Linking Teacher–Learner Discourse With Mathematical Reasoning of Students With Learning Disabilities: An Exploratory Study. (February 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xin, Yan Ping; Chiu, Ming Ming; Tzur, Ron; Ma, Xiaojun; Park, Joo Young; Yang, Xuan
• Other Names: Crawford Lindy guest-editor.; Smolkowski Keith guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Learning disability quarterly. Volume 43:Number 1(2020:Feb.)
• Page Start: 43
• Page End: 56
• Publication Date: 2020-02
• Subjects: elementary mathematics -- discourse analysis -- discourse-oriented instruction -- instructional strategies -- learning difficulties -- learning disabilities -- mathematical problem solving -- multiplicative reasoning -- student-adaptive pedagogy -- student-adaptive teaching/learning -- thinking/cognition; Learning disabilities -- Periodicals; 371.905
• DOI: 10.1177/0731948719858707
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0731-9487

Abstract

Informed by a constructivist-based, student-adaptive pedagogical approach, this study explores the benefits of teacher–learner discourse moves for the mathematics learning of students with learning disabilities (LD). During a constructivist teaching experiment for nurturing the multiplicative reasoning and problem solving of five third-grade students with school-identified LD, we analyzed the global trends and detailed dynamics of teacher–student interactions with statistical discourse analysis . We found that the teacher's discourse moves to support each individual student's problem solving helped engage them in mathematical reasoning, which improved their problem-solving performance. Thus, this study contributes to knowledge in the field of special education by (a) specifying ways in which discourse-oriented mathematics instruction can help each student with LD and (b) showcasing a novel statistical analysis of teacher–student discourse.