In Clemente (1995 a) I stated that there are three aspects that influenced the
developing of a record. These are comembership, institutional identity and Universalistic
attributes. It is basically the presence of these elements that help to develop good records
of students. Comembership refers to “an aspect of performed social identity that involves
particularistic attributes of status shared by the counsellor and the student” (Erickson and
Schultz; 1982). In the counselling sessions analysed at that time, I found out that sharing
the same interests∕problems was the main factor that built up a comembership between
counsellor and student.
I define institutional identity as the degree of agreement the learner has about
institutional procedures and situations in the SAC. It was found that when the SAC users
showed the counsellor that they were happy about the way the SAC works, when they
agreed to do what they were told to do, they probably developed a good record on the
counsellor.
Universalistic attributes, according to Erickson and Schultz, are “those which
potentially could be achieved by any individual, given the requisite motivation, talent,
opportunity and perseverance” (1982, ibid.). Showing a good command of English, in
the case of advanced students, or a potential aptitude, in the case of beginners, apart from
a high motivation, and a constant effort, helps to develop a good record. Developing
good or bad records proved to have consequences in the interactional and illocutionary
levels of discourse. That is to say, it clearly affected the communication between
counsellors and learners.
In the case of my own counselling in the Oaxaca/97 project, I discovered an
interesting phenomenon. Being aware of the aspects that influenced the counsellor to
develop good or bad records of her students, I tried to consciously prevent them. That
was certainly true with the case of Universalistic attributes. It was evident to me that the
fact that they were good of bad, successful or unsuccessful language learners did not
develop into a bad record. As I see it, as a counsellor, I do not take into account
Universalistic attributes to develop records of my counsellees. I am very aware that I
have always believed (as a language teacher and as a SAC counsellor) that anyone,
giving the appropriate conditions, is capable of learning a foreign language. I strongly
believe that this is the reason underlying the fact that the participants did not develop a
bad record merely having reported serious problems learning the language, E and Gl
(group A) and A and J (group B).
However, I am afraid, the same did not happen with the other two factors. In
239