scholarly journals Mediating Wor(l)ds: Teaching and Learning of Mathematics in English in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Assunta Carolina Antonysamy

<p>This study investigates the implementation of ETeMS (English for the Teaching of Mathematics and Science) policy in Malaysia. Teachers, who learnt mathematics and were trained to teach mathematics in Bahasa Melayu, have had to teach mathematics in English since the implementation of ETeMS. This study observes two teachers and their teaching of mathematics in English to ten-year-old students. The study draws on sociocultural and sociolinguistic theories of classroom research which strongly advocate that education is a process of interaction. Both theories place importance on the joint construction of meaning through classroom interaction. The research mainly seeks to understand how teaching and learning is mediated in classrooms through the new medium of instruction. Adapting Erickson’s (1982) proposed constructs: academic and social participation structures, the study investigates the academic world and social world of linguistically altered mathematics classrooms. Sinclair and Coulthard’s (1975) discourse analysis tool has been adapted to study the teaching and learning of mathematics in English. Principles from conversation analysis and critical discourse analysis have been drawn upon to study the social world of linguistically altered classroom. Analysis of the classroom interaction showed that the academic world of linguistically altered classrooms is still heavily reliant on triadic dialogue. Despite that, teacher talk, through various discursive practices, was found to be an important mediating tool for mathematical content and mathematical English. Mathematical content and mathematical English were also shown to be jointly constructed through the use of several other mediating tools. The study revealed that there is more of an emphasis on teaching for testing than teaching for understanding, hence more attention to procedural fluency than to conceptual understanding, thus more emphasis on calculation discourse than on conceptual discourse. However, once the content and concept has been jointly constructed, students take some ownership of the classroom interaction. As well as the academic world, the study investigates how the new language of instruction mediates the social world of the classroom. The study found that the new medium (re)creates the social world of the classroom as teachers and students position and (re)position themselves and each other, and (re)establish their identities and sense of agency through the new language. From the insights gleaned from this study, the inter-relationship between ETeMS policy on paper and ETeMS policy in practice is explored. Some important implications for policy, practice and inter-disciplinarity in mathematics education and applied linguistics are discussed. The thesis concludes by proposing an adapted and extended model of mathematics education and directions for future research.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Assunta Carolina Antonysamy

<p>This study investigates the implementation of ETeMS (English for the Teaching of Mathematics and Science) policy in Malaysia. Teachers, who learnt mathematics and were trained to teach mathematics in Bahasa Melayu, have had to teach mathematics in English since the implementation of ETeMS. This study observes two teachers and their teaching of mathematics in English to ten-year-old students. The study draws on sociocultural and sociolinguistic theories of classroom research which strongly advocate that education is a process of interaction. Both theories place importance on the joint construction of meaning through classroom interaction. The research mainly seeks to understand how teaching and learning is mediated in classrooms through the new medium of instruction. Adapting Erickson’s (1982) proposed constructs: academic and social participation structures, the study investigates the academic world and social world of linguistically altered mathematics classrooms. Sinclair and Coulthard’s (1975) discourse analysis tool has been adapted to study the teaching and learning of mathematics in English. Principles from conversation analysis and critical discourse analysis have been drawn upon to study the social world of linguistically altered classroom. Analysis of the classroom interaction showed that the academic world of linguistically altered classrooms is still heavily reliant on triadic dialogue. Despite that, teacher talk, through various discursive practices, was found to be an important mediating tool for mathematical content and mathematical English. Mathematical content and mathematical English were also shown to be jointly constructed through the use of several other mediating tools. The study revealed that there is more of an emphasis on teaching for testing than teaching for understanding, hence more attention to procedural fluency than to conceptual understanding, thus more emphasis on calculation discourse than on conceptual discourse. However, once the content and concept has been jointly constructed, students take some ownership of the classroom interaction. As well as the academic world, the study investigates how the new language of instruction mediates the social world of the classroom. The study found that the new medium (re)creates the social world of the classroom as teachers and students position and (re)position themselves and each other, and (re)establish their identities and sense of agency through the new language. From the insights gleaned from this study, the inter-relationship between ETeMS policy on paper and ETeMS policy in practice is explored. Some important implications for policy, practice and inter-disciplinarity in mathematics education and applied linguistics are discussed. The thesis concludes by proposing an adapted and extended model of mathematics education and directions for future research.</p>


