In any teaching practice, analysis of the teaching process is crucial, especially for the development of future teachers. For this purpose, we can use an observation rubric that includes indicators relevant to the analysis of the teaching process. Recording lessons is a particularly valuable tool, as it allows for repeated viewing and in-depth interpretation of the teaching process based on pre-selected or predetermined criteria. The theoretical framework of Legitimation Code Theory offers a different and more in-depth approach to the analysis of lessons. The Legitimation Code Theory comprises five legitimation codes, of which the most frequently used are autonomy codes, specialization codes, and semantic codes. In this master's thesis, we focus primarily on semantic codes, which include semantic gravity and semantic density. Analyzing the two gives insight into how teachers connect new concepts to students’ prior knowledge in order to create new meanings. Semantic gravity represents the degree of context-dependence of concepts, while semantic density represents the degree of interconnectedness of concepts. Recognizing different degrees of semantic gravity and semantic density allows us to construct semantic profiles that visually show the transitions between these degrees. The so-called “semantic waves” on the profile indicate the shifts between different degrees, which is crucial for ensuring quality knowledge. The theoretical section of the master’s thesis includes a description of the development of Legitimation Code Theory and an examination of the three legitimation codes most frequently used in lesson analysis. Particular attention is given to semantic codes, since they are the central focus of this thesis and the basis of the empirical analysis. The key concepts underlying semantic codes are defined: semantic gravity, semantic density, and semantic profile, which visualizes the changes in their degrees. The theoretical section concludes with a presentation of some research findings on Legitimation Code Theory. In the empirical section of the master’s thesis, we tested the practical usefulness of Legitimation Code Theory. The main aim was to discover how the theoretical framework of the Legitimation Code Theory allows for the analysis of mathematics lessons, and what information about the course of the lesson can be examined with the help of semantic profiles. We were also interested in how this type of analysis can contribute to the existing approaches to the analysis of mathematics lessons. Based on video recordings of selected lessons, we coded the occurrence of semantic gravity and semantic density and then constructed semantic profiles from the degrees of the two that we obtained. Using content analysis, we interpreted the constructed profiles in order to answer the research questions. We found that the analysis of mathematics lessons through the Legitimation Code Theory is more time-consuming than existing approaches to lesson analysis, but it provides deeper insight into the structure of knowledge and the way it is conveyed from the teacher to the students. Semantic profiles allow us to identify the entry (initial) and exit (final) points of the lesson in a way that explains whether the lesson began/ended at an abstract or concrete level. In addition, we can determine the range of the semantic profile (the vertical distance between the minimum and maximum of semantic gravity/semantic density), analyze the “semantic waves”, and precisely track the degrees of semantic gravity and semantic density throughout the lesson. Interpreting these data enables an in-depth analysis of the appropriateness of the lesson’s design and implementation. We can identify which parts of the lesson are conceptually demanding for learners, which parts do not contribute to the development of understanding or do not support transferable knowledge, and which parts effectively support learners’ understanding by shifting between abstract concepts and mathematical examples. Based on the data obtained, we conclude that the Legitimation Code Theory is an effective analytical framework that significantly contributes to a deeper understanding of the structure of a lesson and offers valuable information for improving teaching.
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