K@ta: A Biannual Publication on the Study of Language and Literature (Jan 2010)
Mathematics Textbooks of Primary 1 Used in Singapore: A Multimodal Analysis of Its Intersemiosis
Abstract
Mathematical discourse deploys three semiotic resources at the same time – language, symbolism and visual images. It is unique in how it presents mathematical concepts and relations, which are mostly abstract concepts. This paper analyses how these resources collaborate to explain mathematical concepts to Primary 1 students in Singapore. As these students are at the beginning level of learning mathematical concepts, the textbook needs to concretize the abstract mathematical concepts. The data analysis follows Systemic Functional – Multimodal Discourse Analysis or SF-MDA (O’Halloran, 2007). It is concluded that in the deployment of those three semiotic resources, the mathematical speech functions and the mathematical processes have been carefully and effectively selected as seen from the intersemiosis to concretize those abstract mathematical concepts for the young minds.
