recent developments in the application of activity theory

Recent developments in the application of Activity

TheoryHarry Daniels

The Centre for Sociocultural and Activity Theory Research

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Argument 1Social world structures

thinking

Any function in the child’s cultural development appears twice or on

two planes… It appears first between people as an

intermental category, and then within the child as an intramental

category

Argument 2Scientific and spontaneous concepts

SpontaneousConcepts

Scientificconcepts

•Impose on child logically defined concepts •Scientific concepts move ‘downwards’ towards greater concreteness•Evolve in highly structured and specialized activity of classroom instruction

•Concepts emerge from the child’s own reflections of everyday experience•Spontaneous concepts move upwards towards greater abstractness•Develops in child’s everyday learningenvironment

Mature concepts

Object

Concept

Vygotsky the methodologist

– Anyone who attempts to skip this problem, to jump over methodology in order to build some special psychological science right away, will inevitably jump over his horse while trying to sit on it. (Vygotsky, 1997, p. 329)

Mediating Artefacts: Tools and Signs

Subject Outcome

Object

Sense

Meaning

Object oriented activity


Subject

Division of Labour

Outcome

Object

Sense

Meaning

The structure of a human activity system Engestrom 1987 p. 78


Subject

Community Division of Labour

Outcome

Object

Sense

Meaning



Subject

Rules Community Division of Labour

Outcome

Object

Sense

Meaning


Object 1 Object 1

Mediating Artefact Mediating Artefact



Object 2 Object 2

Object 3

Two interacting activity systems as minimal model for third generation of activity theory -- Engestrom 1999

Contradictions, tensions, conflicts, breakdowns

Transformation process

Division of labour

Subject

Tools

Object

Rules Community

Outcome

4 levels of contradiction

expansive (cycles) transformations in activity

systems

• object and motive of the activity are reconceptualized to embrace a radically wider horizon of possibilities than in the previous mode of the activity

Strengths

1. object oriented activity2. multi-voicedness of activity systems3. historicity. 4. contradictions as sources of change

and development.

5. expansive (cycles) transformations in activity systems

Argument 1Social world structures

thinking

Any function in the child’s cultural development appears twice or on

two planes… It appears first between people as an

intermental category, and then within the child as an intramental

category

Argument 2Scientific and spontaneous concepts

SpontaneousConcepts

Scientificconcepts

•Impose on child logically defined concepts •Scientific concepts move ‘downwards’ towards greater concreteness•Evolve in highly structured and specialized activity of classroom instruction

•Concepts emerge from the child’s own reflections of everyday experience•Spontaneous concepts move upwards towards greater abstractness•Develops in child’s everyday learningenvironment

Mature concepts

Object

Concept

Argument 3theories of learning

• subject (traditionally an individual, more recently possibly also an organization)

• acquires some identifiable knowledge or skills in such a way that a

• corresponding, relatively lasting change in the behaviour of the subject may be observed.

• knowledge or skill to be acquired is itself stable and reasonably well defined.

• There is a competent ‘teacher’ who knows what is to be learned.

• People and organizations are all the time learning something that is not stable, not even defined or understood ahead of time.

• important transformations -- literally learned as they are being created.

• There is no competent teacher.

Bateson’s (1972) theory of learning – 3 levels

• Learning I refers to conditioning, acquisition of the responses deemed correct in the given context – for instance, the learning of correct answers in a classroom

• Learning II people acquire the deep-seated rules and patterns of behaviour characteristic to the context itself

Learning II creates as double bind -- context -> contradictory demands

• Learning III where a person or a group begins to radically question the sense and meaning of the context and to construct a wider alternative context

Learning III

• learning activity which has its own typical actions and tools

• The object of expansive learning activity is the entire activity system in which the learners are engaged.

• Expansive learning activity produces culturally new patterns of activity.

• Expansive learning at work produces new forms of work activity.

VYGOTSKY’S METHOD OF

DOUBLE STIMULATION

“The task facing the child in the experimental context is, as a rule, beyond his present capabilities and cannot be solved by existing skills. In such cases a neutral object is placed near the child, and frequently we are able to observe how the neutral stimulus is drawn into the situation and takes on the function of a sign. Thus, the child actively incorporates these neutral objects into the task of problem solving. We might say that when difficulties arise, neutral stimuli take on the function of a sign and from that point on the operation’s structure assumes an essentially different character.” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 74; italics added)

Melucci-- Challenging Codes

– “What we must recognize is that actors themselves can make sense out of what they are doing, autonomously of any evangelical or manipulative interventions of the researcher. (...)

