learners experienced numerous challenges arising from the new education system, mathematical language, code-switching, the medium of instruction, discrimination and isolation. The study recommends that codeswitching be used as a learning resource for the promotion of diversity and inclusivity. The study provided deeper insight into the lived experiences of new-arrival learners in learning mathematics and provided an opportunity for new-arrival immigrant learners' plight to be heard by responsible education authorities for appropriate action to be taken to assist diverse learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]