Browsing by Author "Masondo, Wanda"

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    Learners' identity in mathematics
    (2017) Masondo, Wanda
    The study reported in this dissertation sought to explore Grade 8 learners’ identities in mathematics. The study focused on examining learners’ interpretations of their relationships with the discipline of mathematics. The study drew on ideas from three different yet complementing theoretical perspectives as advocated by Gee (2001), Wenger (1998), and Sfard and Prusak (2005). However, Wenger’s (1998) broader social theory of learning was selected as a theoretical framework of this study to particularly connect the process of active engagement and participation in the practices of social communities and explain the construction of learners’ identity in mathematics. The study refuted a view that mathematics learners are born with special genes which drive them to succeed in doing the subject. This stance permitted the study to divert from discussing the role of models of abilities when doing mathematics or what Darragh (2016) described as a ‘performative identity’. Rather, the study was inclined to look at relationships between emotional and cognitive reactions that shift from time to time whenever mathematics is made accessible for learners through participatory pedagogy which encourages exploration, negotiation and ownership of knowledge. The study employed mixed methods research. The reasons for employing mixed methods research included the researcher’s beliefs and that the research questions were both exploratory and confirmatory type of questions. The research used a sequential mixed methods design. In the first phase, data sets were collected and analysed from an open-ended questionnaire (qualitative component). The results from the first phase were then used to develop a Likert-scale questionnaire (quantitative component) which informed the third phase (qualitative component). The third phase of the research design was semi-structured interviews. The interviews expanded the analyses of data from both initial qualitative and quantitative components. The reported findings indicated that the learners strongly needed teachers to clearly explain mathematics concepts. The learners required to understand mathematics in order to identify with the subject. The learners explained that if they understand mathematics, they become interested in learning the subject. Mathematics becomes their favourite subject. And if they do not understand, the learners expressed that they withdraw their participation in the classroom. In cases where learners shared incoherent views about how they are at learning mathematics, it was concluded from the analyses of the results that they needed to carefully listen to the teacher, ask for more examples to familiarise themselves with procedures, and then do their level best during assessments to pass the subject in order to align themselves with certain careers in the future.
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    Secondary school mathematics teachers' identity and mathematical discourse in instruction
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) Masondo, Wanda; Carrim, Nazir; Pournara, Craig
    More often than not, a disjuncture tends to exist between teaching practices that are encouraged during professional development (PD) interventions and what in-service teachers actually do when teaching mathematics. The study reported in this thesis uses the notion of teacher identity to examine in-service teachers’ experiences of learning and their new ways of teaching mathematics after they had participated in a PD intervention called the Transition Maths 1 (TM1) course. The theoretical framework for the study draws on Wenger’s (1998) social theory of learning as a foundational framework, and on Sfard and Prusak’s (2005) narrative identity and Darragh’s (2016) performative identity frameworks to analyse teachers’ mathematics teaching identity. The integration of Wenger’s (1998) social theory of learning, Darragh’s (2016) performative identity and Sfard and Prusak’s (2005) narrative identity frameworks is a key contribution of this study to research teacher identity in the field of mathematics education. The inclusion of Darragh’s (2016) performative identity framework harnessed Wenger’s (1998) social theory of learning and Sfard and Prusak’s (2005) narrative identity frameworks. Drawing on Wenger’s (1998) to analyse teachers’ identities in relation to what they actually do when teaching mathematics in the classroom was going to be limited for the study. Thus, the study has emphasised the learning and teaching of linear equations (a specific domain of mathematics), whilst researchers in mathematics education who draw from social theories and identity often render mathematics invisible. The findings of the study revealed that the teachers shared a positive sense of identity towards learning and teaching mathematics. The teachers’ positive sense of identity emerged from being conscious of achieving lesson goals through exemplification and explanatory communication. However, the teachers were not paying much attention to how they invite learners to participate in their lessons. The characterisation of the teachers in how they achieve lesson goals from their mathematical discourse in instruction became their actual teaching identity. The teachers’ designated teaching identity highlighted aspects where there was a “mismatch” between their mathematical discourse in instruction and what was promoted in the TM1 course. Nonetheless, the gap between the teachers’ actual and designated teaching identities remained relatively narrow when considering that there were fewer aspects where teachers were not competent in their mathematical discourse in instruction. The study employs an explanatory mixed methods research design. The use of the explanatory mixed methods research design and its elaboration in this study is another key contribution to researching teacher identity. In the quantitative processes, 45 teachers who participated in the TM1 course completed a closed-ended questionnaire. The questionnaire was analysed using Exploratory Factor Analysis to explore teachers’ shared experiences of participating in the TM1 course, which demonstrated that the inclusion of the quantitative processes can be valuable to research teacher identity. In the qualitative processes, four teachers were selected for observations when teaching learners mathematics and for individual interviews to talk about their learning and teaching of the subject. The observations were analysed using Mathematics Discourse in Instruction framework to understand the teachers’ teaching practices. The interviews were analysed using narrative analysis to confirm and expand on the teachers’ experiences of learning and teaching mathematics.