3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Communicating mathematics reasoning in multilingual classrooms in South Africa.(2011-06-20) Aineamani, BenadetteThis is a qualitative research that draws Gee‟s Discourse analysis to understand how learners communicate their mathematical reasoning in a multilingual classroom in South Africa. The study involved a Grade 11 class of 25 learners in a township school East of Johannesburg. The research method used was a case study. Data was collected using classroom observations, and document analysis. The study has shown that learners communicate their mathematics reasoning up to a certain level. The way learners communicated their mathematical reasoning depended on the activities that were given by the textbook being used in the classroom, and the questions which the teacher asked during the lessons. From the findings of the study, recommendations were made: the assessment of how learners communicate their mathematical reasoning should have a basis, say the curriculum. If the curriculum states the level of mathematical reasoning which the learners at Grade 11 must reach, then the teacher will have to probe the learners for higher reasoning; mathematics classroom textbooks should be designed to enable learners communicate their mathematical reasoning. The teacher should ask learners questions that require learners to communicate their mathematical reasoning.Item Discourse practices of mathematics teacher educators in initial teacher training colleges in Malawi.(2010-03-01T07:15:32Z) Chitera, NancyThis is a qualitative research that draws on Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis methodology to analyze the discourse practices of the mathematics teacher educators in initial teacher training colleges in Malawi. The study involved four mathematics teacher educators in two teacher training colleges located in two different regions of Malawi. Specifically the study explored the following questions: 1) What are the discourse practices that mathematics teacher educators display in their descriptions of multilingual mathematics classrooms? 2) a) What are the discourse practices that mathematics teacher educators display in a college mathematics classroom? b) How do they make available the discourse practices for the student teachers to draw on? Data was collected through pre-observation interviews, classroom observations, reflective interviews and focus group discussions with the mathematics teacher educators. This study has shown that while there are some disconnections between the discourse practices produced in a school multilingual mathematics classroom and a college mathematics classroom, some of the discourse practices that mathematics teachers produced in a college mathematics classroom reinforces the common discourse practices being produced in multilingual mathematics classroom. There are three common discourse practices that were displayed in a college mathematics classroom. These discourse practices are: Initial-Response-Evaluation (Pimm, 1987), traditional lecturing and group discussions. I observed that the IRE and traditional lecturing discourse practices were accompanied by directive discourses for procedural control, and the procedural discourse was the prevalent discourse in all the discourse practices produced. iv Three major themes have emerged from the data analysis. Firstly, the research findings indicate that the mathematics teacher educators regard multilingualism and the language practices that come with it such as code-switching more as a problem rather than a resource for teaching and learning. Secondly, code-switching in college mathematics classroom is not as spontaneous as is research shows it to be in schools; rather it is very much controlled and restricted. Thirdly, the dilemmas of code-switching as discussed by Adler (1998, 2001) are more acute in teacher training colleges, mainly because of the mismatch in the Language-in-Education Policy (LiEP) in schools and tertiary level.Item Using multiple languages to support mathematics proficiency in a grade 11 multilingual classroom of second language learners: an action research.(2009-02-12T09:49:47Z) Molefe, Terence BaronThis study explores whether and how the deliberate use of multiple languages can support or constrain the development of learners’ mathematics proficiency in a multilingual mathematics classroom. The study is an action research in which I transform my teaching, by exploring a new teaching strategy. In the study, learners’ home languages, in addition to English (LoLT), are used in a planned and proactive manner, where a well-selected high cognitive demand task set in multiple languages is used for teaching and learning. The study is done in a grade 11 multilingual mathematics class, at a school where I teach. Findings of the study indicate that Kilpatrick et al’s (2001) five strands of mathematical proficiency prevail across all lessons, that the use of English by both learners and I dominates, and that utterances are mostly conceptual. It is also shown by the findings of the study that using the learners’ home languages in presentation of the mathematical task, and the nature of the task used, supports the learners in the comprehension of the mathematical task, and encourages them to participate more effectively during lessons.