Georgia Kasari

Field of work

PhD project: Language-Responsive Mathematics Teaching in Pre-service Teacher Education: An action-research study in Norway

This Ph.D. study is an action-research project which aims to investigate what reflections on teaching does a teacher educator pay attention to when changing the practices about supporting pre-service teachers (PTs) in language-responsive mathematics teaching in their school classrooms.  In particular, the setting of the practice is focused on the two compulsory courses at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences: the first one occurs in the second semester of the first year (spring semester), and the second in the first semester of the second year (autumn semester) of a new five-year Master of Education. The courses integrate mathematics and pedagogy and use Norwegian as a main language of instruction. To support language-responsive actions by PTs, I as a teacher educator will make use of Lucas and Villegas’ (2013) two-part framework of linguistically-responsive teaching, in considering how to change practices when introducing PTs to working with Norwegian language learners in mathematics classrooms. In each phase of the action research cycle (plan, act, observe, reflect) multiple levels of reflection linked to action will be used (Schön, 1987). This will be documented in a research reflection journal in written and/or audio forms, before and after the action. This will consist the primary source for data collection, followed by audio-recording the teaching action in the PT education courses, field notes at the teaching action, samples of PTs’ work, and discussions with critical peers from the local scientific community of teacher educators on audio-tape. These tools can inform changes made in my teaching in the compulsory courses and allow me to review the action and retrace instances of my practices in relation to the research question. Pierson’s (2008) model of responsiveness and intellectual work will be adapted to analyse my teaching practice as a TE during the interactions with PTs and to identify which practices need to change and why. In addition, noticing will be used as an analytical tool to report, understand and interpret the reflections on my teaching that I pay attention to regarding these practices in the teacher education context in the course of time.