Where is cognition if we talk about the teaching of English as an international language?
María Eugenia Falabella
FUNIBER – Fundación Universitaria Iberoamericana
Abstract
This current piece of writing –placed, in disciplinary terms, between Psychology of learning and Methodology/Didactics- aims mainly at showing, in the light of present and updated authorized works, the unequivocal relation that is existent between the concept of distributed cognitions and task-based learning. The former was coined by Hutchins (1980’s) and thoroughly developed by Salomon (1993) in his articles, among others. The latter is based on the claims put forward by Prabhu (1987) and Graddol (2006), and outlined in purely Vygotskian conceptions. Here, task-based learning is also analyzed within the framework of collaborative project work when dealing with the process of teaching-learning English as an International Language.
Key words: distributed cognitions, task-based learning, project work
Distributed Cognitions and Constructivism versus Cognition
In order to begin this article, it is required to assume that current methodological models should be understood as broader conceptions of more classic theories. It is in this way that we are setting ourselves in clear opposition to certain ideas put forward that claim that all trendy contributions substitute former beliefs.
To analyze how the latest theoretical models are related to, as well as based on central constructivist ideas, set forth classic theories, does not mean to assimilate them. On the contrary, it let us picture them more meaningfully and, in consequence, situate them within a scientific tradition.
Many are the authors that have dedicated their time, and many are the books that have been written to study the topic of cognition and its place of location. If we bring up data edited nearly thirty years ago, we will come across beliefs that affirm that cognition only exists in the mind or brain of each human being. As Salomon plainly states in one of his treatises when trying to shed light on these controversial appreciations, for those academicians: «…(cognition) is a localized phenomenon that is best explained in terms of information processing at the level of the individual…» (Salomon, 1993:154) However, after profound and time-consuming investigations, nowadays, we come by a deep-seated change of perspective, and it is that change the one that has been labelled as “distributed cognitions”. What does this term involve? Why are these cognitions distributed? And, where are they distributed? This paper seeks to address these questions along the subsequent passages.
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Autora: Eugenia Falabella.