– Secondly, we need to recognize that the researcher-actor relation is itself an object of observation, that it is itself part of the field of action, and thus subject to explicit negotiation and to a contract stipulated between the parties. (...)

– Lastly, we must recognize that every research practice which involves intervention in the field of action creates an artificial situation which must be explicitly acknowledged. (...) a capability of metacommunication on the relationship between the observer and the observed must therefore be incorporated into the research framework.”

– (Melucci, 1996, p. 388-389)

•lacks a sophisticated account of the regulation of subject – subject relations (and thus social positioning).•and of the production, and to some extent the structure and function of the cultural artefacts (such as discourse) which mediate subject – object relations. .“the integration of discourse into the theory of activity has only begun” Engeström and Miettinen (1999) p.7. .

• ‘The instruction of the child in systems of scientific knowledge in school involves a unique form of communication in which the word assumes a function which is quite different from that characteristic of other forms of communication ...

• The child learns word meanings in certain forms of school instruction not as a means of communication but as part of a system of knowledge.

• This learning occurs not through direct experience with things or phenomena but through other words’.

• Vygotsky (1987) p27

Words in institutions

Overall Model of DescriptionOverall Model of Description

School Organisation

Theory of Instruction

Classroom Practice

Staff

Subjects

External Relations

Instructional Practice

Instructional Context

Regulative Practice

Horizontal

Vertical

Horizontal

Parents

Employers

Colleges

Mainstream Schools

P = I/R

Coding of Classroom PracticeContext -- Classification

C - - Children working in groups or asindividuals pursuing different tasks

C - As above but similar tasks

C + Classwork as individuals but ondifferent tasks

C+ + Classwork as individuals but on sametasks

Coding of Classroom PracticeFRAMING

F + + teachers control selection, criteriasequencing and pacing of instruction

F + children have some influence onselection, criteria sequencing andpacing of instruction. Control largely inhands of teacher

F - teachers provide broad indications ofareas in which children should beworking

F- - children control selection sequencingand pacing of instruction

Coding of Classroom PracticeRegulative PracticeF + + The form of desired social behaviour is

a direct concern of the classroomteacher. The teacher defines what isacceptable behaviour

F + Instructional practice demandsconformity to social rules

F - Instructional practice is designed toallow for the acquisition of specificmoral competences

F - - The children are supposed to acquiresocial and moral competence with littleor no constraint either from directinstruction or arising from instructionalpractice

Junior Senior

TC C - - F - - F -

C - - F - - F -

A C - F - F -

C - F - - F +

WH C+ + F ++ F +

C + F - F +

CH C + + F++ F +

C - F - F +

Coding of Classroom Practice in I/R format

Correctly judged discriminations by both of two observers

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

TC weak A CH WH strong

juniorsenior

Average number of words uttered – n=100 (ten children ten tasks)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

TC weak A CH WH Strong

JuniorSenior

Once attention is given to the regulation of the structure of pedagogic discourse, the social relations of its production and the various modes of its recontextualising as a practice , then perhaps we may be a little nearer to understanding the Vygotskian tool as a social and historical construction

Bernstein (1993) p. xx

Two of the Research QuestionsLearning in and for multiagency

working

• What are professionals learning when they do interagency work?

• What forms of interpersonal and organisational practice are associated with this learning?

Key features of the project

• Research team of 9 – 14 ;from Birmingham, Bath, Oxford and Loughborough Universities– mixed backgrounds

• Linked with work in Helsinki• Focus is upon work with pupils are at risk and

who are involved with a range of professionals

• 4 year project began January 2004• How professionals learn to do joined up work

– something new, unscripted

Five Stages of LIW Project

Stage OneTheoretical Development

January - June 2004 Systematic Review and clarification of conceptual framework

Stage TwoAnalysing the National Situation

June - December 2004Identify local authority cases

Stage ThreeRefine Model Through Intervention in Two Settings

January - September 2005Development of Knowledge Tools and Preliminary Outcomes

Stage FourIntervention Study in Three Local Authorities

October 2005 - June 2007Testing of Feasibility of Models and Tools

Stage FiveExamining the Outcomes in a Broader Context

July - December 2007Knowledge Sharing

• 3 sites

• Wildside

• Liberton

• Seaside

• History

• Contradictions

• Move up and down the data trails

Analysing activity in institutions

.Bernstein invisible semiotic mediation

Werstch implicit mediation

Disruption and stage in Vygotsky

• the place the dramatic development takes place. The stage (theatre) has two planes - social plane (dimension) and individual plane. The planes only make sense relative to the stage and they are connected as two projections of the stage where the child is not a spectator, but participant.

