Teachers’use of curriculum materials in Grade 3 Mathematics: A Case Study
- Authors: Whale, Susan Gaye
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Primary) -- South Africa , Education -- curriculum innovation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PHD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/45591 , vital:38916
- Description: The study examines four curriculum documents with regards to curriculum facets, further interrogated through indicators for certain facets in order to ascertain whether the documents could be considered to be educative. Comparison is made with selected resources internationally. Observed episodes in four mathematics classes are interrogated with regards to teacher facets and concomitant indicators, to assess whether the tenets proposed in the written curriculum are translated into practice in the classrooms. The four Grade 3 teachers are interviewed about their views on the curriculum, their views on teaching and their views on their own agency in teaching mathematics. The teachers’ complete selected examples from a Mathematics Knowledge for Training (MKT) questionnaire and are engaged in conversations about iii their beliefs about mathematics and their confidence in both doing and teaching mathematics. The study identifies that the current CAPS curriculum documents focus on mathematical content almost exclusively and give minimal guidance concerning pedagogical content knowledge. The agency of teachers is not addressed. The study suggests a three-dimensional model of curriculum design that encompasses new educative curriculum materials; guidance on innovative teacher practices and direction towards new beliefs in teachers which could build agency and confidence. The concern that this study uncovers is that although the school and teachers were specifically chosen to minimise linguistic and social detractors, the intended curriculum does not appear to have been universally translated into
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- Date Issued: 2019
Using language as a resource: strategies to teach mathematics in multilingual classes
- Authors: Whale, Susan Gaye
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa , Code switching (Linguistics) -- South Africa , Education, Bilingual -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Language and education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Blacks -- Education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:9469 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1669 , Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa , Code switching (Linguistics) -- South Africa , Education, Bilingual -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Language and education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Blacks -- Education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: South Africa is a complex multilingual country. In the majority of schools in the Eastern Cape, a province in South Africa, the teachers and learners share the same home language, isiXhosa, but teach and learn mathematics in English. The purpose of this study was to encourage teachers to use the home language as a resource to teach mathematics in multilingual classes. The study follows a mixed method design, using both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data were collected from a survey and poetry, which teachers crafted, in which they highlighted their perceptions about language in their lives. They also reflected on their practices and submitted pieces of contemplative writing. Quantitative data were collected from participating teachers who administered a pre-test to their learners as well as a post- test approximately nine months later after conducting an intervention. The results showed that where strategies, such as the implementation of exploratory talk and code switching which used language as a resource, had been introduced mathematical reasoning improved and classroom climate became more positive. The learners’ lack of confidence in being able to express their reasoning in English was prevalent throughout the reflective writing. By enabling learners to use isiXhosa in discussions the teachers felt that the learners gained in both confidence and mathematical understanding. This study has demonstrated that using the learners’ and teachers’ home language unlocks doors to communication and spotlights mathematical reasoning, but there is still an urgency to encourage learners to become fluent in Mathematical English. It is important to note that a positive classroom climate is essential for learners to build confidence and to encourage them to attempt to formulate sentences in English - to start on the journey from informal to formal usage of language as advocated by Setati and Adler (2001:250). My main conclusion is that an intervention that develops exploratory talk by using language as a resource can improve learners’ mathematical reasoning. I wish to emphasise that I am not advocating teaching mathematics in isiXhosa only, but the research has shown the advantages of using the home language as a resource together with English in Eastern Cape multilingual mathematics classes. Learners need to be able to express themselves in English, written and spoken, in order to achieve mathematically. This study therefore shows that teachers can gauge their learners’ improvement in mathematical reasoning after an intervention that develops exploratory talk in class by using the home language as a resource.
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- Date Issued: 2012