For some mysterious reason, my message in reply to the original Naoki's
message has been lost. I really like the analysis of theoretical issues that
Naoki presented and I want to express my support to him. I try to
reconstruct in brief my comments.
1. I suggest Naoki publishing a paper on apprenticeship if it hasn't been
done already. I think many people will be interested and benefited (I'm the
first).
2. As to historical forms of apprenticeship around the world, I read an
interesting book that I can recommend:
Coy, M. (1989). Apprenticeship: from theory to method and back again. Ed. by
M. Coy. New York: State University of New York.
3. The theoretical notion of apprenticeship can reveal that informal
learning and informal guidance is inherent part of any activity.
4. It also helps a researcher to realize that in any sociocultural activity,
nobody fully controls for learning, guidance, or activity itself.
5. As a form of guidance, it reveals that scaffolding is culturally specific
(i.e., not universal) form of guidance.
6. It also helps to understand that guidance does not exist outside of
specific forms of organization of sociocultural activity. Taking seriously,
this statement means that so-called "direct instruction" is not type of
guidance but ideological and organizational structure of participants'
intentional actions.
7. My numerous conversations with Barbara Rogoff about her notion of guided
participation makes me think that she means not a specific type of
adult-child interaction but concept of guidance itself like Lave's notion of
peripheral legitimate participation. Unlike, Tharp's notion of
instructional conversations, it can't be operationalized.
8. I don't understand what "cognitive", "motivational", "emotional", or any
else apprenticeship means or can be useful for. In my suspicion, some talks
about "apprenticeship" is smuggling cognitivism into a sociocultural
approach, but, of course, I can be wrong.
What do you think?
Eugene
---------------------
Eugene Matusov
Department of Educational Studies
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716
Office phone: (302) 831-1266
Fax: (302) 831-4445
email: ematusov who-is-at udel.edu
web: http://www.ematusov.com