Bridging incommensurable discourses – A commognitive look at instructional design in the zone of proximal development

Abstract

There are points in the mathematics curriculum where the “rules of the game” change, for example, the meaning and method of multiplication when negative numbers are introduced. At these junctions the new mathematical discourse may be in conflict with learners’ current discourse. Learners may have little intrinsic motivation to accept new rules whose productiveness they cannot yet appreciate, hence, their first steps in the emerging discourse may need to be ritualized - socially motivated by the teacher’s approval. In this article we ask how careful crafting of task situations can support teachers in leading learners into a new discourse. We propose interdiscursivity – the blending of discursive elements from different discourses – as a mechanism for designing task situations to support learners in taking their first steps in an emerging discourse. On the basis of three examples, we suggest that this mechanism may support participation that is intrinsically motivated (explorative).