Toward an Approach for the Recognition of Learning as Design Work

• In Event: Toward Critical Multimodal Methodologies: Analytical Tools for Disrupting Hegemonic Structures in Educational Research

Abstract

This paper discusses how the social semiotic perspective (Kress, 2010) on learning challenges us to go beyond the focus on ‘competence’ in education to consider the role of ‘design’ in learning (Kress and Selander, 2012). This involves pushing back against institutional norms, privileged representations and entrenched values in the curriculum canon and the assessment expectations. In particular, it addresses what Okun (n.d.) has described as the “white supremacy culture” characterised by the “worship of the written word”, the insistence of “only one right way” and the valuing of “quantity over quality”. The discussion is extended into the pedagogic context in this presentation.

First, the challenge to the “worship of the written word” is expressed through the recognition that our definition of literacy needs to be broadened beyond language learning to include multimodal meaning-making (New London Group, 1996). With the expanded scope of literacy education encompassing more than the written word, it is necessary to make corresponding changes to the curriculum and assessment, which serves as an indication of socially valued knowledge. These changes are crucial to advance meaningful transformations in pedagogical practices within the classroom.

Next, the social semiotic perspective of learning as design also challenges the notion that there is “only one right way” in the recognition of students’ learning. Assessment should not merely serve as an evaluation of conformity to predetermined standards but should fundamentally function as a form of feedback on students' learning. By acknowledging students' learning as design work, teachers can effectively engage with students at their current level of understanding, by first comprehending how they have utilized the resources available to them to construct meaningful interpretations. Subsequently, teachers can make accessible the resources that society has deemed valuable within specific knowledge domains.

The recognition of learning as design work also frees us from being confined to viewing assessment as “the final stage of learning, but as a means of establishing what principles underlay the interpretive work of students” (Kress & Selander, 2012, p. 268). Such recognition necessitates the appreciation of the semiotic work undertaken by the learners. It avoids the easy degradation of students’ learning to numerical scores, where “quantity over quality” is privileged. As Barthes (1972) observes "By reducing any quality to quantity…it [presents] reality more cheaply" (p. 268)

The adoption of a social semiotic perspective on learning necessitates a departure from the conventional emphasis on 'competence' within the realm of education, urging us to consider the significance of 'design' in the learning process (Kress & Selander, 2012). Competence-centered learning places its focus on students' acquisition of predetermined knowledge and skills, as well as their precise application as a manifestation of learning. In contrast, the concept of learning as design emphasizes students' capacity to augment and transform semiotic resources, as well as their sign-making as expressions of learning. This paper builds on Adami, Dimantopoulou & Lim’s (2023) earlier paper on ‘Design in Gunther Kress’s social semiotics’ and discusses an approach to recognise learning as design in the pedagogic context.

Author

• Fei Victor Lim, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University