Pirie-Kieren-Based Integrative Language Literacy and Numeracy Model in Junior High School Geometry

Abstract

This article formulates an integrative model of language literacy and numeracy for analysing junior high school students' conceptual understanding of geometry through the Pirie-Kieren theory. The study is positioned as a descriptive-exploratory qualitative design involving 60 Grade VII students of SMPN 21 Pontianak in the initial mapping stage and six purposively selected students for in-depth analysis. Data are designed to be collected through conceptual understanding tests, literacy-based tasks, classroom observation, semi-structured interviews, and learning artefacts. The analysis combines open coding, axial coding, selective coding, triangulation, and the eight Pirie-Kieren layers. The resulting model connects text comprehension, verbal-visual-symbolic representation, numerical reasoning, folding back, and conceptual-linguistic-representational-numerical obstacles in learning surface area of polyhedra. Referring to Pirie and Kieren's layered understanding, Duval's representation theory, and Moschkovich's mathematical literacy perspective, this article contributes a more integrated analytical frame for mathematics education by positioning geometry understanding as a dynamic interaction among language, representation, and numeracy.