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An Ethnomethodological analysis of learners' ways of working in a high-stakes Grade 12 Mathematics National Senior Certificate (NSC) Examination: The case of Trigonometry

In South Africa the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination is the capping external
examination taken at the culmination of twelve years of schooling. Levels of success in the
examination offer examinees access to a variety of career options. High levels of success in
the mathematics examination are a pre-requisite for entry into studies linked to so-called elite
careers. However, performance of examinees in the NSC Mathematics examination is not of a
requisite standard and only a few examinees achieve results that fall within the high levels of
the achievement bands.
In order to give mathematics teachers and others insight into performance in the NSC
Mathematics examination, various forms of feedback are provided. One purpose in doing so
is to provide teachers with an understanding of the examinees' ways of working in order for
them to adjust their classroom practice to address mistakes displayed in the work of the
examinees. The feedback provided is primarily of a superficial kind with the mere listing of
such mistakes. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not it is possible to
analyse the production of the responses of examinees in the NSC mathematics examinations
more meaningfully.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uwc/oai:etd.uwc.ac.za:11394/5690
Date January 2016
CreatorsSimons, Marius Derick
ContributorsC. Julie, L. Holtman
PublisherUniversity of the Western Cape
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
RightsUniversity of the Western Cape

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