Abstract
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 infl uence 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 benefi ted 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’.
Highlights
Defining MediationTwo theories that have focussed on a mediational approach to learning are the Vygotskian socio-cultural theory (SCT) (Vygotsky, 1978, 1981) and Feuerstein’s theory of Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) (Feuerstein & Feuerstein, 1991; Feuerstein, Rand, & Rynders, 1988; Lidz, 1991, 2002)
This study has delineated a model for facilitating learning which teachers and pupils can use to provide mediation to promote higher mental functions
The central claims of the study are firstly, that a range of types of mediation is needed during collaboration and interaction to provide maximum opportunity for both teachers and pupils to develop, and secondly, that a way of describing this range of provision is via the ECAM model
Summary
Defining MediationTwo theories that have focussed on a mediational approach to learning are the Vygotskian socio-cultural theory (SCT) (Vygotsky, 1978, 1981) and Feuerstein’s theory of Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) (Feuerstein & Feuerstein, 1991; Feuerstein, Rand, & Rynders, 1988; Lidz, 1991, 2002). The process usually, but not necessarily (McCafferty & Ahmed, 2000), involves the use of a sign system (Vygotsky, 1986), for example, language, in activities that require pupils to engage in a dialogue and to work together with their teachers or their peers so that through this process they are able to develop higher mental functions. It is a complex process, involving distinct human characteristics such as emotions and ways of thinking that affect the way learners engage in the process and in their learning environment
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