MARTA MILIAN GUBERN
4. SOME CONCLUSIONS
text gather all the members of the group together and allow them either to dis- cover possible solutions to the problems that are risen along the process or to detect problems previously not perceived from an individual perspective.
The narrow span of the changes, generally without a written basis, allows us mentioning the restrictions of the working memory and of the attention, but it also reveals a shared representation of the composition process, gathering new fragments of the text linearly towards the left and also without having a global idea of what they are producing, as in the knowledge telling model of composi- tion process. It appears to happen following these premises, but sometimes the reformulations do not add text to the left but reorganize, and even project or an- ticipate new text as Bouchard (1996) suggests according to a pragmatic and se- mantic representation of the task, not strictly in syntactic terms.
On the other hand, the analysis of the verbal protocols points out to the presence of implication and negotiation among group members in order to make the text fit to the situation and the addressees. The dedication to the elaboration and reelaboration of the topic contents is also stressed. This brings us closer to the “knowledge trans- forming” model, although we must accept that the representation of the text as a product which guides the pupils becomes incomplete and, sometimes, even non- existent. The lack of a global vision of the text causes the lack of explicit criteria for its elaboration, and the writers follow their own experience as science textbooks readers – precision in the words, detail – and they also follow their experience in the school writing tasks – attention to the written language norms.
the mediation of the participants. The role of mediator has been played by the pupils themselves through their constant split between expert writers and readers of the text, as if they were pupils of form in the act of reading, as is it shown by the analysis of references to the addressees and of the uses of person forms. How- ever, the observation of the context of production through the comparison of the episodes followed by the groups has brought evidence of the differences among the composition process followed by them and among the factors that determine their dynamics. Any group has succeeded in establishing a shared representation both of the task and of the text; the vagueness of the main features of explanatory texts has perhaps contributed to it, together with the lack of experience of addressing a kind of readers who demanded the role of experts on the part of the writers. We should also mention the lack of guidance to the task on the part of the teacher.
4.3 The School Context as a Learning Context
We observed how the communicative situation and the situation of working in groups has an influence on the students’ awareness of the writing situations, of the language adequacy to certain intentions and conditions and of the procedures that lead to the task achievement. The knowledge being used is, on the one hand, already existing knowledge on the part of the writers, who is adapted and updated according to the discursive situation. On the other hand, more knowledge is being elaborated along the process with the contribution of all members of the group, driven by the need to solve emerging difficulties. Thus, the process of learning along the process becomes evident. Working in groups also promotes the attention to certain control on the process operations and control on the text. Again, even though they reach a high degree of involvement in the task, and show their capacity to face different problems and solve them collaboratively, the lack of the teacher guidance in this task may have contributed to certain indefinition of the role of students.
4.4 “Doing” Versus “Learning To Do”
Even though the pupils show an intense activity related to knowledge construction, they also show their role of learners from the lack of orientation and knowledge in certain issues. The classroom context and the writing activities suitable for promot- ing the transfer from the shared regulation into an intra-psychological regulation requires the presence of a certain self-awareness, of a control on the activity – of the existence of learning objectives and the monitoring of these objectives through the formative evaluation tools. In this sense, there is a need of a didactic intervention as suggested in the model of didactic sequence (Camps, 1994a). The task being ana- lyzed lacks the teacher guidance, as it is shown in the process followed by the stu- dents and in the task outcome. This consideration contributes to stress the benefits of the model of didactic sequence as a teaching and learning tool.
APPENDIX A: COMPLETE PASSAGE FOR TABLE 2 REFORMULATIONS ARE IN ITALICS.
240 241 242 243 244 245
P (makes a proposal)- And in the other end. . . X- No, first a full stop.
P- Full stop.
E- No, In the other end... no. ahhhm...
X- Yes. In the other end...
E- Nooo. ‘Cause first we need to empty it. First of all we have to put the things inside. If we cover it from both ends, how are we going to put them inside?
246 X- But this is an explanation of an already built kaleidoscope!
247 248 249
X- This is an explanation of a kaleidoscope, not of how it is being built!
P (laughs) Obs.- You’re right!
250 X- It doesn’t matter the way we begin to explain! Well, if we begin saying why it is... and that inside there are tiny objects...
251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272
E (makes noises)
X (dictates)- In the other end...
E- And in the other end... No In the other end... The “and ” doesn’t fit here.
P (rereads and makes a proposal) In the other end…we place…
E- No.
P (repeats)- ...is placed...
E (writes)- placed. This is a draft, isn’t it?
Obs.- Yes, it is.
E- Ahh!
X- ...placed...
E- ...placed... placed.... one...
X- ...one...
E- ...paper...
X- – paper or plastic. . . E- ...translucid...
X- ... translucid.
P- ...a paper or plastic translucid E (finishes writing)- translucid.
X- Comma, comma, put a comma.
P- which can have different colors E (writes)- ...which can have…
X (dictates)- …different colors.