A Pedagogical Mathematics Register Framed by Systemic Functional Linguistics: The Case of the Equals Sign
Date
2015-09-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate whether using a pedagogical mathematical register, framed by systemic functional linguistics, to expose a 5th and 6th grade elementary students to the operational and the relational interpretations associated with the equals sign positively affects students’ understanding of these various interpretations.
The pedagogical register used to detach the operational and the relational meanings of the equals sign was in a form of two semiotic bundles, which is a linguistic label (the process “equals” for the operational definition and the verbal group “is equal to” for the relational definition) selected based on Systemic Functional Linguistics and a gesture (a packing gesture for the operational definition and a balancing gesture for the relational definition) used simultaneously with its corresponding linguistic label. These two interpretations along with their semiotic bundles where introduced to the experimental groups in a presentation informed by variation theory. The study investigated the short-term and long-term effects of presenting the equals sign via semiotics bundles on students’ understanding of the different definitions of the equals sign as well as their ability to implement these different definitions. The assessment included a pretest and three post-tests. The first post-test was administered immediately after the presentation, the second, about two weeks after the presentation, and the final post-test was given to the experimental groups about six weeks after the second post-test.
Using descriptive statistics, the results indicate that using a semiotic bundle can stimulate students to use different interpretations of the equals sign in the short term, but not in the long-term. The results also show that operational thinking was common in the control group while many students in the experimental groups employed relational interpretation of the equals sign to provide answers. In the long-term, operational thinking remained frequent in the control group. In the experimental groups, students continued to use the relational interpretation of the equals sign to find answers. However, the data obtained could not conclusively attribute the experimental groups’ use of the relational interpretation to the pedagogical register that was incorporated in the presentation on the equals sign two months prior.
Description
Keywords
Education--Curriculum and Instruction, Education--Mathematics
Citation
Sabbaghan, S. (2015). A Pedagogical Mathematics Register Framed by Systemic Functional Linguistics: The Case of the Equals Sign (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/24944