[Linganth] looking for AAA panel on mathematics or disciplinary registers in education

[Mark Lewis]

Hello,
I am developing a paper that might be of interest to panels focusing on
metapragmatic attention to language in mathematics or other disciplines, or
the historical investigation of schooling through semiotic frameworks such
as enregisterment (Agha) or metalinguistic labor (Carr). Through
double-checking the linganth list archives, I haven't seen many applicable
panels announced, but I wanted to reach and see if there were some others
out there who could be interested. Below is the current full abstract. If
you're interested or know someone who might be, please contact me at
markle at gse.upenn.edu. Thank you!
Mark

“No, you mean *greater *than”

The standardization of math language in and for US primary schools



Metalinguistic labor (Carr, 2011) is work that that “protects, patrols, and
produces […] highly naturalized assumptions about language” (p. 125). Given
the reflexive organization of communication, metalinguistic labor of one
form or another is ubiquitous, but schooling have a special relationship to
metalinguistic labor: it is acutely affected by metalinguistic labor but
also a mass producer. Much metalinguistic labor in schooling operates under
projects of standardization, including (a) identification of desired
standard discourse appropriate to a school-related end, and (b) the
assessment of how a sample of discourse—produced by a student—matches the
desired product. I present ‘math language’ as an example of a continually
typified and highly managed speech register involved in schooling and trace
aspects of its development in the US, especially in the last century.
Standardization work on math language includes mathematicians’ reflexive
organization of their own field, math educators’ professional debates about
the proper use of “standard mathematical terminology” and classroom
instruction intended to shape students’ mathematical discourse towards an
identified standard. A framework focusing on metalinguistic labor in or
addressed to schools makes it possible to concretize understanding of
individual negotiation of language ideologies, particularly as they emerge
through standardization and other explicit metalinguistic projects.
Furthermore, highlighting the complexity of schooling from the standpoint
of metalinguistic labor offers additional possibilities for charting the
pedagogically relevant effects of language planning.
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