Text remembering as a social process: the role of teacher-student interaction in the acquisition of structure strategy

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Processes involved in learning from text were analysed as the result of social interactions in cultural settings, in which text remembering is defined in terms of mediated actions. Teacher–student dyads from two levels in adult education were presented with four expository texts and asked to study and remember them jointly. The analyses show different kind of actions both in study and recall of the texts. Results showed differences in the study and recall of the texts related to the educational level and phase. The general pattern of study and recall observed in more experienced students and in latter phases was characterised by a selective attention to the structural aspects of the texts. Teacher–student interaction could be promoting this form of study and recall of the texts. Teachers might have facilitated the acquisition and internalisation of new forms of remembering texts that are characteristic of school activities. These forms or remembering are social in a double sense: because of their origins, and because they are performed in interaction.