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Meta-rules of discursive practice in mathematics classrooms from Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo

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Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that discursive practice in classrooms plays a key role in student learning of mathematics. This study extends a previous study on spoken mathematics (Clarke and Xu in ZDM Int J Math Educ 40(6):963–981, 2008) and seeks to compare the discursive practices in classrooms from Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo with a particular focus on meta-discursive rules (Sfard in Educ Stud Math 46:13–57, 2001; Sfard in Thinking as communicating: human development, the growth of discourses, and mathematizing, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2008) that regulate exchanges between the teacher and students. The analysis centres on the events when the topic of “linear equations” was introduced. The similarities and differences of the three classrooms suggest that while the shared macrocultural values and beliefs may frame the social activity of the classrooms in similar ways, the meta-discursive rules of classroom microculture determine the opportunities for student learning in mathematics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Melbourne, 109 Barry Street, Carlton, VIC, 3053, Australia

    Lihua Xu & David Clarke

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  1. Lihua Xu
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  2. David Clarke
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Correspondence to Lihua Xu.

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Xu, L., Clarke, D. Meta-rules of discursive practice in mathematics classrooms from Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo. ZDM Mathematics Education 45, 61–72 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-012-0442-x

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