• School Mathematics
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.625-642
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• 2009

This paper presents an overview of theories about ethnomathematics to seek for implications for multicultural mathematics education. Initiated by anthropological inquiries into mathematics outside of Europe, research of ethnomathematics has revealed the facets of mathematics as a historicocultural construct of a community. Specifically, it has been shown that mathematics is culturally relative knowledge system situated within a certain communal epistemological norms. This implies that indigenous mathematics, which had traditionally been regarded as primitive and marginal knowledge, is a historicocultural construct whose legitimacy is conferred by the system of the communal epistemological norms. The recognition of the cultural facets in mathematics has faciliated the reconsideration of what is legitimate mathematics. what is mathematical competence, and what teaching and learning mathematics is an about. This paper inquires multicultral discourses of mathematics education that research of ethnomathematics provides and identifies its implications concerning multicultural mathematics education.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.177-200
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• 2007

The language socialization approach states that novices are socialized into cultural norms through participating in routine, repeated interactional acts and sequences (e.g., Ochs & Schieffelin, 1984; Ochs, 1988; Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986a; 1986b; Watson-Gegeo & Gegeo, 1986). One of the cultural norms or dominant epistemological orientations in American culture is the tendency to avoid the overt display of power asymmetry in novice-expert relationship (Ochs & Schieffelin, 1984). This study examines how this cultural preference is reflected and encoded in ESL teachers' use of routine discourse patterns in corrective sequences. Eight hours of ESL classes taught by three Caucasian teachers born and educated in the U.S. were analyzed for the study. The analysis showed that the cultural tendency in question is keyed and indexed in the teacher's routine corrective discourse patterns in the form of various questioning, elicitation, and mitigation practices. Findings support that teachers' routine classroom discourse practices represent their cultural ideologies and transfer these cultural predispositions to second language learners and that they possibly socialize the learners into the target language-oriented beliefs.

• School Mathematics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.165-190
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• 2012

Recently, the Korean government develops a variety of policies for the improvement of school education. Among the policies, convergence education is considered as essential. Moreover, as the policies declare that mathematics is expected to play a central role in the convergence education, mathematics educators are required to seek for ways of how to approach convergence education in mathematics. In this context, this paper reviewed diverse viewpoints on what kind of contribution convergence education make to the improvement of school mathematics. While the argument constructed around the issue of national competitiveness is the most prevalent in the political discourse, this paper recommends to introduce the epistemological norms raised by the knowledge integration through history. In addition, this paper presents both domestic and international programs to discuss how to develop educational program for convergence education in mathematics.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.247-276
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• 2009

The purpose of this essay is to explore the methodological standpoint and the meaning of 'Discourse Analysis' in policy science. I discussed it in three dimensions including: 1) the ontological point of view, 2) the epistemological perspective, and 3) researcher's position in policy research. 1) From the ontological standpoint, I explained the policy as a text, context, discourse, and ideology, that is focused on being constructed by the formative power of language. 2) The ontological standpoint produced "the argumentative turn" in the policy analysis, and many policy analysts emphasize the argumentative process of policy making and evaluation. This argumentation process includes the interpretative and critical viewpoints as well as the normative and ethical characteristics of policies in the discourse analysis. We should reexamine reality critically because discourse is ultimately influenced by the prevailing cultural and social norms. Therefore, an interpretative and critical viewpoint is an epistemological perspective in the discourse analysis. This critical approach creates an awareness of the limitations on our thinking under the particular major discourse, and requires the self-reflection within and beyond the discourse. This process leads to the human emancipation. 3) In order to achieve this emancipation, the last approach suggests that we need to scrutinize "the subject" as a researcher, who is also influenced and subjectified by the major discourse and, thus must deconstruct his or herself. Last but not least, we should emphasize the researcher's role as a listener of the minor voice(discourse) and even the silence of the clients.