Author(s):  
Ana Queli Reis ◽  
Cátia Maria Nehring

Resumo Este artigo objetiva apresentar um panorama sobre a contextualização através de uma meta análise de pesquisas que tratam deste conceito. Consideramos pesquisas que abordam a contextualização a partir de sua proposição pelas políticas públicas, através de documentos, livros didáticos e avaliações, bem como as concepções e práticas desenvolvidas por professores e pesquisadores da educação matemática. As análises evidenciam um distanciamento entre o que é compreendido epistemologicamente e a prática em sala de aula. A fragilidade de entendimentos sobre o que é contextualização tem limitado o ensino à resolução de problemas e aplicação, simplificando conceitos no processo de ensino e aprendizagem por não enfatizarem o processo de abstração decorrente da contextualização. Abstract This paper aims to present an overview of the contextualization through a meta-analysis of researches, which deal with this concept. We consider researches that address the contextualization from its proposition by public policies through documents, textbooks and assessments, as well as the conceptions and practices developed by teachers and researchers of mathematics education. The analyses have shown a gap between what is epistemologically understood and practice in the classroom. The weakness in understanding what is contextualization has limited teaching to problem solving and application, simplifying concepts in the process of teaching and learning due to not emphasizing the abstraction process arising from the contextualization.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Hamzah Hamzah ◽  
Kurnia Ningsih

This study is aimed at exploring the way the English teachers at senior high schools exercise power and domination during the teaching and learning process. Conversation analysis and critical discourse analysis were used to analyze the data. The data were generated from thirty transcripts of classroom interaction comprising of two academic hour session for each transcript. The findings of this study revealed that the English teacher still exercised strong power and domination in the classroom. Most exchanges were initiated by the teacher (93%), and the students involvements were limited to providing responses in accordance with the information initiated by their teacher. The teachers’ domination was also seen in the length of the turns. The teachers normally had extended turn comprising one clause or more, while students’ contributions were normally short consisting of one word, one phrase, and one clause was the longest in each turn. Beside the two indicators, the teachers’ power and domination were seen in controlling the topic, giving instruction, asking close questions and providing correction. Key words: conversation, classroom discourse, power and domination


Author(s):  
Kaique Nascimento Martins ◽  
Jamille Vilas Bôas

ResumoO presente estudo é uma pesquisa bibliográfica inspirada no Estado do Conhecimento, tendo como objetivo compreender focos temáticos nas produções acadêmicas que utilizam/abordam o ensino de matemática através da resolução de problemas. Para tanto, realizou-se um mapeamento das produções acadêmicas publicadas nos periódicos: BOLEMA, Boletim GEPEM, Zetetiké, Educação Matemática em Revista e Educação Matemática Pesquisa, entre janeiro de 2011 e junho de 2019. De um modo geral, percebemos uma variedade de estudos contendo diferentes perspectivas discutidas e abordadas tanto na educação básica quanto no ensino superior.  A partir deste trabalho, é possível ampliar o entendimento sobre a temática, fortalecendo a ideia de que esta pode potencializar o processo de ensino e aprendizagem de matemática.Palavras-chave: Resolução de problemas, Mapeamento, Educação matemática.AbstractThe present study is a bibliographic research inspired by the state of knowledge, aiming to understand thematic focuses on academic productions that use/approach teaching mathematics through problem-solving. For this purpose, we mapped the academic productions published in journals: BOLEMA, Boletim GEPEM, Zetetiké, Educação Matemática em Revista, and Educação Matemática Pesquisa, published between January 2011 and June 2019. We noticed a variety of studies containing different perspectives discussed and addressed both in basic and university education. From this work, it is possible to broaden the understanding of the theme, strengthening the idea that it can enhance the mathematics teaching and learning process.Keywords: Problem solving, Mapping, Mathematics education. ResumenEl presente estudio es una investigación bibliográfica inspirada en el estado del conocimiento, con el objetivo de comprender enfoques temáticos sobre producciones académicas que utilizan/abordan la enseñanza de las matemáticas a través de la resolución de problemas. Para ello, mapeamos las producciones académicas publicadas en las revistas: BOLEMA, Boletim GEPEM, Zetetiké, Educação Matemática em Revista y Educação Matemática Pesquisa, publicadas entre enero de 2011 y junio de 2019. Notamos una variedad de estudios que contienen diferentes perspectivas discutidas y abordadas tanto en educación básica como en educación universitaria. A partir de este trabajo, es posible ampliar la comprensión del tema, fortaleciendo la idea de que puede potenciar el proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje de las matemáticas.Palabras clave: Resolución de problemas, Mapeo, Educación matemática.


