The Pragmatics of Mathematics Education: Vagueness and Mathematical Discourse

Shows how to use linguistic understanding to improve communication of mathematics teaching *Fresh and stimulating analysis of language in mathematics talk Drawing on philosophy of language and recent linguistic theory, Rowland surveys several approaches to classroom communication in mathematics. Are students intimidated by the nature of mathematics teaching? Many students appear fearful of voicing their understanding - is fear of error part of the linguistics of mathematics? The approaches explored here provide a rationale and a method for exploring and understanding speakers' motives in classroom mathematics talk. Teacher-student interactions in mathematics are analyzed, and this provides a toolkit that teachers can use to respond to the intellectual vulnerability of their students.

Tim Rowland is a Principal Lecturer in Mathematics Education at Homerton College, University of Cambridge