Microanalysis of mathematical discourse in a quasi-synchronous chat environment

This paper describes a methodology for microanalysing mathematical discourse in an online collaborative environment. A model is constructed to represent the discourse by linking contributions through uptakes to illustrate the flow of knowledge construction. A framework of analysis of the model is designed to illustrate the moment-to-moment interaction between participants as they collaboratively reason about and manipulate mathematical symbols, concepts and formulas in the form of textual representations. The analysis includes the description of the shift of focus in the discourse leading to the emergence of stages. The key motivation behind this paper is to develop a structure for analysing collaborative learning. More importantly, this methodology uses a holistic approach to understand the process of meaning-making embedded in interactions between chat textual representations. Copyright © 2007 The authors and IOS Press.