Author(s):  
José Milton Lopes Pinheiro ◽  
Juscimar da Silva Araujo ◽  
Giovana Alves

ResumoNeste artigo se questiona: como a Teoria da Aprendizagem Significativa se apresenta em situações de ensino e de aprendizagem? Trata-se de um recorte compreensivo de um estudo mais amplo, de mestrado, do qual destaca-se a o ensino de matemática visado da perspectiva desta teoria. Ela foi realizada com alunos do curso de Licenciatura em Matemática da Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora. Nela foi desenvolvida uma proposta que além de ser metodologia da pesquisa, constituiu-se como proposta pedagógica para a futura atuação docente dos sujeitos. Foi promovido um diálogo acerca de temas da Educação Matemática e foram propostas atividades classificadas como exploratórias e investigativas a serem desenvolvidas de modo colaborativo. Os diálogos e o desenvolvimento das atividades foram transcritos. Assumindo uma postura fenomenológica, o pesquisador buscou, junto às transcrições, convergências que pudessem, quando articuladas, trazer compreensões sobre o fenômeno interrogado. Nesse movimento, foram constituídas unidades nucleares, das quais destaca-se para este estudo, a unidade: a presença da Teoria da Aprendizagem Significativa no desenvolvimento das atividades e na aprendizagem de conceitos geométricos. Ao descrever uma síntese reflexiva dessa unidade, articulando compreensões trazidas do presente estudo, explicitando a presença da teoria em todo o processo de aprendizagem, desde o planejamento do professor ao desenvolvimento dado pelos alunos às atividades planejadas, entende-se estar expressando uma compreensão do que interroga a pergunta norteadora deste estudo. Palavras-chave: Teoria da Aprendizagem Significativa. Educação Matemática. Atividades Investigativas. ResumoThis article asks: how the Meaningful Learning Theory presents itself in teaching and learning situations? It is a comprehensive cut from a broader study, from master's degree, from which the teaching of mathematics stands out based on this theory. It was carried out with students of the Mathematics course at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora. In it, a proposal was developed that, in addition to the research method, constituted itself as a pedagogical proposal for the future teaching performance of individuals. A dialogue on Mathematics Education themes was promoted and activities, classified as exploratory and investigative, were proposed to be developed in a collaborative way. The dialogues and the development of the activities were transcribed, and assuming a phenomenological stance, the researcher sought, along with the transcriptions, convergences that could, when articulated, bring understandings about the questioned phenomenon. In this movement, nuclear units were formed, of which stands out in this study: the presence of the Meaningful Learning Theory in the development of activities and in the learning of geometric concepts. By describing a reflexive synthesis of this unit, articulating understandings brought by the present study, explaining the presence of theory in the entire learning process, from the teacher's planning to the development given by the students to the planned activities, it is understood to be expressing an understanding of what asks the guiding question of this study. Keywords: Theory of Meaningful Learning. Mathematical Education. Investigative Activities


