Mathematical Disciplinary Literacy: Enhancing Teacher Pedagogical Agency to Support Students’ Written Explanations

Abstract

This article discusses the benefits of adopting disciplinary literacy approaches in Mathematics. We propose disciplinary literacy practices foreground mathematical teachers' expertise and knowledge thereby enabling them to adapt generic literacy approaches to better address the specific literacy demands of the discipline. Specifically, we discuss how students' ability to write explanatory paragraphs (a component of a mathematical report) can be facilitated by the joint construction of writing and the provision of specific feedback on students' writing. Such an approach supports students' undersatnding of both mathematical concepts and the literacy demands of mathematical explanations. We dra..