Feature Analysis Of The Teacher-Student Conversation In The Primary Mathematics Classroom

Primary mathematics classroom instruction is a process of teacher-student interaction and mutual development. An empirical analysis of the teacher-student conversation in the primary mathematics classroom is in accordance with the educational study trend of the world, and also meets the urgent need for an effective classroom instruction in the primary mathematics in China. It is of theoretical value and practical significance in terms of diagnosing the problems in teacher-student conversation in the primary mathematics classroom, perfecting the assessment theory and technique of the primary mathematics classroom conversation, and improving the quality of the teacher-student classroom conversation.The study first constructs a framework for the analysis of the primary mathematics classroom teacher-student conversation by combining theory and practice, and then the framework is used to conduct an analytical and comparative study of the conversational cases taken from Y Primary School in Shanghai. The study includes two parts.①What is the framework for the analysis of the primary mathematics classroom teacher-student conversation? It answers questions of "what to be analyzed" and "how to analyze".②What are the features of the primary mathematics classroom teacher-student conversation at Y Primary School in Shanghai? As the core of the whole study, this part discusses the features of the primary mathematics classroom teacher-student conversation, the differential features of the conversation conducted by teachers of different teaching abilities, and how these features influence the students’mathematics learning.The whole study is divided into two stages. The first stage aims at the construction of an analytical framework for the primary mathematics classroom teacher-student conversation. Based on the sociocultural theory and combining the methods of literature research and interview survey, the analytical framework is formed by exploring the theoretical framework for the analysis of the primary mathematics classroom teacher-student conversation and localizing the theory in practice. The second stage aims at a full collection of data and analyzing the features of the primary mathematics classroom teacher-student conversation. The subjects investigated are10mathematics teachers in Y Primary School, and the research focus is the normal classes of grade4about "the Verticality and Mutually Perpendicular" presented by3teachers who represent the novice teacher, the experienced teacher and the expert teacher respectively. The data are collected through classroom observations, videos of classroom teaching, interviews with teachers, student questionnaires, and teachers’reflections on teaching. Using NVivo8software for qualitative data analysis and combining case study, video study, systematic observation, conversation analysis and interaction analysis, the features of the mathematics classroom teacher-student conversation in Y Primary School are fully interpreted.The conclusions of the dissertation are as follows:First, a "three dimensions and ten factors" analytical framework for primary mathematics classroom teacher-student conversation is constructed. This framework includes3parts of the content system, encoding system, and operation procedure. The content system is made up of three dimensions (mathematics classroom language, mathematics meaning making and mathematics classroom culture) and ten elements (teacher-student discourse information flow, accuracy of expression, the amount of the teacher’s language and way of switching, the function attribute of the teacher-student conversation, the nature of the mathematical questions or tasks, the ways of teacher’s listening to and responding to students, students’intellectual powers to participate in drawing conclusions, the chances of teacher-student conversation, the interactive structure of the teacher-student conversation and the relationship of the teacher-student conversation). The encoding system is the requirements and standards for classifying and encoding the above mentioned factors. The operation procedure shows the operation steps of the conversation analysis in practice.Second, the verbal communication between the teacher and the students is an important medium maintaining effective conversations. At present, the verbal features of the primary mathematics classroom teacher-student conversation are "the teacher asks-the students state" which means in such conversational form the teacher talks more than the students do;"mathematical instruction language" occupies more high proportion than "mathematical language"; students discourse is "passive" answers to the teacher’s questions; the conversations among students are inadequate.Third, the quality and quantity of the mathematical questions or tasks and the ways of the teacher’s listening to and responding to the students play important roles in students’understanding and construction of mathematical meanings. At present, there are more predesigned, closed and conceptual questions than generating, open and "making mathematical connections" questions, and the thinking level of mathematical questions is not high. When listening to and responding to the students, the teachers pay more attention to themselves than to the special thinking of the students.Forth, the verbal communications between the teacher and students are full of cultural features. The teacher holds the teaching discourse power, and the students have fewer opportunities to participate in a high level of mathematical thinking. There are more one way interaction from the teacher to the students aiming to convey message and teacher control and fewer conversations aiming to promote understanding and construction of mathematical meaning. There are three interaction structures, the one way interaction from the teacher to the student, the two way interaction between the teacher and the student, the multi-way interaction between the teacher and the students and among the students.Fifth, there are differential features of the conversation conducted by teachers of different teaching abilities. It is evident that with improved teaching abilities, the teacher pays more attention to the students’experiences, the teacher talks less and the students talk more, the degree of the openness of the mathematical questions and students’ opportunities of choices are increased, the focusing points gradually turn from "teacher" to "students", and the thinking level of the students participating in the understanding and construction of mathematical meaning is gradually rising.The above conclusions are of practical significance in the problem diagnosis of primary mathematics classroom teacher-student conversation and carrying out targeted teacher training programs, especially in improving new teachers’classroom conversation skills, turning the classroom conversation from "closed" to "open", from "teacher control" to "teacher-student discourse community", and changing mathematics teaching from "knowledge imparting" to "knowledge construction".