Reflexive conversation: Approach to the professional learning of pre-service mathematics teachers

Abstract

This study examines how reflexive conversation (RC) conducts pre-service mathematics teachers to collective learning. Although the investigations on the development and learning of teachers have shown that reflection and conversation help to improve their practices and favor learning, the relevance of this study lies in that there still remains the need to find more profound ways on how to achieve it. To this end, this study focuses on the RC. Eleven students in a mathematics teacher education program and their instructor participated in this study; they were observed during two sessions of ninety minutes each, while they thoughtfully discussed the solution for a mathematical task. A qualitative analysis was conducted to understand the learning developed by the participants in the RC context following two principles of conversational analysis: (i) turn taking, and (ii) sequence organization. The principal theoretical reference was the theory of conversation. It was found that RC steers towards collective learning if the topic, object of conversation, is discussed in a free, open and flexible way. The participants transformed their individual knowledge through discussion and negotiation of meanings into a common knowledge such as this: “the concept of generalization in mathematics does not only consist in the establishment of patterns and rules in arithmetic and algebra, it is also a process to form a mathematical concept”. Therefore, RC could be considered in the design or redesign of professional teaching education courses.