Identities, Threat, and Repair: Examining the Mathematics Learning Experiences of African American Students

• In Event: Roundtable Session 49
  In Roundtable Session: Mathematics Learning With Diverse Learners

Abstract

This paper reports on a yearlong, phenomenological study conducted among first-year, African American college students enrolled in a remedial mathematics course. With a focus on students’ mathematics learning experiences in this setting, the study relies on two central units of analysis: mathematics identity-as-narrative and engagement with mathematics. Based on narrative analyses of semi-structured interviews, the findings center on students’ mathematics identity constructions and the mathematics socialization factors (e.g., community) that influence those identities. This paper will also detail the ways in which students negotiated socially constructed masternarratives about African American students’ participation in mathematics learning settings. The paper concludes with a discussion on the role of counternarratives in repairing students’ mathematics identities implications for future research.

Author

• Gregory V. Larnell, University of Illinois at Chicago