Autoethnographic reflections of a learner as a chance-seeker.

Emanuele Bardonebardone@tlu.ee

A bit of background for this study

How the learner builds his/her own modus operandi

from the viewpoint of chance-seeking

instrumentalization

agenda setting

sense-makingforward-looking

tentative

appropriative

Autoethnography: how and why

Why is it salient for chance-seeking?

Autoethnography in a nutshell“Auto-ethnographers-as-authors frame their accounts with personal reflexive views of the self. Their ethnographic data are situated within their personal experience and sense making. They themselves form part of the representational processes in which they are engaging and are part of the story they are telling.” (Atkinson, Coffey, and Delamont (2003)

Chance-seeking as as first-hand experienceAccessibilityBasis for formulating more precise research questions and objectives

Estonian course for beginners

Rahvaülikool, Tartu

60 contact hours, twice a week

100% traditional course

No final test

23 sept-18 dec

Data collected refer to the first 9 weeks

What does a learner as a chance-seeker know (or assume to know) before he go

about learning a new language?

Do this work for me?

How do I know it?

Do this work for me? How? How do I know it?

At the moment I don’t and can’t know it

What I knew before I started

The sense of being overwhelmed: too many unfamiliar words

Hoping to get better - the need for a change

Being not just a passenger

...when life gives you lemon, make lemonade.

or...make use of whatever comes in handy

ups!

When life gives lemon, make lemonade but also limoncello.....

pre-existing habit

pre-existing resources

Why and when do I take pictures? Does that respond to a particular “logic”?

Chance encounters resonate with some previous habits, interests, etc.. no matter how relevant they are and

with no foresight into the future

Tinkering.....

Emergence of new, unpredicted ways for practicing beyond traditional ones

Tinkering on previous habits

Keep tinkering....

One thing leads to another...

Once a new habit has emerged, it may be purposefully adopted in other cases to make chance-seeking a bit less “blind”

Compounds: pay for one, get two

chance encounters.....on Tartu-Tallinn Bus

when I see that something works, I keep on trying...

re-appropriation by modification

Sense-making

Chances that haven’t turned out particularly useful (yet?)....

Some conclusions to draw

The one who never explores things for himself never appropriate

Complex ecologies provide more chance encounters

Previous habits/skills/knowledge are co-opted via resonating with chance encounters for creating new habits/skills/knowledge

Resonation provides the first basis for experiencing meaningfulness

Emergence of more purposeful strategies for habit formation in due course

What one can do is always subordinated to pre-existing resources. Never the other way around.

Õppida on mõnus!

aitäh teile!

Some conclusions to draw

The one who never tries never learns

Complex environments provide more chance encounters

Previous habits/skills/knowledge are co-opted via resonating with chance encounters for creating new habits/skills/knowledge

Resonation provides the first basis for experiencing meaningfulness

Emergence of more purposeful strategies for habit formation in due course

What one can do is always subordinated to pre-existing resources. Never the other way around.