Words and deeds: A psychological perspective on the active nature of learning and understanding in higher education

This paper addresses the question of how it comes about that a student who has given plenty of indication that he can understand work in higher education nevertheless can feel that he has failed to understand a sizable chunk of work that others have managed successfully. It follows a line of thought developed during the author’s own teachingand research experience with young children and with tutors of students in further and higher education, concerning variation in understanding what is to be learned. It combines a prior interest in Pask’sconversation theory of learning with appreciation of the socio-cultural shaping of learning practices as expressed in such work as that of Säljö. Pask’s work is explored in terms of its helpfulness in examiningthe nature of success and difficulty in learning under tutorial instruction, in particular in pointing to the importance of defining those aspects of what might be called the architecture of a learning conversation thatare essential for the growth of understanding. It calls on consideration of understanding as a process towards, and achievement of, agreement between learner and tutor about the procedures of expressing andexplaining the conceptualisation of a topic in a knowledge domain. This leads to the need for recognition of the way practices in the acquisition and transmission of knowledge vary across different subject fields.Säljö’s work is particularly illuminating with its emphasis on the ways cultural practices as language impregnate activities, and shape the substance and nature of learning. The route to answering the originalquestion is seen as suggesting a set of possibilities that provide challenge and guidance for the conduct and understanding of learning and teaching in higher education.