Adolescents' Endorsement of Narratives Regarding the Importance of Mathematics: A Dialogic Perspective

Résumé En

Sociocultural accounts of students' identity emphasize the endorsement of narratives about learning from "significant narrators". In contrast, psychological accounts highlight adolescences as a time of separation from parents and other authority figures. In this study, we attempt to reconcile these two views based on the Bakhtinian concepts of Authoritarian discourse and Internally Persuasive discourse. The study examined the mathematical identity narratives of five adolescents, 2nd generation to former Soviet Union immigrants in Israel, participating in a STEM afterschool activity. The findings focus on three students' endorsement of one narrative, "math is important", in both individual interviews and a focus group. The analysis showed that all participants endorsed the narrative and related it to their designated identities. However, participants differed in the level of endorsement of this narrative, ranging from 'full' endorsement to 'oppositional' endorsement.