An Investigation On Mathematical Communication Competence Of Grade Eight Students

Mathematical communication is one of methods to learn mathematics for students, a useful way to apply mathematics as well. Mathematical communication competence refers to be able to define, achieve and express mathematical facts and ideas, which is important for students who are future citizen. With the development of society, current mathematics curriculum reforms which pay high attention to mathematical communication competence are taking place in main countries and areas in the world. Mathematics curriculum standard in compulsory education of China (2011edition) takes "being able to cooperate and communicate with others" as one of main objects of mathematics curriculum, in accordance with the tendency of international curriculum reforms. The principal research questions in this paper are as followings:1. which level of mathematical communication competence does Grade8students have?2. Is there gender difference in mathematical communication competence?3. Does mathematical communication competence have relationship with students’mathematics achievement?There are six parts in this paper:Part one introduces the background of posing the research questions, the research significance and the research questions.Part two summaries the researches on mathematical communication competence. Then this paper elaborates the connotation, definition, patterns of the mathematical communication competence, and assessment methods.Part three illustrates the research design and process, including the choice of subjects, the construction of assessment framework, the design of questionnaires, the implement of tests, and the coding data.Part four is the analyses and discussion of the results of the test, aiming to answer the research questions, that is the current situation of Grade8students’ mathematical communication competence, the gender deference, and the relationship with mathematics achievement.Part five illustrates instructional design which is aimed at improvement of mathematical communication competence.Part six draws the main research conclusions on the basis of the analysis of the testing results, and provides the advices of instruction for improving students’ mathematical communication competence.