Thematic analysis of articles focusing on mathematical literacy in mathematics teaching-learning process

Abstract

The issue of how to increase the achievement level of mathematics literacy has become the focus of studies on mathematics education. Even though there have currently been many studies, no detailed study has been found related to their methods, content, and which component of mathematics literacy. The aim of this study is to carry out thematic analysis of the articles focusing on mathematics literacy in the education process and reveal the extent to which the researched subjects meet the needs in terms of quality and quantity, and what kind of research is needed. However, the fact that there are many studies (181) on mathematics literacy has led to the need to classify the articles before the thematic analysis. Based on the Principles of School Mathematics (equality, curriculum, teaching, learning, evaluation, and technology), 74 articles were selected for analysis after a preliminary classification of the articles followed by at least one of the principles. In this study, the general characteristics (types of journals and year of publication), rationale, purpose, research methods, sample, results and suggestions of the examined articles were analyzed and presented. Two main categories were identified in the studies examined in this study: (i) Describing a situation by summarizing the information and making it more distinguishable, (ii) Identifying the problem and proposing a model for the solution of this problem, and increasing the ML achievement level by testing and evaluating this model. Most of the studies examined were classified in the first category. It was observed that the studies in the second category were insufficient in number. In particular, the results of studies reporting difficulties in solving the ML problems can be a starting point for improving the teaching and repetition of such studies is considered as a need.