Formulating textual tasks based on mathematical expressions in the fourth grade of primary school
The paper deals with the characteristics of students’ products of independent writing in mathematics instruction. The importance of the research stems from a relatively low achievement of primary school students in Serbia on international tests of trends of students’ achievement in mathemat...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | srp |
| Published: |
Institute for Educational Research, Belgrade
2016-01-01
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| Series: | Zbornik: Institut za Pedagoška Istraživanja |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0579-6431/2016/0579-64311601106C.pdf |
| Summary: | The paper deals with the characteristics of students’ products of independent
writing in mathematics instruction. The importance of the research stems from
a relatively low achievement of primary school students in Serbia on
international tests of trends of students’ achievement in mathematics and
sciences, as well as from the prominent need, proven both empirically and
theoretically, to devote attention to writing not solely in language
instruction, considering a low level of basic and functional literacy of
students. The aim of the research was to study the characteristics of
students’ products in which they translated mathematical expressions into
textual form. The criteria for analysing students’ products were the
following: mathematical accuracy, reality of the context, variety and
originality of topics, dominant types of text structuring and normative,
lexical and syntactic characteristics. The sample included 198 fourth-grade
primary school students. Standard quantitative and qualitative methodological
procedures were used. The findings indicate that the students have not been
sufficiently trained to translate mathematical expressions into the form of
textual tasks. Although they recognised and complied with the rules of the
genre and functional style, students did not pay attention to the reality of
the context and quantities. They also neglected other aspects that are not
directly related to mathematics instruction: innovativeness in selecting the
topics of textual tasks, orthographic and grammatical accuracy of the
text/textual task, choice of vocabulary and syntactic complexity of
sentences. The results also suggest that it is necessary to devote more
attention to open-ended problems and the quality of linguistic expression in
the instruction of all school subjects. |
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| ISSN: | 0579-6431 1820-9270 |