Awareness of audience is important in all writing, even in mathematics. Having students write mathematically allows teachers to understand their students’ understanding of mathematical concepts and processes.  However, mathematical writing can take different forms, depending on its audience.  I noticed various aspects of mathematics and writing that were similar.  For this study, I chose to focus on one aspect:  the role of audience in the students’ writing. In its essence, writing is the production of text.  However, the process of producing the text is multifaceted.  First is the acknowledgement of text.  Vygotsky (1978) saw writing as a manifestation of spoken text.  Taking it one step further, written text can be defined as symbols or signs that convey meaning (Harris, 1995; Rotman, 2000).  These symbols can take on many forms, such as letters, numbers, mathematical and chemical signs, and musical notes.  For each of these symbols, there is a specific meaning.  Meanings, however, are not arbitrary; they are determined by the environment and social practices of its users.  Once the meanings of the symbols have been established and acknowledged, adolescents need to be able to understand these combinations of symbols, in order for meaning to be conveyed.

According to Morgan (1998), mathematical writing is multidimensional, taking on more than one form.  She explained that when students were able to use mathematical language properly, they were deemed “more literate in the topic” (p. 109).  On the other hand, those students with either poorer writing skills or who used unconventional methods had little grasp of mathematical concepts.  Morgan’s concept of writing is similar to Gee’s concepts of academic Discourse and discourse (1999, 2003).  With both concepts, Discourse (with an upper-case D) is the recognition of an identity that is engaged in a particular activity, and discourse (with a lower case d) is the language used in the activity.  In Morgan’s case, the particular activity is writing and solving mathematical problems, and the tools or objects that are used in this particular activity are mathematical symbols.

Secondary-level students are primarily taught mathematical writing through their mathematics teacher.  The mathematics teacher is the authoritative voice in the classroom.  Through the teacher’s instruction, students will be exposed to how the mathematics teacher uses writing in the classroom.  In turn, the student will try to emulate the teacher’s mathematical writing usage.  In my experience, these students were conscious of what was expected of them, because they equated conformity with a positive grade.

 As a result, my research questions were:

• Does the students’ audience affect the kind of writing students produce in mathematics class?
• If audience does have an effect on the students’ mathematical writing, how is it affected?

Gee, J. P. (1999). Discourse analysis: Theory and method. NY: Routledge. Gee, J. P. (2003). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses. NY: RoutledgeFalmer. Harris, R. (1995). Signs of writing. NY: Routledge. Morgan, C. (1998). Writing mathematically: The discourse of investigation. London: Falmer. Press. Rotman, B. (2000). Mathematics as sign. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.