Always, sometimes, or never true: The linguistic challenges of transitioning between examples and generalisations

Ingram, Jenni; Lee, Gabriel

Abstract

Both teachers and students encounter linguistic challenges in mathematics classrooms. Many of these challenges are also mathematical in nature and are often topic-specific. In this paper, we examine these challenges as they arise when teachers and students interact around a widely used task focusing on the truth-values of algebraic equations. The data arises from a collaborative project between teachers and researchers focused on developing materials to support language-responsive mathematics teaching. These materials focus on offering guidance on using widely used or known tasks in language-responsive ways. Videos from the lessons in which the teachers implemented these materials were analysed. In these lessons, the challenges encountered arose when the students and teachers were discussing the relationship between the examples generated and the conclusions drawn from these examples.

Citation

Ingram, J., & Lee, G. (2023, November). Always, sometimes, or never true: The linguistic challenges of transitioning between examples and generalisations. Presented at BSRLM Autumn Day Conference 2023, Bristol, UK

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: BSRLM Autumn Day Conference 2023
• Start Date: Nov 4, 2023
• End Date: Nov 4, 2023
• Acceptance Date: Jul 31, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Nov 4, 2023
• Publication Date: Nov 4, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 20, 2025
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics 43(3) November 2023
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/36578678
• Publisher URL: https://bsrlm.org.uk/publications/proceedings-of-day-conference/ip43-3/