• development as a process of events, collisions and their reflections in both planes.

60

Institutional structure as historical artefact

Institutional structure as historical artefact

• measures of institutional modality the discursive, organizational and interactional practice

• predict – points at which communicative action will engage with the transformation of the institution

• measures of institutional modality the discursive, organizational and interactional practice

• predict – points at which communicative action will engage with the transformation of the institution

embedded discoursesembedded discourses

Instructional Discourse -- ID

Regulative Discourse -- RD

finland june Daniels Visser and Cole 1999

62

P = I/R

Model for the description of sites

workshop

Local Authority

Service users

Wildside Seaside Liberton

Horizontal division of Labour (professional group)

C- C+/- C++

Control of membership of professional group

F- F+/- F+

Division of Labour (Vertical)

C- - within workshopC- - between workshop and management

C - - within workshopC++ between workshop and management

C + within workshopC++ between workshop and management

Control within vertical division

F - +/- F++

Division of Labour clients

C- C - - C ++

Regulative discourse Boundary with Local Authority

Intermediary

Weak

Strong

Strong maintained by Local Authority

Weak

Strong maintained by Workshop site

Workshop sites

Division of Labour -- Vertical How hierarchical is the management of your work1.C- - = All members of a ‘flat’ team2.C++ = Strong hierarchy (director, dep director, principal, senior , junior)

- 1C--

2 3 4 5C++

seaside X

wildside X

liberton X

How strong are the relations of control within this division of labour1. F-- = I manage my own workload5 F++ =I am line managed with timed targets

-

1F--

2 3 4 5F++

seaside X

wildside X

liberton X

Wildside

Seaside

Liberton

• seaside I/R• liberton I/R

• wildside I/R


Subject


Outcome

Object

Sense

Meaning


Language of description

urgent need to refine a language of description which allows us to ‘see’ institutions as they do their tacit psychological work through the discursive practices which they shape.

Developing analytic tools for Identifying learning in

communicative action:

D-Analysis

Multi-centred study - 4

Multi-site - 3 + Northern Ireland

Liberton Seaside Wildside

The analytic challenge

Multi-researcher (9 -14)

Multi-temporal

Oxford University

Key data

Workshopsin each case study site - audio visual recordings of six two hour workshops over one yearworkshops comprised the practitioners who were working in multi-agency settings or were moving towards MAW

Workshop material or ‘Mirror data’ analysistop down selective ‘structural’ analysis, using CHAT and cognate concepts to stimulate discussion of past, present and future work - dual stimulation

Communicative analysishowever, in order to identify evidence trails in this multi-site and multi-centred study over time of professional learning in multi-agency settings

needed a ‘bottom-up’ comprehensive analysis of audio-visual recordings of workshops

focussing on the sequential and contingent organisation of emergent distinctions

distinctions that make the difference for participants describing and refining what-it-is-to-do multi-agency work

learning as ‘differences that make the difference’

Particular analytic challenges

how to orient site research teams to read the data as performative communicative action

move beyond talk as a mode of representation

we needed workable analytic heuristic or rubric for the analysis of workshop talk as performative action

Designed an analytic rubric Designed what we term the D - Analysis

an analytic rubric or heuristic for

reading

reviewing

interrogating

comparing

collating

the total corpus of communicative data

in a consistent way across the research sites

Organisation of analytic processD - Analysis used @ each of the 3 sites (Wildside; Seaside & Liberton)

3 analysts per site (2 RO’s + Senior team member as analytic discussant)

D - Analysis applied in multiple phases of cyclical analysis to

Induct the research teams into communicative analysis

pilot

compare & refine

collate within and cross-site findings

Analytic process

applied the D-Analysis in a comprehensive analysis of the whole corpus of workshop data across all 3 sites

using search and replay tools (eg., HyperResearch; MSWord; DSS Player and VideoPlayer)

iterating between transcripts and audio-visual recordings

Some analytic resources for transcript <> recording iterations

What is the D - Analysis? a way of examining the sequential organisation of workshop talk

tracking the emergent distinctions that made the difference in learning what-it-is-to-do multi-agency across the workshops at each site

emergent examples and issues in terms of a unit of analysis as cycles of:

