Activity, contradictions and expansive learning cycle in the students engagement in an online course / Atividade, contradições e ciclo expansivo de aprendizagem no engajamento de alunos em um curso online

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2005

RESUMO

This research investigated how 19 in-service public school English teachers, from the State of São Paulo, have undertaken the activity of engaging in the course of English Listening Comprehension via Internet I and II. My objective was to understand how the activity happened from the students perspective, how the mediational tools helped understanding the relationship between the student and his objective(s), which contradictions emerged in the activity, which solutions were found and which students actions helped perceiving his engagement in the several production areas of the course. The analysis was based on the activity theory (Leontiev, 1978; Engeström, 1987, 1997; Cole, 1997; Davydov, 1999; Kaptelinin, 1996, 1997) that considers people are not only surrounded by the context of their activities; they interact with the context and change it. The activity theory was used to describe the factors that affected or mediated the subject(s) and object in the specific context and explained how the subject(s) interacted with the other elements of the activity system. The analysis on students development and engagement was based on the expansive learning cycle conception (Engeström, 1987) that states that developing means solving or transforming the existing contradictions, and consequently it results in changes of the activity system: the building of a new object and new motive(s). I collected data from March to July, 2003, during which period the online course lasted, and grouped them according to data generated by: (a) the courseware used (TelEduc), (b) the questionnaires, (c) the students written production registered in TelEduc and (d) the electronic communication (e-mail) from teacher/students and students/teacher. Initially, I described the investigation context, the English Listening Comprehension Course via Internet I and II and the participants characteristics. The contradictions, source of transformations and development, were listed and analyzed based on the students written production and on my observation notes. The analysis of the contradictions was useful to locate the areas that need to be reviewed, to identify the opportunities for changing, developing and evolution. Finally, I analyzed the students development and engagement based on what Engeström (1999) calls as miniature/intermediate cycles of learning. Observing the students written production I could identify, discuss and show how learning emerged from the sociocultural context of the activity in study. I concluded that in the activity of engaging in an online course we have to consider that the students performance is related to the environment they are in. Subject, object and tools are interrelated and they reciprocally and mutually instigate the process of knowledge building (Cole, 1996). Therefore, the mediated action is a transformation process not only to the student but also to the object and tools. When the student finds difficult situations (contradictions), and if he decides it is important to persist, he has the choice of looking for help. In virtual learning environments, computers may behave in an unexpected way provoking changes in focus and the student, instead of concentrating in the object of the activity may focus his attention to the operational tool mechanisms. Activity theory recognizes the importance and influence of the context, of the different perceptions, the understandings and expectations of the participants of an activity system, thats why AT helped me understand the design and the process of its use made by the students and teacher

ASSUNTO(S)

teaching-learning distance education educação a distância língua inglesa - estudo e ensino - ensino auxiliado por computador teoria da atividade língua estrangeira activity theory foreign language linguistica aplicada ensino à distância ensino-aprendizagem

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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