ABSTRACT
My intention, in this chapter, is to provide a theoretical and empirical representation of a project in which I have attempted to generate a theoretical framework—a language of description—for the sociological analysis of pedagogic texts (Dowling, 1993a). The project is empirically concerned with the secondary school mathematics scheme, SMP 11–16 1 and also entails a reading of textbooks within the scheme. I shall begin the chapter with an introduction to the idea of a language of description. Following this introduction, I shall pick up a particular strand within the general theoretical orientation of my own project and follow this through to the production of data. It will be necessary to give some introduction to the language more generally. However, this will necessarily be partial and, to a certain extent, elliptical. The tearing out of a particular strand will, unfortunately, give rise to a methodological lesion and to the associated unstaunched haemorrhaging of connotations and unexplored references.
