THE IMPACT OF TEACHER POSITIONING ON STUDENTS’ OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN: A CASE STUDY OF AN ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS CLASSROOM

This case study aimed at investigating how teacher positioning influenced students’ opportunities to learn in a 3rd grade mathematics classroom. This study focused on how norms were reflected in teacher positioning and how students were positioned in terms of their identities as mathematics learners.\ud Utilizing the socio-cultural view of learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) with positioning theory (Harré & van Langenhove, 1999; van Langenhove & Harré, 1999), the study analyzed classroom discourse during whole class discussions. It also examined interviews with the teacher. The analysis consisted of two phases. At the first phase, I investigated the transcripts of 8 lessons and 3 interviews and a newsletter written by the teacher to parents to identify what norms appeared and how the teacher communicated those norms. At the second phase, I analyzed the transcripts of classroom discussions to articulate what the interactional pattern looked like, how the teacher positioned students during discussions, and how students reacted to teacher positioning in terms of negotiating their identities as mathematics learners.\ud The analyses revealed that her teaching philosophy appeared as a hybrid discourse, which included different kinds of norms and multiple positions taken up by the teacher. They also showed that particular types of teacher positioning promoted or restricted students’ participation in whole class discussions about problem-solving strategies. Finally, the results demonstrated that students engaged in social comparison to protect their current self-evaluations as mathematics learners or construct new positive self-evaluations as mathematics learners.\ud The findings suggested two conclusions. First, the teacher’s positioning played a significant role in her students’ participation in discussions about their strategies and these positions were aligned with her teaching philosophy Second, students’ social comparisons appeared as discursive positions that mediated their identities as mathematics learners. The limitations of the study and implications for future mathematics education research were also provided