Explaining Mathematical Meaning in 'Practical Terms' and Access to Advanced Mathematics

This paper uses a socio-political practice perspective of mathematics to investigate the action of first year university students as they work in small groups to explain the meaning of mathematical objects in "practical terms". Written transcripts representing video recordings of the action were analysed using critical discourse analysis and focal analysis. I present a description of the micro-level action and locate this action relative to the mathematical discourses in the university space. This analysis raises questions about the relationship between problems requiring the use of the practical terms genre and access to advanced mathematics at university. [For the complete proceedings, see ED597799.]