Teaching, Learning, and Employing Analytical Frameworks as Performance - Analysis of a Quantitative Literacy Event in Applied Mechanics

Oct 15, 2026

Quantitative literacy is treated as problem solving with mathematical and statistical information across visual, written, and mathematical representations, central to higher education disciplines. The paper analyzes an undergraduate applied mechanics quantitative literacy event as a cultural performance: teaching, learning, and the analytical frameworks used are inherently performative. A critically reflexive application of a framework shows how researchers engage similarly, shaping relations among teachers, learners, researchers, and curriculum developers, with broader implications for higher education discourse.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

What is Quantitative Literacy?

Teaching, Learning, and Employing Analytical Frameworks as Performance

Simpson, Z., and Prince, R. (2018). Teaching, Learning, and Employing Analytical Frameworks as Performance: Analysis of a Quantitative Literacy Event in Applied Mechanics. Designs for Learning, 10(1),76–87. DOI: [https://doi.org/10.16993/dfl.95](https://doi.org/10.16993/dfl.95) | RESEARCH
Teaching, Learning, and Employing Analytical Frameworks as Performance: Analysis of a Quantitative Literacy Event in Applied Mechanics
Zach Simpson* and Robert Prince† | | --- | | Quantitative literacy is the ability to solve problems using mathematical and statistical information that is represented in various forms, including visual, written and mathematical forms. It is central to many of the disciplines within higher education. In this paper, we examine a particular quantitative literacy event within an undergraduate applied mechanics module and, in so doing, argue that teaching and learning are cultural performances of individuals’ relations to, in this case, quantitative literacy. Furthermore, we apply a framework for analysing the quantitative literacy demands present within higher education. By applying this framework in a critically reflexive manner, we demonstrate how the researcher similarly engages ina cultural performance in relation to quantitative literacy. We use this anecdotal example to argue that the application of analytical frameworks is inherently performative in nature, and propose the need for a meta-frame for understanding teaching, learning, and the frameworks through which they are viewed, as performance. This has implications for higher education more broadly in that, we argue, the frameworks used promote particular relations to lived teaching and learning experiences, and position teachers, learners, researchers and curriculum developers in particular ways. | | Keywords: quantitative literacy; teaching and learning; performativity; higher education; multimodal social semiotics; analytical frameworks | Introduction Barton and Hamilton (2000: 8) describe literacy practices as ‘the general cultural ways of utilizing written language which people draw upon in their lives. In the simplest sense, literacy practices are what people do with literacy’. As products of culture, literacy practices are everyday performances of cultural values and social and professional roles. At the same time, these performances take place through representational modes that extend beyond written language: a multitude of representational forms constitute these cultural performances (Kress, 2000) . Thus, the notion of ‘literacy’ needs to be expanded to include the full gamut of representational modes. With this in mind, literacy events are concrete instantiations of literacy practices (Barton and Hamilton, 2000) . They are the specific performances in which individuals undertake social action. In higher education, one of the primary domains for such events and practices is that of quantitative literacy (or numeracy as it also termed) . This paper provides an example of a particular quantitative literacy event within an applied mechanics module, and uses this example to demonstrate how both teaching * University of Johannesburg, ZA † University of Cape Town, ZA Corresponding author: Zach Simpson ([zsimpson@uj.ac.za](zsimpson@uj.ac.za)) and learning can be seen to be particular cultural performances of, in this case, individuals’ relations to quantitative literacy. Furthermore, the paper applies a framework for analysing the quantitative literacy demands present within the particular event analysed. In applying this framework in a critically reflexive manner, we demonstrate how the researcher similarly engages in a cultural performance in relation to quantitative literacy. In so doing, we argue that the application of analytical frameworks is inherently performative in nature. We propose the need for a meta-frame for understanding teaching and learning, and the frameworks through which they are viewed, as performance. Such

FAQs

What is quantitative literacy, according to the document?

Quantitative literacy is the ability to solve problems using mathematical and statistical information represented in multiple forms, including visual, written, and mathematical representations.

How does the paper describe teaching and learning?

Teaching and learning are presented as cultural performances of individuals’ relations to quantitative literacy.

What is the role of analytical frameworks in the paper’s argument?

The paper argues that applying analytical frameworks is inherently performative, and proposes a meta-frame for understanding teaching, learning, and the frameworks through which they are viewed as performance.

Oct 15, 2026

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