Advertisement

ZDM

pp 1–12 | Cite as

Numeracy in Youth and Adult Basic Education: syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic dimensions of a discursive practice

  • Maria da Conceição Ferreira Reis FonsecaEmail author
Original Article
First Online:
  • 14 Downloads

Abstract

The diversity of vulnerability conditions, that have prevented children and adolescents from exercising their right to school education, also produces a diversity of cultural references of the public that comes to Basic Education programs for Youth and Adults in developing countries. This diversity often forges appropriation processes of numeracy practices that defy the rationality assumed by hegemonic mathematics and confront us with the insufficiency of not only the syntactic approach, but also the semantic resources in school mathematics teaching. Focusing on events occurring in classrooms of different programs that I have been accompanying in Brazil, I identify and analyze tensions, disputes, and complementarities among the signification efforts being referenced in syntactic, semantic or pragmatic dimensions of language games that constitute the discursive interactions in these contexts. My analysis is based on theoretical tools of language studies that invest in reflections on pragmatics and, as in Wittgenstein’s later works, assume that meaning is determined by use, allowing scholars to approach linguistic signification as a social phenomenon and numeracy practices as discursive practices of social subjects in interaction. The findings provide evidence to further discuss the complexity of the classroom, to which the vulnerability of the students’ living conditions adds decisive elements, challenges and possibilities.

Keywords

Youth and Adult Basic Education Appropriation of School Numeracy Practices Diversity of forms of life in the classroom Pragmatics of language Meaning and signification 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq–Brazil) and Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG–Brazil).

References

  1. Baker, D. (1998). Numeracy as social practice. Literacy and Numeracy Studies,8(1), 37–50.Google Scholar
  2. Catelli, R, Jr., Ribeiro, V., & Haddad, S. (2015). A avaliação da EJA no Brasil: Insumos, processos, resultados. Relatos de Pesquisa, 39, 5–53.Google Scholar
  3. Condé, M. L. (2004). As teias da razão: Wittgenstein e a crise da racionalidade moderna. Belo Horizonte: Argumentum.Google Scholar
  4. Descartes, R. (1983). Discurso do Método; Meditações; Objeções e respostas; As paixões da alma; Cartas. São Paulo: Abril Cultural.Google Scholar
  5. Di Pierro, M. C. (2005). Redefinición de la educación de adultos en Brasil. Revista Interamericana de Educación de Adultos,27, 7–26.Google Scholar
  6. Fonseca, M. C. (2002). Educação matemática de jovens e adultos: especificidades, desafios e contribuições. Belo Horizonte: Autêntica.Google Scholar
  7. Fonseca, M. C. (2015). Parâmetros balizadores da pesquisa em Educação Matemática e Diversidade: EJA e Inclusão. Educação Matemática Pesquisa (Online),17, 530–540.Google Scholar
  8. Freire, P. (1973). Education for critical consciousness. New York: Seabury.Google Scholar
  9. Gal, I., Grotlüschen, A., Tout, D., & Kaiser, G. (2020). Numeracy, adult education, and 'vulnerable' learners: A critical review of a neglected field. ZDM Mathematics Education, 52(2).Google Scholar
  10. Geiger, V., Goos, M., & Forgasz, H. (2015). A rich interpretation of numeracy for the 21st century: A survey of the state of the field. ZDM Mathematics Education,47, 531–548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Green, J. L., Dixon, C. N., & Zaharlic, A. (2001). Ethnography as a logic of inquiry. In J. Flood, D. Lapp, J. Jensen, & J. Squires (Eds.), Handbook for research on teaching the English language arts (pp. 1–26). New Jersey: LEA.Google Scholar
  12. Haddad, S. (2006). Education of youth, human rights and human development. Convergence (Toronto),XXXIX, 131–146.Google Scholar
  13. Hallett, G. (1967). Wittgenstein’s definition of meaning as use. New York: Fordam University Press.Google Scholar
  14. Knijnik, G., & Wanderer, F. (2010). Mathematics education and differential inclusion: A study about two Brazilian time–space forms of life. ZDM Mathematics Education,42, 349–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Knijnik, G., & Wanderer, F. (2018). Broadening school mathematics curriculum: The complexity of teaching mathematical language games of different forms of life. In K. Yasukawa, A. Rogers, K. Jacson, & B. Street (Eds.), Numeracy as social practice: Global and local perspectives (pp. 121–132). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
  16. Lima, C. F. (2012). Estudantes da EJA e os materiais didáticos no ensino de matemática. (Master’s thesis). Retrieved from Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFMG.Google Scholar
  17. Oliveira, M., Negreiros, J., & Neves, A. (2015). Constraints of learning mathematics: A systemic historical review of the literature. Educação e Pesquisa,41(4), 1023–1037.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Powell, A., & Frankenstein, M. (Eds.). (1997). Ethnomathematics: Challenging eurocentrism in mathematics education. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
  19. Souza, M. C. (2008). Gênero e Matemática(s): Jogos de verdade nas práticas de numeramento de alunas e alunos da Educação de pessoas jovens e adultas. (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFMG.Google Scholar
  20. Souza, M. C., & Fonseca, M. C. (2010). Relações de gênero, Educação Matemática e discurso: enunciados sobre mulheres, homens e matemática. Belo Horizonte: Autêntica.Google Scholar
  21. Street, B. V. (2003). What’s “new” in the literacy studies? Critical approaches to literacy in theory and practice. Current Issues in Comparative Education,5(2), 77–91.Google Scholar
  22. Walkerdine, V. (2003). Counting girls out: Girls and mathematics. London: Virago.Google Scholar
  23. Wittgenstein, L. (1986). Philosophical investigations. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
  24. Yasukawa, K., Jacson, K., Kane, P., & Coben, D. (2018a). Mapping the terrain of social practice perspectives of numeracy. In K. Yasukawa, A. Rogers, K. Jacson, & B. Street (Eds.), Numeracy as social practice: Global and local perspectives (pp. 3–17). London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Yasukawa, K., Rogers, A., Jacson, K., & Street, B. (Eds.). (2018b). Numeracy as social practice: Global and local perspectives. London: Routledge.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© FIZ Karlsruhe 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Faculty of EducationUniversidade Federal de Minas GeraisBelo HorizonteBrazil

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options