Social and cultural environment: An analysis on Physical Education class statements

Abstract

The analysis of verbal interactions that take place during Physical Education classes provides a broader look into the teaching practice. Human beings rely on language as a key tool to communicate with each other and build knowledge. Reflecting upon its use (how educators apply this human-specific tool to their activities) is essential to enlarge our knowledge of the teaching activity. Based on Language Didactics, and by means of a theoretical approach as seen in the Activity Theory (Leontiev, 1983) and Socio-discursive Interactionism (Bronckart, 1997/2004, 2007), the present study provides an analysis of the material generated by the observations of Physical Education classes at primary school level performed in public schools in San Carlos de Bariloche (Rí­o Negro). The methodology used for this paper was to transcribe the oral texts recorded at P.E. school classes into written texts with the aim of studying their internal organization divided into three overlapping levels, as proposed by Bronckart (1997/2004). This study explores qualitatively the attitudinal contents present in class. Our goal is to address the interactions between teachers and students in the classroom in order to determine which teaching methods foster the development of our students, in other words, to analyze the teachers’ statements and how these construct the social and cultural environment (Voloshinov, 1992, Riestra, 2011) in Physical Education classes.