It matters how we talk about learning and teaching

At the heart of curriculum is learning. Curriculum’s purpose is to guide learning and teaching; or, even stronger, curriculum’s purpose is learning and teaching. Therefore, the way we understand learning and teaching influences how we understand curriculum.

In recent years I have become fascinated with how people talk about learning and teaching in tertiary education, that is, the words and expressions they use to express themselves about learning and teaching. Through their talk they communicate implicit meanings of learning and teaching, which have drastic implications for meanings of curriculum.

In my research I have captured a range of words and expressions that tertiary educators, managers and policymakers use when they talk or write about learning and teaching. From this I have identified five distinct implicit meanings of these two concepts.

1. Learning is expressed as receiving, getting, taking on board, grasping, picking up, consuming, retaining. It is also expressed as a noun, referring to course content, as in "We need the learner to take a lot more of the learning on board", or "packages of learning".
Teaching is expressed as delivering, providing, putting across, giving, presenting, informing, packaging, offering.

Meanings of learning and teaching created by these words and expressions are that learning as a noun is an object that is handed over from the teacher to the learner; as a verb, learning is the process of handing over. The process of learning is external to the learner as a person. Similarly, the process of teaching is external to the teacher as a person.

2. Learning is expressed as being moulded or trained into a desired product. Learning is adapting to what the teacher does. Teaching is expressed as building, producing, assembling, using tools, switching on brains, putting through, extracting.

These words and expressions highlight a view that learning is the same as ‘being taught’. Learning is passive and only a response to what the teacher does. Teaching is operating a production process which transforms the learner into a graduate.

3. Learning is expressed as doing, engaging, experiencing, being exposed, spending time. Teaching is entertaining, instructing, engaging, creating experiences.

These words and expressions suggest a meaning of learning as an active process, in contrast to the previous two meanings. Learning is having an experience, and the teacher creates and facilitates this experience. The impact of the experience on the learner is not of concern, however.

4. Learning is expressed as moving through, being on a pathway or journey, staircasing, completing, achieving, being on track, attaining, passing, struggling, entering, progressing. Teaching is helping, supporting, facilitating, preparing, guiding.

As in the previous meaning, learning is an active process, but here the learner is travelling. The teacher is acting as the travel guide. The words achieving, attaining and passing indicate milestones along the way, and the word completing suggests there is an end to the journey.

5. Learning is expressed as developing, growing, becoming. Associated words for teaching show some overlap with the previous meaning. They include helping, caring, supporting, and guiding. Through these words, learning is pictured as an organic and transformative process, where the teacher is a support person.

The above five meanings show that it matters how we talk. The words we use to express ourselves about learning and teaching contribute to the meanings of learning and teaching that we communicate. By adopting a particular way of talk we enforce and reinforce a particular way of thinking about learning and teaching; but also: by changing the way we talk we can help change the thinking about learning and teaching.

Reference

Govers, E. (2010). Program design practice in a New Zealand polytechnic: Caught in a language trap? In M. Devlin, J. Nagy & A. Lichtenberg (Eds.), Research and Development in Higher Education: Reshaping Higher Education, 33. Melbourne Australia, 6-9 July, 2010.