Fundamentos de la Enseñanza Inglesa

Gómez Florencia y Rodríguez Mayra Daiana

Assignment 2
Do we teachers of English co-construct knowledge?

In multilingual contexts it has been observed that speakers are able to communicate even
when they do not master the language. This is so because the focus is not on the
grammaticality of the message but on the meaning the interlocutors are trying to convey.
Since effective communication is the aim of the interlocutors, they will do their best to be
understood and to understand each other; they will scaffold their productions to attain
communication. Both, speaker and listener will be involved in a dialogic context in which they
may resignify words, terms, gestures or statements only to co-construct meaning, that is to
say, they will agree on the meaning of what has been produced or said to facilitate effective
communication. Then, we may say that the interlocutors are co-constructing knowledge to
favour communication. As it has been depicted above, we can say that when people who
speak different languages are eager to communicate, they focus on what the speaker wants
to say rather than on the quality of the message, on the grammatical correctness. In school
contexts, students generally do not participate actively mainly because their productions are
corrected considering grammar, not their ideas or opinions. Following this approach, do we
teachers of English co-construct meaning? Do we favour communication and reflection or do
we favour prescriptive norms of native speakers? As teachers of a foreign language, we
should focus on what students want to say when they speak their minds rather than on the
grammaticality of their productions. Allowing students to express their thoughts will help
teachers and students to co-construct knowledge.

Co-construction of knowledge implies that knowledge is constructed through interacting with

others and that knowledge is constantly conveyed, signified and resignified depending on
the participants that take place in the interaction. In classroom contexts, knowledge will be
constructed and reconstructed by students’ interactions among themselves but mainly by the
interaction between teachers and students. In order for the co-construction of knowledge to
take place in English language teaching classrooms, it is necessary to bear in mind that
students are not blank slots, on the contrary, their background knowledge will constantly
interfere in the classroom due to the fact that students will confront their culture, their
customs, their experiences and ideas with the English culture, customs and ideas. Through
the confrontation of both cultures, students will construct knowledge about how their native
language and foreign language work. However, it is teachers’ task to help students to build
up that knowledge, to guide them during that process. Teachers’ genre selection and
scaffolding will give learners the possibility of departing from their prior knowledge to a more
complex academic knowledge and at the same time they have the opportunity of analysing
different contexts of situation and stating their viewpoints. Teachers’ guidance is of
Fundamentos de la Enseñanza Inglesa
Gómez Florencia y Rodríguez Mayra Daiana
Assignment 2
paramount importance to allow students to construct new knowledge. Hence teachers and
students co-construct knowledge.

The teaching of English is rejected on students' part mainly because the focus of language
teaching is on the form, on the correct grammatical construction of the language. Students
do not feel confident to speak or write in English since they feel their teachers won’t pay
much attention to what they say but on how they say it, the quality of their productions.
Following this perspective does not allow the construction of knowledge but the imitation or
the prescription of patterns. Working on grammatical exercises may give students the
opportunity to write or speak in a grammatically correct form that might be understood by
native speakers of English, however, they won’t be able to convey meaning, to resignify
language when necessary, to understand new dialects or process meaning effectively. The
national syllabus focuses on preparing students to become active and critical thinkers,
nevertheless, by focusing on grammar production students are not given the opportunity to
participate actively and to reflect upon how language works, to convey meaning when it is
necessary to do so or to construct knowledge. On the contrary, following this grammatical
approach leads students to imitate natives and not confronting or reflecting upon the
language that is being imposed.

All things considered, language teachers tend to focus on grammatical aspects when they
correct students’ productions. This has produced a rejection on students’ part to participate
actively and expand their knowledge on the English language. Teachers do not help their
students to co-construct meaning in this way. As it was shown in the introduction, language
is constructed through interaction with others. Then, correcting grammatical mistakes
instead of paying attention to what is said is not enough, is not the aim of communication.
Instead of working on grammar as the main issue, teachers should work on what students
want to convey when they talk. Teachers’ aim must be to convey meaning and co-construct
knowledge. In order to do so, teachers should depart from what students know, their
background knowledge and little by little introduce academic knowledge which must be
scaffolded. Adopting favourable teaching strategies such as a dialogical pedagogy,
scaffolding academic knowledge and out of the interaction between teachers and students,
meaning can be co-constructed allowing students to express their opinions and also to
reflect upon their native language and the English language they are constantly exposed to.