Abstract:

Lexical availability is a research field that is responsible for collecting and analyzing the available lexicon within a community. This available lexicon refers primarily to words that speakers know that arise once they are exposed to a stimulus or a communicative situation. However, lexical availability is not only responsible for quantitative measurements but also deals with how a particular concept is understood, identifying deficiencies or difficulties in the way words are interrelated (Ferreira et al., 2014). The present work is portrayed in a Fondecyt project (Salcedo et al. , 2014 ) in which the lexicon of a sample of 233 students of Pedagogy in Mathematics from two universities in the south of Chile was analyzed, considering two interest centers specific to the discipline: geometry and algebra. This study presents a descriptive analysis by univariate and multivariate techniques, index calculation, and ANOVA/ Kruskal Wallis tests to compare both groups. The analysis identifies deficiencies in the lexicon and its semantic structures which prevent optimal advance in the development of significant learning. This constitutes the initial point for making educational decisions in a learning context. For the data analysis the online platform “Lexmath” (Salcedo et al., 2015) was used to study the semantic networks formed in each group. Lexmath establishes the lexicon group behavior through lexical availability index of each word and "performance metrics". The overall analysis of the data shows that there are general differences between the results obtained in both universities, so we conclude that the institution directly influences the construction of latent lexicon of students and other factors that could intervene. Regarding the statistical analysis, the results of the analysis of compliance and principal component analysis showed that first year students’ semantic networks behave differently from that of the rest of the levels, in both the private and the state university. Results also showed a significant difference in the ILAI (Individual lexical availability index) between first and fifth year students.

References:
[1] Ferreira, A., Salcedo, P., & del Valle, M. (2014). Estudio de disponibilidad léxica en el ámbito de las matemáticas. Estudios filológicos, 54, 69-84.
[2] Salcedo, P., Ferreira, A., del Valle, M., Cerda, G., & Friz, M. (2014). Plataforma adaptativa online para el fortalecimiento de las competencias matemáticas y pedagógicas a partir del estudio léxico semántico de estudiantes y profesores de Pedagogía en Matemática. Proyecto Fondecyt Nº 1140457, Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, Gobierno de Chile.
[3] Salcedo, P.; Del Valle, M.;Pinninghoff, M.; y Contreras, R., (2015). LEXMATH – A Tool for the Study of Available Lexicon in Mathematics. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer-Verlag, 9108 (2), 11-19.

Keywords:

Lexical availability, Mathematics Education, available lexicon.