A critical ethnography on instructor-student interactions in a mathematics teacher education course

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the instructor-student interactions in a secondary level mathematics teacher education course through a critical ethnographic perspective. Participants in the study were 16 pre-service teachers at one of the large midwestern universities in the U.S. The data for the study consists of the transcribed audio recordings collected in four classroom meetings as well as exclusive field notes. It was revealed as a result of the current study that negotiation - re-negotiation mechanisms mediate the communications, which occur in accordance with the lifeworlds of students and instructor while system subordinates the lifeworld of these actors through its two main roots, contractual and normative systemic relationships. In addition, the reflection of these relationships on the instruction was also discussed. It is highly suggested for future researchers to investigate these interactions with extended sample sizes as well as in different learning environments.