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What is Symbolic Mathematics Language Literacy? A Multilevel Mixed Methods Study of Adolescents in a Middle School

Headley, Marcia Gail
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3017-2834
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1470045155

Abstract Details

2016, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Educational Studies.
The language of mathematics may be the most influential language ever codified in a writing system. Despite the ubiquity of the language, literacy for mathematics remains something of a curiosity. It is not defined in critical educational policy documents such as the Common Core State Standards. The emphasis on disciplinary literacy has renewed interest in distinguishing literacy for mathematics from mathematics proficiency and from English language literacy. I conceptualized symbolic mathematics language literacy (SMaLL) as the ability to read and write symbolic mathematics using the conventions of the writing system for the language of mathematics. SMaLL, by this definition, is scarcely acknowledged or explored in educational research. My objective in conducting this exploratory study was to gain novel insights into SMaLL among middle school students learning under the Common Core State Standards with implications for instructional practice. Guided by the theory of developmental bio-cultural co-constructivism, I adapted data collection tools from English language literacy research and implemented a multilevel concurrent mixed methods research design. In sum, I integrated quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches to understand SMaLL as a complex component of human development shaped by interactions within and across three levels of change: cultural, behavioral, and neurobiological. The results of the quantitative analysis of cognitive measures of students’ ability to read symbolic mathematics indicated that SMaLL is systematically related to measures of mathematics achievement. The results of the qualitative analysis of students’ metacognitive reflections on SMaLL indicated that assessing the symbolic mathematics features is critical to determining whether or not mathematical text was readable. In addition, decoding mathematical symbols appears to be a critical SMaLL reading strategy. The mixed methods integrated results yielded a multilevel model of SMaLL describing how the in-class use of the language of mathematics, metacognitive strategies, and cognitive processing interact and contribute to the ways middle school students read symbolic mathematics in selections of typical academic texts. The model reveals three important aspects, one for each level, of SMaLL. First, developing SMaLL, or learning to read symbolic mathematics, requires assistance and depends on social interaction. Second, reading the language of mathematics is a process of navigating the ambiguity of the symbolic mathematics. It involves metacognitive behavior aimed at perceiving the meaning of symbols and producing an English language representation of the written text. Third, reading the language of mathematics involves the coordination of automated cognitive processes: orthographic processing, phonological processing, semantic processing, and emotional regulation. The substantive findings have implications for future studies dedicated to refining a theory of SMaLL, developing methods and measurement tools to further investigate SMaLL, and tailoring instruction to support SMaLL development. In addition, this study advances the field of mixed methods research by providing an exemplar of a multilevel concurrent mixed methods study and introducing a novel conceptualization of multilevel variants of mixed methods research designs for use with theoretically defined levels and within-person investigations.
Vicki Plano Clark, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Rhonda Douglas Brown, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Sarah Stitzlein, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Christopher Swoboda, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
414 p.
Mathematics Education
Symbolic Mathematics Language Literacy; multilevel research design; mixed methods; mathematics education; disciplinary literacy

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Headley, M. G. (2016). What is Symbolic Mathematics Language Literacy? A Multilevel Mixed Methods Study of Adolescents in a Middle School [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1470045155

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Headley, Marcia Gail. What is Symbolic Mathematics Language Literacy? A Multilevel Mixed Methods Study of Adolescents in a Middle School. 2016. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1470045155.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Headley, Marcia Gail. "What is Symbolic Mathematics Language Literacy? A Multilevel Mixed Methods Study of Adolescents in a Middle School." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1470045155

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1470045155
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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.