Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Conceptions of Mathematical Literacy
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate secondary mathematics teachers’ conceptions of mathematical literacy, which are important to consider when is essential to address in designing and implementing effective approaches. Data sources included semi-structured interviews with 16 in-service mathematics teachers from different types of secondary schools. Data analysis utilized open coding in order to identify and label patterns and themes. Results indicated that teachers’ conceptions of mathematical literacy could be categorized into seven groups: (i) Possession of mathematical knowledge and skills, (ii) Functional mathematics, (iii) Problem solving, (iv) Mathematical thinking, reasoning and argumentation (v) Innate mathematical ability, (vi) Conceptual understanding, and (vii) Motivation to learn mathematics. The teachers participated in this study often expressed multiple and simultaneously held conceptions of mathematical literacy. Even though this would suggest that teachers may have confusing and ambiguous understandings of the nature of mathematical literacy, it may also reflect richness in teachers’ understanding of various aspects of mathematical literacy.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Articles may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Authors alone are responsible for the contents of their articles. The journal owns the copyright of the articles. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of the research material.
The author(s) of a manuscript agree that if the manuscript is accepted for publication in the journal, the published article will be copyrighted using a Creative Commons “Attribution 4.0 International” license. This license allows others to freely copy, distribute, and display the copyrighted work, and derivative works based upon it, under certain specified conditions.
Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission to include any images or artwork for which they do not hold copyright in their articles, or to adapt any such images or artwork for inclusion in their articles. The copyright holder must be made explicitly aware that the image(s) or artwork will be made freely available online as part of the article under a Creative Commons “Attribution 4.0 International” license.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
