Triadic dialog in multilingual mathematics classrooms as a promoter of generalization during classroom talk

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate how triadic dialog promotes generalization of growing figural patterns during classroom talk in multilingual classrooms and crucial linguistic terms that the teacher and students draw on in their home language, as they engage in pattern generalization. Ten sessions in two classrooms in grade 7 were videotaped. A mixed quantitative-qualitative approach was adopted to analyze the videotaped sessions. At a macro-level analysis, the sessions were mostly hybrid including various generalization level episodes. At a micro-level analysis, triadic dialog was the dominant mode of interaction during classroom talk. Nuances in the discourse structure of triadic dialog were associated with shifts between generalization level episodes in each session. Classroom talk involved deployment of colloquial Arabic to refer to linguistic means that influenced the processes of generalization. The study presents and analyzes representative excerpts of classroom talk during various generalization level episodes to demonstrate the findings. The selected episodes show the details of classroom interaction and provide evidence how triadic dialog involved the use of crucial words in home language to promote various levels of generalization.