SIG 10 - Social Interaction in Learning and Instruction

The special interest group "Social interaction in learning and instruction" (SIG 10) is devoted to the study of teaching-learning processes, understood as socially shared and culturally situated phenomena. It groups a wide range of approaches, which are rooted in different theoretical background, among which the Piagetian and the Vygotskian heritage. It also groups studies that examine a very wide range of teaching-learning situations, from kindergarten to university, from the workplace to informal learning, from traditional classes to experimental learning and multicultural settings. 

In that sense, SIG 10 is touching upon issues which are central to various other Special Interest Groups in Earli. However the specificity of the approaches developed in SIG 10 is that its studies share two basic assumptions: first, that learning and instruction should be examined as processes, rather than outcomes; and second, that studying learning and instruction demands to take in account not only cognitive processes, but also, interactions between people, taking place around specific tasks, and under certain conditions. 

Given the abundance of empirical findings gathered over the past twenty years under this general approach, the priorities of the SIG 10 as a collaborative group are: (1) develop theoretical models and understanding to account for the diversity of observed processes; (2) share and develop methodological expertise for accounting for social interactions in learning and instruction. Doing so, it also wishes to maintain and develop dialogues with other SIG group working on related themes.