A Comparative Analysis of Fraction Multiplication in Korean and Japanese Elementary Mathematics Textbooks: Focused on Quantitative Reasoning

Abstract

This study explored fraction multiplication of Korean and Japanese elementary mathematics textbook series based on a content-specific analytic framework that put an emphasis on quantities with referent units along with the meanings of fraction multiplication and visual representations. The results of this study illuminated noticeable differences in the textbooks, even though they were similar in addressing the main topics. Whereas multiple meanings of fraction multiplication were presented in the Korean textbook, the meaning of scaling was mainly emphasized in the Japanese textbooks. Whereas quantities with referent units were explicit in the Japanese textbook, those were implicit in the Korean counterpart. Whereas a visual representation was systematically employed in the Korean textbook mainly to demonstrate the results of fraction multiplication, various representations were used in the Japanese textbook to explain the algorithms for fraction multiplication. Based on these differences emergent through the content-specific framework, this study provides mathematics education researchers, curriculum developers, and teachers with specific implications for teaching and learning of fraction multiplication.