Sharing Mathematical Perspectives

Abstract

As I pointed out in the last chapter Saussure saw language as having the dual function of articulating meaning (process) and communication (product). However, Saussure and also his modern day advocates in post-structuralism see both process and product as contingent on each other. As educators we are often concerned not so much with the learning itself as with giving an account of what learning has taken place (cf. Garfinkel, 1967, pp. 24–31, who discusses the difficulties of moving between what is said and what is being spoken about). We need to decide what has been learnt by a student and how this has been demonstrated through tangible product, whether this be the application of a method, a reproduction of a famous result, or some verbal explanation of work completed, etc. Learning by the student, however, continuously evolves, oscillating between understanding and explanation; that is, between an on-going learning process and statements generated within this process, which become as if frozen in time. Further, this learning encompasses concerns beyond the frame which maybe anticipated by the teacher.