Dynamics of collaboration as meaningful learning social practice

Abstract

This paper aims at discussing meanings of collaboration that arose from experiences within a teacher development program (Pibid) and that were discursively represented by actors involved in collaborative teaching praxis, in the English Language Teacher Education Program, at the State University of Londrina. The assumptions are that meaningful learning is interrelated to deliberate incorporation of different voices in common praxis and that the reorganization of social practices has effects both in the ways practices are represented and maintained-transformed. Data were collected during 2010-2011, with a group of 13 participants. The inductive analysis of lexical-semantic content generated three interpretive categories, in dialogue with Paulo Freire’s ideas. The results focus on the relationship between teacher learning and the forms of organization of teacher practicum.

Keywords: collaboration, coteaching, praxis, teacher education.