Session Information
24 SES 09, Characterising the Structure of the Pedagogical Language of Mathematics Teachers and Researchers in Australia, China and the Czech Republic
Symposium
Contribution
The Czech lexicon was not constructed as a purely empirical product. It does more than simply describe the current pedagogical vocabulary of practising Czech mathematics teachers. Instead, it should be considered as a way to understand the Czech “culture of education” by providing examples that illustrate how it is possible to think about education. The use of pedagogical terms varies according to the groups of their users (authors in different fields of pedagogy, teachers, etc.). The purpose of the Czech lexicon at the national level, as it is reported here, is to provide teacher education with a tool triggering and framing discussions resulting pre- and in-service students´ and teachers´ better understanding of the structure of lessons and modifying the structure with respect to the local situation. The terms of the Czech Lexicon were classified using the following categories: Classroom Management Introductory Communication Explanation of New Topic Revision of Previously Taught Topic Solving of a Problem Checking Individual Work Institutionalisation Summary Non-mathematical Social Interaction Assessment Concluding the Lesson Individual Consultation with a Pupil The Czech lexicon is highly stratified. There are several sub-categories in each of these themes. One distinctive feature was the prevalence of student-oriented terms that reflect the importance attached to the teacher-student relationship. When constructing the Czech lexicon, the research team faced two obstacles. One of these obstacles was connected to the difference between the how language is used and understood by different target groups. Pre- and in-service students and teachers use few scientific pedagogical terms and communicate mostly using words from the language of everyday life. The Czech lexicon team´s concern was therefore how to manage to combine the two planned ways of using the Czech lexicon – as a tool describing the structure of Czech lessons and highlighting important parts of lessons and as a tool facilitating discussions between different groups. This dilemma is accented by the relative absence of Czech scientific terms not only in the domain of didactics of mathematics but also in pedagogy. It results in the following question: Does the use of a term involve only the description of an observable action or activity or does it involve interpretation, inference or some attribution of intention? The focus of the Czech team’s contribution to this symposium will be the different uses of the lexicon for teachers, student-teachers and educational researchers.
References
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