STUDYING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF WITTGENSTEIN’S PICTURE OF LANGUAGE AND MEANING JOSEPH SAMUEL GARDNER A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN EDUCATION YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO March 2019 © Joseph Sam Gardner, 2019 Abstract My own experience working with professionals is that while ongoing professional learning is valued, in most cases there is little that is done well to support such learning. The dominant foci in both practice and the relevant academic fields tend more towards issues connected to linear features of dissemination, to the development of programmatic change approaches, and to scientism. My perception is that these fields are wedded to outdated and problematic foundational metaphors such as ‘trajectories,’ ‘impacts,’ and ‘outcomes,’ to the quantification of learning processes and outcomes, and to the idea of knowledge and research as things that are somehow “transferable.” The aim of this dissertation is, therefore, to find a grounding way to think and talk about professionals’ learning in situ. In turning to Wittgenstein I shift the fundamentals underlying our talk about professional learning towards a picture of language and meaning. I draw a picture of professional learning based on Wittgenstein’s picture of language and meaning, emphasizing Wittgenstein’s notion of a ‘picture,’ versus a ‘theory’ (i.e., a hypothetical, causal explanatory account), of language. Wittgenstein’s picture of language and meaning can be seen as a reaction to the representationalist (cognitivist, intellectualist) approach to language and meaning initiated mainly by Frege. Wittgenstein sketches a picture of language and meaning consisting of the interrelated parts of ‘language-games,’ ‘grammar,’ and ‘rules,’ focused around the ‘use’ of signs. My own view of Wittgenstein’s picture emphasizes language-games, and thus emphasizes moves and move-making. I develop this perspective further by taking up ethnomethodologist David Sudnow’s picture of language as a matter of ‘moving between places.’ In turn, ‘grammar’ is a matter of the sets of connexions between signs, and ‘rules’ the formal aspects of language-games. Thus, professional learning can be viewed as a matter of being able to play more relevant language-games, or to play language-games better, and to have more and better moves to make and places to go. As games, it is the interrelationships between players (i.e., language speakers), that is of paramount importance. ‘Understanding,’ in this picture, is a matter of ‘being able to go on’ in the correct ways in the contexts of community and the ‘institution’ of language; professional learning, then, is viewed not in terms of ‘knowledge’ but rather in terms of meaning, i.e., mastery of the use of signs. I demonstrate the application of this picture of professional learning, first by exploring a species of the classic ‘learning paradox,’ and second by considering the discourse of educators in actual learning sessions. First, a professional learning paradox emerges through the application of Wittgenstein’s ideas concerning novices’ training into a practice, a paradox bolstered as well by the thought of certain ii theorists of education such as Donald Schön and Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger. Emphasis on developing professionals’ abilities in language-games of inquiry is one way in which we might begin to address – though not resolve – the professional learning paradox. Second, in applying this picture of professional learning in the case of professional educators’ discussions in peer-group learning sessions, I show a way to view the efforts and struggles of those professionals on the basis of their use of relevant signs (i.e., by way of meaning). In this part of my thesis, I describe the educators’ discussions but do not evaluate or explain them. The insights that can be drawn from this perspective have to do with the ways in which the professional learners attempt to forge for themselves new (and ‘correct’) connexions between signs, to be able to use new signs or use old signs in new ways. By turning to Wittgenstein and his picture of language and meaning, one finds the extraordinary in the ordinary. In summary, I emphasize that I am not developing novel forms of professional learning – as if these new ways of learning would somehow do what all other forms could not – nor am I working out programmes of improvement to existing forms of professional learning initiatives. Rather, I am working to find a perspective from which to view professional learning and to be able to think in a deeper and more fruitful way about it. iii To Maureen. iv Acknowledgements I want to give thanks to my committee as a whole for their support – and patience – as I worked my way through these ideas. I very much appreciate the time, thought, and energy they devoted to this learning process. I want to thank Alice Pitt, my supervisor, for her unwavering support and for her interest in the topic and problems of professional learning, and for the many absorbing and useful conversations we have had over the course of my time here at York University. My sincere hope is that we can find a way to continue the discussion. Thanks as well to Steve Alsop, who, much to my benefit, developed further his interest and understanding of Wittgenstein and in so doing helped me enormously. More than anything, however, I keenly appreciated and learned from his wonderfully gentle, thoughtful, and generous pedagogical style. And I want to thank Jeff Stickney, not only for his patience with my ways as I ambled through fields of ideas, but as well for his untiring and comprehensive commentary on my writing. I benefited from his close attention to my words throughout the course of writing this thesis, and know that I will continue to benefit as I further ponder his many comments. Last, my gratitude to both Steve and Jeff, who both afforded me possibilities of seeing some of my ideas published. I want to thank both of my external examiners, Professors Sue Ehrlich and Anne Phelan, first for the time they spent engaging with my thesis, and second for their probing and thought-provoking questions and comments at my defense. I would also like to thank Stuart Shanker for generously providing me the opportunity to work with his team and to develop a research project with educators focusing on their efforts as they worked hard to learn about self-regulation. Finally, I want to thank Lisa Farley (who also chaired my defense), John Ippolito, Sarah Barret, and Aparna Mishra Tarc, for giving me the opportunity to work with teacher candidates as a teaching assistant in their blended courses – I learned much about professional learning through engaging with the students, and enjoyed immensely my experiences in these courses. v Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ ii Dedication.................................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................ vi Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................ viii Chapter One: Introduction – Coming to Terms with Language, Learning, and Wittgenstein 1.1 My background: Journey to Wittgenstein .......................................................................................... 1 1.2 A note on demarcation: Professionals and non-professionals ........................................................... 7 1.3 My argument: Turning to language and meaning in order to talk about professional learning ........ 8 1.4 Learning to write with Wittgenstein ................................................................................................. 22 Chapter Two: Some Theorists of Professional Learning 2.1 Preamble ........................................................................................................................................... 28 2.2 Theorists of professional learning ..................................................................................................... 33 2.3 Some concluding remarks on the field ............................................................................................. 53 Chapter Three: Wittgenstein – Language, Meaning, and Learning 3.1 Preamble ........................................................................................................................................... 55 3.2 Wittgenstein’s picture of language and meaning: Language-games, grammar, and rules .............. 55 3.3 Literature review ............................................................................................................................... 84 Chapter Four: The Curious Case of the Professional Learning Paradox 4.1 Preamble ......................................................................................................................................... 102 4.2 The professional learning paradox .................................................................................................