From defining as assertion to defining as explaining meaning: teachers' learning through theory-informed lesson study

Abstract

PurposeThe aim is the introduction of lesson study (LS) in geometry in Malawi secondary schools supported by a teaching framework that includes a focus on language responsive teaching.Design/methodology/approachThe study reports an LS on geometry for professional development (PD) of secondary teachers. Data analysed includes lesson plans, transcripts of lessons, reflective discussions. The analytical approach is qualitative content analysis.FindingsTeachers' lexicalisation of an exterior angle of a triangle evolved as a function of a teaching framework that guided their participation in planning, teaching and reflecting through LS cycle, and that was derived from networking between theories.Research limitations/implicationsThis is both a small-scale study, and a limited content focus in the lesson, a function of LS being a new practice, and teachers simultaneously learning ideas about geometry teaching, those embedded in the framework and doing LS.Practical implicationsThe paper includes a description of how LS might contribute to teachers' learning of language responsive teaching, and so is useful for others working on LS and language practices.Originality/valueThis paper fulfils an identified need to learn more about how networking theories to inform and support LS can create learning opportunities for teachers, particularly about language responsive teaching, an interest and concern worldwide.

What is mathematics teaching talk for? A response based on three sites of practice in mathematics education

“…These teacher contributions are visible in domain studies related to language and learning (e.g., Moschkovich, 2008), but typically not problematised. As we have shown in prior research on which we now build, naming and explaining are part of what is entailed in word use within explanatory communication (Adler et al, 2022), and interpreted by Planas (2021), concerning how words can be lexicalised to encode meanings and relations amongst meanings.…”

“…Before continuing with further details of SFL, we turn briefly to elaborate the MDI/MTF and so locate the construct of explanatory communication, and our use of this through this paper. As discussed by Adler et al (2022), the MDI was developed as an analytic tool to enable systematic description of elements of mathematics teaching across lessons, and for use in a research and professional development project in South Africa. MDI was redescribed for developmental work with teachers, this form being named the MTF, and with shifts from descriptive constructs to more prescriptive teaching practices.…”

“…More broadly, by language-responsive teaching we refer to the teaching that is planned and developed with explicit attention, in the interaction with the learners, to the nuances of word meaning in relation to the plurality of forms of word use in any discourse organization. Adler et al (2022) illustrated explaining practices in communicating the geometric meaning of the exterior angle of a triangle and the moves between the visual, the verbal and the diagrammatic. Planas (2021) focused on the verbal mode of the explaining practices, as we do in this paper.…”

Aspectos Culturais E Impactos Relacionados Às Práticas De Lesson Study: Uma Revisão Sistemática

“…O sucesso creditado ao LS em seu país natal é principalmente um reflexo das condições culturais e sociais do Japão e de seu sistema escolar específico. Os especialistas concordam unanimemente que, como o ensino é uma atividade social complexa, serão necessárias adaptações nos procedimentos de LS para se adequar às necessidades e contextos locais (STIGLER; HIEBERT, 2016;SCHIPPER et al, 2019;ADLER;MWADZAANGATI;TAKKER, 2023). Seguindo este entendimento, a análise acima revela vários aspectos que devem ser levados em consideração para a implementação eficaz do LS fora do Japão.…”

Conceptualizing teachers’ interactions with resources in crossing languages and cultures

“…The model (Fig. 2 ) posits a mathematics teaching framework (MTF), an ideational resource that makes explicit valued mathematics and mathematics teaching practices and their related mediational means (Adler et al, 2022 ). The MTF can function as a bridging tool in the inevitable gap between curriculum resources and their potentialities, and teachers’ interpretation and use of these in practice, or as discussed in Sect.…”