Students’ colloquial and mathematical discourses on infinity and limit: The case of an American and a Korean student

Abstract

The purpose of this study is on the relationships between students’ uses and understandings of the notions of infinity and limit in both colloquial and mathematical discourses. How students’ colloquial discourse on infinity and limit correlates with their mathematical discourse, in the case of an American and a Korean student, will be analyzed based on three distinctive features of mathematical discourses: mathematical uses of words, discursive routines, and endorsed narratives. According to the results of the current study, colloquial discourse seems to correlate with mathematical discourse because of certain clear relationships between the colloquial and mathematical discourses of the American and Korean students on infinity and limit.