Abstract:
This paper examines the classroom interactions between the teachers and the students in some secondary mathematics classrooms in South Africa. Twelve lessons of eight teachers were analyzed using the Secondary Teaching Analysis Matrix framework of Gallagher and Parker (1995) to classify teaching into didactic, transitional and conceptual teaching about the classroom interactions. The classroom interactions were found to be predominantly didactic. This means among other things that there was little student interaction about subject matter; short answers predominated; there were few student questions and student-student interaction was rare. The findings will be used to guide professional development intervention programs to help teachers improve their mathematics instruction.