Emmanuel Vergnol's Thesis Defense

Emmanuel Vergnol will defend his dissertation on September 10, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. at the School of Education (2 Place Marcel Godechot, 34000 Montpellier) in Room A109 (Note: University regulations regarding the health crisis require the presentation of a health pass to attend the defense and the reception).

Thesis Title:Speech-Language Therapy for Academic Difficulties in Mathematics

The jury consists of
: Ms. Floriane WOZNIAK, thesis advisor
Ms. Caroline LADAGE, rapporteur
Ms. Claire MARGOLINAS, rapporteur
Mr. Hamid CHAACHOUA, jury chair
Mr. Thomas HAUSBERGER, examiner
Ms. Anne-Marie RINALDI, examiner.

Thesis Abstract:

The purpose of this dissertation, which draws on the anthropological theory of didactics, is to study the praxeologies of speech-language pathologists in France when they treat individuals with recurrent learning difficulties in mathematics. The first part presents the social context in France that has led to the medicalization of academic failure (Morel, 2014). It discusses definitions of academic difficulties in mathematics and dyscalculia and presents the theoretical and methodological frameworks of the research. The second part addresses the history of the profession and how its subordination to the medical field has developed. The theoretical foundations of the profession regarding the management of recurrent learning difficulties in mathematics are explored by cross-analyzing various data sources: initial and continuing education curricula; questionnaires and interviews with students, instructors, and professionals; and a corpus of theses by students in speech-language pathology programs. The final two sections are based on naturalistic observations of speech-language pathology assessments and follow-up sessions focused on multiplication. The praxeological analysis of mathematical structures in the observed sessions, contrasted with that of textbooks, allows for the identification of differences and similarities between speech-language therapy and school-based teaching approaches. The mapping of task types based on the ostensives worked on illustrates and reveals the didactic challenge of speech-language therapy and the epistemic role of the materials. Finally, the analysis of didactic structures within the sessions leads to defining the speech-language therapy relationship as a situational model. This relationship between the speech-language pathologist and the student-patient—whose terms are most often negotiated implicitly—is asymmetrical. It rests, on the one hand, on commitment to and trust in the therapist and, on the other hand, on a didactic contract established during follow-up sessions based on fully controlled environments that reduce the student-patient to the performance of repetitive tasks in which manipulation is omnipresent.

Keywords: speech-language pathologist, praxeology, mathematics, learning difficulties, multiplication, anthropological theory
of didactics.