1995 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 150-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellice A. Forman ◽  
Dawn E. Mccormick

Discourse analysis is one of the principal methodologies of sociocultural research in education. sociocultural research focuses on understanding how cognitive, social, cultural, affective, and communicative factors influence instruction. we review how sociocultural theory conceptualizes teaching and learning, some fundamental constructs of both the theory and the methodology, and the basic guidelines for discourse analysis. we discuss the applications of sociocultural theory and discourse analysis to remedial and special education by focusing on three areas of research: the social construction of disability, contingent instruction between adults and learners, and miscommunication between adults and working class or minority students.


1992 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Haas Dyson

No greater challenge currently faces the schools than articulating what a literacy curriculum for sociocultural diversity might look like. And yet the literature on young school children's composing has dealt only peripherally with this issue. In this theoretical essay, the author argues that, even for young children, composing of both oral and written texts (i.e., planning, responding, revising) is a distinctly sociocultural process that involves making decisions, conscious or otherwise, about how one figures into the social world at any one point in time. Drawing on data from an ethnographic project in an urban school, she allows young children's composing processes sociocultural depth and breadth by highlighting variation in the kind of oral and written language genres a child uses, in the kinds of discourse traditions a child draws upon, and in the kind of relationships a child author enacts with others. The author concludes with a discussion of the implications of a sociocultural perspective on young children's composing for literacy teaching and learning.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Landry

Beginning with discussion of what constitutes survivor research in Canada, this paper presents the findings of a critical discourse analysis of published accounts of survivor-led research over the last twenty-five years. Though they are varied, these texts demonstrate a rhetorical shift from a focus on the individual mind/body out to the social world experienced by psychiatric consumer/survivors. Findings indicate that survivor-led research engages with recovery discourse in numerous, sometimes problematic ways, in order to push back against dominant biomedical and psychiatric discourses. Further, new language is being generated for understanding madness and distress, rooted in a survivor perspective


2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-98
Author(s):  
Manel Lacorte

At the present, the analysis of second language (L2) classroom interaction is one of the most productive areas in the field of L2 teaching and learning. This article describes current theoretical and methodological views of classroom interaction, with specific attention to Spanish as a L2. First, the article examines several theoretical positions that outline the role of interaction on L2 acquisition within certain social, cultural, and political contexts. Then, it focuses on some individual and collective factors involved in the interaction between instructors and students within the L2 classroom, and it discusses some of the social and institutional dimensions that may affect the interaction between the diverse participant agents in the teaching of a L2: instructors, students, administrators, family members, academic institutions, etc. Finally, the article suggests possible pedagogical applications derived from a principled knowledge of contextual and ‘local’ interactive processes in classrooms of Spanish as a L2.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (334) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Vintere

Abstract The constructivist approach is based on the idea that knowledge can never be passed from one person to another. The only way to acquire knowledge is to create or construct them. The constructivist approach changes also the role of the teacher in the educational process, the task of them is to organize the environment so that the student himself can construct the cognitive forms that teacher wants to give him. In the paper, the nature of the constructivist approach is identified, different aspects regarding mathematics education are analysed as well as the potential impact on the development of mathematical competences in the context of sustainable development is discussed. The study process and learning methods appropriate to constructivist approach also were studied. In order to illustrate the need for a constructivist approach in mathematics education, the survey of students from Latvia University of Life Science and Technologies (LLU) and Riga Technical University (RTU) were carried out, the results of which proved that mathematics learning at universities has to be changed. The current study proved that the constructivist approach radically changes the process of teaching and learning mathematics, connecting it with daily life, rather than teaching only abstract formulas and using a creative approach to mathematical tasks solving. This study shows that using constructivist approach to the teaching of mathematics, the competences needed for sustainable development are boosted.


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