Towards an international lexicon

Abstract

A significant distinguishing characteristic of the International Classroom Lexicon Project was the documentation of classroom pedagogical practices of mathematics teachers in the original languages of ten communities. These lexicons provide us with an opportunity to compare identified teacher practices within these communities. In this paper, we explore the challenges of conducting a cross-lexicon comparison to explore the possibility of moving towards an international lexicon by focusing on the Australian, Chilean, Czech and French lexicons. We focus on two clusters of terms, namely, those related to assessment and those related to mathematics. Inspired by theories and studies related to networking and boundary crossing, strategies were conceived and tested in order to accomplish the following objectives: to support a meticulous and comprehensive comparison of the lexical items; to classify the complexity of similarity of lexical items; and to reveal connections amongst the four lexicons in a bid towards developing an international lexicon. This analysis has the potential to contribute significantly to the study and promotion of mathematics teachers' reflective practice and highlights the cultural underpinning of the way classroom practices are perceived.