The school mathematics textbook as an instantiation of the pedagogic discourse of school mathematics

Press, Karen

The school mathematics textbook as an instantiation of the pedagogic discourse of school mathematics

Thesis / Dissertation

1999

Abstract

The research focus of this dissertation is the manner in which textual strategy present in a school mathematics textbook contribute to the production of the pedagogic discourse of school mathematics. The dissertation undertakes an analysis of a chapter of a Std 5 mathematics textbook, and seeks through this analysis to demonstrate two things: firstly, the contribution of textual strategies specific to the textbook genre to the production of school mathematics discursive practices; and secondly, that the semiotic tools selected for the analysis can be applied productively to the analysis of school textbooks. The analysis is situated within the framework of Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse. School mathematics is seen as such a pedagogic discourse, and the hypothesis is made that school mathematics textbooks instantiate this discourse in particular ways that are determined, at least in part, by their formal and structural features. The semiotic theories of Eco, Luke and Hodge and Kress are recruited to provide elements of a language of description for the school mathematics textbook. In particular, the analysis examines how a chapter of the textbook constructs its own model reader and model author, how it produces literacy practices and narratives that contribute to the construction of school mathematics· as a discursive practice, how it defines the rules for reading its messages and how these rules are in tum susceptible to modification by logonomic systems present in contexts where the textbook may be used. The analysis demonstrates that formal and structural features of the textbook contribute significantly to the production of subject positions for the learner of school mathematics, and thus to the production of the discursive practice of school mathematics. The dissertation concludes that further research into the use of textbooks in empirical settings is necessary to test the reliability and validity of the semiotic tools used, but argues that within the limitations of the present research framework, these tools have shown their productivity as elements of a language of description for school textbooks.

Keywords

Mathematics Education

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