Emerging themes from the analysis of teachers’ interpretations of argumentation in the mathematics classroom

Abstract

In this paper we present a study on recurrent themes that have been identified in dis-courses concerning argumentation in the mathematics classroom written by secondary teachers (12- to 16-year-old students). A discursive approach is adopted to examine the notion of argumentative prac-tice through a tridimensional analysis that takes into account structural, epistemic and communicative issues. To develop themes, common methods of constant comparison are applied from the perspective of the Grounded Theory. The results point to the teachers’ attention to reformulations, connectors and structural marks in the identification of argumentative practices. Teachers, however, tend not to mention the epistemic value of arguments in their explanations.