Teachers Talking about their Classrooms: Learning from the Professional Lexicons of Mathematics Teachers around the World

Different communities, speaking different languages, employ different naming systems to describe the events, actions, and interactions of the mathematics classroom. The International Classroom Lexicon Project documented the professional vocabulary available to middle-school mathematics teachers in Australia, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, and the United States. National teams of researchers and experienced teachers used a common set of classroom videos to stimulate recognition of familiar terms describing aspects of the mathematics classroom. This book details the existing professional vocabulary in each international community by which mathematics teachers conceptualise their practice, and explores the characteristics, structures, and distinctive features of each national lexicon. This book has the potential to enrich the professional vocabulary of mathematics teachers around the world by providing access to sophisticated classroom practices named by teachers in different countries.

This one volume offers separate, individual lexicons developed from empirical research, the capacity to juxtapose such lexicons, and an unmatched opportunity to highlight the cultural, historical, and linguistic bases of teachers' professional language.

Carmel Mesiti is Research Fellow of the International Centre for Classroom Research (ICCR) and Lecturer in Mathematics Education at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research has centred on exploring, through international video-based research, the nature of teaching and learning in mathematics classrooms, as well as the differences in pedagogical lexicons of education communities worldwide.

Michèle Artigue is Emeritus Professor at the Université de Paris and Associate Researcher at the Laboratoire de Didactique André Revuz, France. In 2013, Michèle was awarded the Felix Klein ICMI Medal for sustained, consistent, and outstanding lifetime achievement in mathematics education research and development. Michèle’s recent research interest has centred on the building of connections between approaches and theories in mathematics education.

Hilary Hollingsworth is Principal Research Fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), Australia. Hilary has over 30 years’ experience working in a wide range of national and international educational contexts including schools, universities, research organisations, government education departments, and private education service organisations. Her research interests include teacher professional learning, video classroom observations, teaching quality, assessing student learning, and communicating student learning progress.

Yiming Cao is Professor at Beijing Normal University and Chair of the Chinese Association of Mathematics Education, China. Yiming has worked throughout his career to improve mathematics education in China. His research interests have included curriculum, assessment, teacher knowledge, and cooperative learning and he currently leads the revision of the Chinese Mathematics Curriculum Standard for compulsory education.

David Clarke was Professor at the University of Melbourne and Director of the International Centre for Classroom Research (ICCR), Australia. David established and led a substantial, internationally-extensive, innovative research programme in video-based classroom research. Over the last 20 years, David’s research activity centred on capturing the complexity of classroom practice in more than 20 countries.