Rethinking Disciplinary Literacy: Implications of a Study on How One Mathematician Reads (Poster 8)

• In Event: Division C Section 1A Poster Session 1. Literacy: Literacy Processes and Practices

Abstract

This case study examined one mathematician’s reading practices, with a focus on the strategies he used in text comprehension. Data collected include the mathematician’s think-alouds during reading, discussion of his reading think-alouds, and semi-structured interviews. These data were analyzed qualitatively through an iterative process involving multiple readings and identification and refinement of codes. The analysis revealed that the mathematician engaged in extensive reading and employed an array of strategies—-rereading, close reading, monitoring and questioning, summarizing and paraphrasing, storying, drawing on prior knowledge/experience, evaluating and verifying, and note-taking and visualizing—-to help him make sense of what he read. These findings provide important insights that challenge existing conceptions of disciplinary literacy and inform mathematics literacy instruction.

Author

• Zhihui Fang, University of Florida