SLA RESEARCH ON SELF-DIRECTION: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ISSUES

in triggering proceduralisation, which means more productivity on cognitive (linguistic)
and metacognitive terms. Furthermore, it is expected that the pursuit of authenticity and
legitimacy reinforces the productivity element.

8.3 CONCLUSION

As the reader will have noticed, the three conditions, authenticity, legitimacy and
productivity, are extremely important in the creation, maintenance and development of a
learning culture. Throughout the description and analysis of these three elements one
factor stood out: the role of interaction between learners and educator. In this sense I
subscribe to Thelen’s stance:

It is our view that dialogue is the heart of the educative process; and that
educative dialogue develops the classroom culture, including the role
expectations and controls over the participative aspect of life; and at the
same time, development of this culture in an educative direction enhances
the personal capability of students in the affective-instinctual personal
domain. (1981,91)

Dialoguic activity implies two parties actively participating in the construction of
meaning. It implies two actors, it implies action. In this sense, I believe that the creation
of a learning culture is in the realm of action research, as it was defined above (section
5.2.1), where the roles of actors and researchers lie in both learners and educators.
Talking about the “active role of culture-bearers”, Fay, following Burke’s metaphor,
concludes that

“culture” is not a norm but a verb; it refers to a process in which agents
don’t just reproduce the terms by which they live but extend, alter, and
sometimes transform them. Culture is thus an evolving connected activity,
not a thing, (my italics, 1996,62)

In this context it is not surprising the connection that Thelen makes between
dialogue, action and the “quest for awareness”:

With awareness, life becomes an altogether different ball game because
the person is transmuted from involuntary reactor to autonomous actor
(my italics, 1981,47)

I do not think that it is necessary to explain the connection of the creation of this culture,
as it has been explained here, and the relevant role that awareness particularly plays in
self-directed learning, as it was theoretically explained in Chapter 4 and operationally
illustrated in Chapter 6 and 7.

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