'Becoming experts': learning through mediation

Purpose – This study is largely founded on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, Feuerstein’s theory of Mediated Learning Experience and Lave and Wenger’s ‘community of practice’, which concerned building a community of learners that places mediation as central in learning and teaching. While the overall study involved Malaysian Year One English and Mathematics classrooms, this article focuses only on the latter. Two research questions were posed: 1) How does the teacher/peers mediate learning? 2) How does mediation influence the individual’s identity? Method – This qualitative study was conducted within a period of three months. Data collection included intense classroom observations, interviews, classroom discourse and dialogic discussions with teachers and pupils. Microgenetic analyses of transcripts were made to show moment-to moment changes observed.Findings – Four types of mediation emerged from the data : Environmental mediation, cognitive mediation, affective mediation and metacognitive mediation (i.e., an ECAM model for mediation).Findings suggest that mediation enabled the Mathematics teacher to change, to take ownership and to sustain her new pedagogical approaches within the classroom. This re-focusing benefited her pupils, and dramatically changed a particular less able pupil from one who was initially ‘lost in his world,’ into one who was able to engage in the learning process, take ownership of his own learning, as well as mediate other pupils’ learning. Value – Hence it is argued that the ECAM model for mediation provided opportunities for this teacher and her pupil to expand their capacity to learn and develop their identities as individuals capable of learning and becoming ‘experts’

Pluriliteracies teaching for learning:Conceptualizing progression for deeper learning in literacies development

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Technology-enabled professional learning in remote rural minority language classrooms

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Fortalecimiento de aprendizaje integrado: hacia una nueva era para pluri-alfabetizaciones y aprendizaje intercultural

Over the last two decades, the expansion of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) on a global scale has brought to the fore challenges of how alternative, more holistic approaches to learning might transform classrooms into language-rich transcultural environments. Integrated approaches have the potential to offer learners the opportunity to engage in meaning-making and language progression through cognitively challenging and culturally-embedded sequenced activities, which are reflected in the 4Cs Framework (Content, Cognition, Communication, and Culture). However, the 4Cs also present many challenges—it is well documented that the potential of CLIL is difficult to realise due to the impact of complex contextual variables. The importance of classroom language is emphasised, as is the need for learners to access different kinds of language to enable them to learn effectively using a language which is not their first—as represented in the Triptych. Whilst the 4Cs bring together the components of CLIL, research by the Graz Group into how these might be integrated has led to the development of the Pluriliteracies Framework. The core of the Pluriliteracies model lies in the space where conceptualizing and communicating come together. Here learners are encouraged to language (or articulate) their learning in their own words. For this to happen, new ways of conceptualizing, planning, and sequencing activities that support learners in accessing new knowledge whilst developing existing and new language skills have to be shared and understood by teachers. The Pluriliteracies model is evolving, and there is a clearly a need for further work.La expansión de Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lenguas Extranjeras (AICLE) en una escala global ha traído delanteros los desafíos de como los enfoques alternativos y más integrales podrían transformar las aulas en entornos transculturales ricos en lenguaje. Los enfoques integrados pueden ofrecer los alumnos oportunidades para participar en la creación de la significancia y la progresión de la lengua por medio de actividades secuenciadas cognitivamente desafiantes y culturalmente empotrados, como se refleja en el Marco de los 4C (Contenido, Cognición, Comunicación y Cultura). Estos enfatizan lenguaje del aula, así como las necesidades de los alumnos para acceder a la variedad de lenguaje que les ayuda a aprender un idioma adicional con eficacia, como se representa en el Tríptico de Lenguaje. Sin embargo, está bien documentado que las variables contextuales complejas hacen difícil realizar el potencial de AICLE. Investigaciones recientes realizadas por el Grupo de Graz en la manera de integrar mejor los componentes de las 4Cs ha llevado al desarrollo del Marco de Pluriliteracidades, en el que la conceptualización y la comunicación se unen y se anima a los alumnos a lenguar (o articular) su aprendizaje en sus propias palabras. Esto exige nuevas formas de actividades de conceptualización, planificación, y secuenciación que soportan los alumnos en el acceso a nuevos conocimientos mientras que desarrollan existentes y nuevas habilidades lingüísticas deben ser compartidos y comprendidos por los maestros. El modelo del Pluriliteracidades está evolucionando, y hay una clara necesidad de seguir trabajand

Adolescent voices speak out: if only they would - if only they could : a case study : the interplay between linguistic and strategic competence in classrooms where modern languages are used

This thesis focuses on groups of adolescent learners in two comprehensive schools. It explores the interplay between linguistic and strategic competence in classrooms where a foreign language is used i e. in French or Spanish lessons and in geography classes where the foreign language is also used as a medium for instruction. In Part 1, the research is positioned within a contextual, conceptual and theoretical framework, underpinned by Vygotskian socio-cognitive principles. Part 2 consists of an ethnographic-oriented.case study at two sites. The study uses methodological triangulation to co-construct the learning environments from different perspectives, based on document analysis, questionnaires, interviews, lesson observations and the microgenetic analysis of student interaction during linguistic tasks analysed at both an inter- and intramental level. The thesis is built on the metaphor of language games and identifies strategic and linguistic moves which could potentially bring about changing the rules in order to enable an alternative game to played. The thesis leads the writer to argue for a re-conceptualisation of learner strategies based on the notion of ‘strategic classrooms’ and recommends the integration of ‘alternative’ linguistic and strategic ‘moves' into everyday classroom practice if learners are to find a ‘voice’

Adolescent voices speak out: if only they would - if only they could : a case study : the interplay between linguistic and strategic competence in classrooms where modern languages are used

This thesis focuses on groups of adolescent learners in two comprehensive schools. It explores the interplay between linguistic and strategic competence in classrooms where a foreign language is used i e. in French or Spanish lessons and in geography classes where the foreign language is also used as a medium for instruction. In Part 1, the research is positioned within a contextual, conceptual and theoretical framework, underpinned by Vygotskian socio-cognitive principles. Part 2 consists of an ethnographic-oriented.case study at two sites. The study uses methodological triangulation to co-construct the learning environments from different perspectives, based on document analysis, questionnaires, interviews, lesson observations and the microgenetic analysis of student interaction during linguistic tasks analysed at both an inter- and intramental level. The thesis is built on the metaphor of language games and identifies strategic and linguistic moves which could potentially bring about changing the rules in order to enable an alternative game to played. The thesis leads the writer to argue for a re-conceptualisation of learner strategies based on the notion of ‘strategic classrooms’ and recommends the integration of ‘alternative’ linguistic and strategic ‘moves' into everyday classroom practice if learners are to find a ‘voice’

Teachers as designers of learning in diverse, bilingual classrooms in England:An ADiBE case study

This ADiBE case study explores an innovative, integrated approach to addressing diversity in secondary classrooms in England, where more than one language is used and learned. We position diversity in multilingual and multicultural communities where schooling seeks to provide meaningful learning experiences for all students and guide learners towards being and becoming global citizens. Within a UK context, underpinning values emphasise social justice and inclusion embodied in classroom practices that actively involve teachers as researchers with their learners – in terms of ‘curriculum-making’ and reinterpreting the impact of diversity on ‘successful’ learning communities. This research analyses contextual and exploratory factors that enable diverse learners with diverse needs to engage in learning partnerships with each other and their teachers. Using a framework to capture collaborative professional learning, synergies are explored between two different approaches to bilingual learning – English as an Additional language (EAL) and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). The case study identifies potentially rich sites for building pedagogic capital and explores how diversity can enable more young people to feel valued, respected and successful bilingual learners in formal schooling