The lexicon project: Examining the consequences for international comparative research of pedagogical naming systems from different cultures

David Clarke (1) , Carmel Mesiti , Yiming Cao (2) , Jarmila Novotná (3)

1 University of Melbourne
2 SPMS - Laboratoire Structures, Propriétés et Modélisation des solides
3 Faculty of Education, Department of Mathematics and Mathematics Education

Use of English as the international language of educational research can mask the nuanced meanings of constructs that researchers working in languages other than English originally employed in framing their practice and their theories. Cross-cultural comparisons are framed in terms of constructs expressed in the language of publication, usually English. Attention has been drawn to the significance of the resulting validity-comparability compromise (Clarke, 2013). The Lexicon Project investigates the pedagogical naming systems used by educators in nine countries (eight languages). Drawing on examples from the Australian, Chinese and Czech lexicons, this paper outlines the project's research design and addresses the implications of distinctive lexical features for comparative classroom research between communities employing different lexicons to describe the phenomena of middle school mathematics classrooms.

Mots clés: Professional language; mathematics education; international comparison

Domaines: Mathématiques [math]; Sciences de l'Homme et Société

David Clarke, Carmel Mesiti, Yiming Cao, Jarmila Novotná. The lexicon project: Examining the consequences for international comparative research of pedagogical naming systems from different cultures. CERME 10, Feb 2017, Dublin, Ireland. ⟨hal-01938196⟩