Views of Teachers Towards Use of Dialogue and Argumentation in the Mathematics Classroom

In the realm of Mathematics education, the use of dialogue and argumentation as pedagogical approach has gained significant attention in recent years. Research shows that the views of the teachers in the use of dialogue and argumentation teaching approach play a crucial role in shaping the learning experience for students. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the views of teachers towards use of dialogue and argumentation in the Mathematics classroom. The study employed a quantitative approach that used structured questionnaire for data collection from a sample of 100 Mathematics teachers selected from 72 secondary schools in Gutu district of Masvingo Province in Zimbabwe using a judgemental or purposive (non-probability) sampling strategy. Two statistical metrics namely the mean and the standard deviation were used for data analysis. Results of the study show that there is a general agreement among teachers that dialogue and argumentation is an effective approach to the teaching Ordinary level Mathematics. The main study limitation is that it only used a quantitative approach, which may have affected the depth and breadth of data collected about the views of teachers towards use of dialogue and argumentation in the mathematics classroom. The results of this study have implications on both practice and policy about the views of teachers towards use of dialogue and argumentation in the Mathematics classroom.