Understanding Learning Culturally: Overcoming the Dualism Between Social and Individual Views of Learning

Springer Science and Business Media LLC - Tập 1 - Trang 27-47 - 2008
Phil Hodkinson1, Gert Biesta2, David James3
1The Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
2University of Stirling, Scotland, UK
3University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

Tóm tắt

This paper identifies limitations within the current literature on understanding learning. Overcoming these limitations entails replacing dualist views of learning as either individual or social, by using a theory of learning cultures and a cultural theory of learning, which articulate with each other. To do this, we argue that it is possible and indeed necessary to combine major elements of participatory or situated views of learning with elements of Deweyan embodied construction. Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and field are used to achieve this purpose, together with the use of ‘becoming’ as a metaphor to help understand learning more holistically. This theorizing has a predominantly heuristic purpose, and we argue that it enables researchers to better explain data. We also suggest that a cultural approach of the sort proposed here leads toward the asking of better questions about learning and its improvement and has high practical significance.

Tài liệu tham khảo

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