> diexis > delineations >deliberations >departures > developments >

Wildside - coordinating presence at key meetings in relation to PEP’s - Sequential emergence of distinctions (differences) that make the difference in MAWDW5 (Video 1:02:06 - 1.0.4.29)J L [LIW] The idea of having the right information there, as you said the educational report either isn't- either the person isn't represented or the report isn't there and social work, you know whoever, the medical input. And even when you get this one nurse she's not going to be at all these reviews, so you need-A B [nurse] No the one nurse is going to do the most hard to reach set of young people, that's really going to be her main target area, and look at addressing some of the wider things like the teenage pregnancy in 'looked after' children, some sexual health issue and things like that is going to be her main remit. Because I think for the younger age group the school nurses are pretty well tied in, for the pre-schoolers the foster carers take children for appointments.

Deixis - pointing - NEW ‘SYSTEM’ FOR LIASING WITH PARENTS We are having a change um in the way that children come to health appointments for 'looked after' in that the social workers are now going to know when the child is going to be due a medical review and arrange with the parent, the foster carers to ring up for an appointment. [talking together]

Delineation - qualification - REFORMULATING THE BASIS OF THE NEW ‘SYSTEM’P C [social worker] Sorry, I wasn't- just correcting that [inaudible ñ 01:03:20] what will happen is that a letter will automatically go out to the foster carers or the residential staff.

Deliberation - consensus - RATIFYING THE REFORMULATIONA B [nurse] Yes, and copy letters to-

Deliberation - orderability - ESTABLISHING THE ORDERABILITY OF ACTIONP C [social worker] With a copy letter to the social worker. There's no extra task for the social worker.

Departure - POSITIONING C M [social worker] Are we sharing this today, is this new-

Development - TO BE ESTABLISHED AS THE CASE IN THE FUTUREP C[social worker] Well I understand it's come- I mean it's just being introduced I think this month, or in September so it's not quite this month, you know, it's just been introduced in September. But two months before an appointment is due a letter goes out to foster carers or residential staff and then they make an appointment to suit the child and the carers. And therefore we get fewer missed appointments.

D-Analysis the sequential organization of learning related talk

• Deixis (indication): ‘pointing to’ an issue during conversation, drawing attention towards a particular problem

• Delineation and definition: elaboration of the issue through others’ reactions - sense making and qualifications

• Deliberation: refocusing the elaboration process towards reaching an agreement - eg., actioned through consensus building, such as by evoking local situation/knowledge, or building a consensus based on general principals.

• Departure: a shift towards a qualitatively different position where new positioning of participants is made visible

• Development: finding a ‘tool’ from within the previous workshop conversation or identifying a solution to an specified problem - making something stick

Within site analysisWithin sessions

D-Sequences identified

Between sessions

Strands of delineations and developments identified

delineations (emergent issues)

and

departures and developments (potential and implemented changes)

Summary concept matrix and time lines produced for each site recording MAW issue; data sources; CHAT

ie linking top down and bottom up analyses

CONCEPTS MATRIX

Concept

Evidence Activity Theory Analysis

Liberton Delineation

Departure/ Development

Where? (in which workshop?)

Contradiction Resolution

Wildside: creation and development of better tools

delineation/departure

delineation/departure

development

development

development

development

development

Delineation/development

2 (83-89)

3 (6, 17, 32)

5 (29-32)

5 (35-39)

5(70)

5 (24-26)

5 (108-114

6 (10-17)

Need to work on tools to focus on PEP, despite other prof agendas (having sympathy/appreciation of these)Working with tools systemically; teaching schools how to use tools, making tools available to new staff, knowing your own tool

Need to remind profs of responsibilities re. PEPs

As above

Lack of clarity around prep for PEPs

Lack of communication between profs

As aboveTension between ePEP as object and as tool/rule. Need to clarify shared object

Tools for supporting PEPS

Training/workshops

Clerical support for PEP; LAA as ‘creative’ tool; additional Beh Supp staff; guidance doc for govs; JAR.

Checklist for preparation for PEPs

JAR encouraged greater MAW; focus on collective responsibility for child

ePEPDrawing up document using ECM principles to guide PEPs (this discussed at sen mgt level)

Wildside

Seaside concept formation time lines

Cross site analysiscross site collation of strands of delineations and departure/development for all sites

same format

CONCEPTS MATRIX

Concept

Evidence Activity Theory Analysis

Liberton Delineation

Departure/ Development

Where? (in which workshop?)

Contradiction Resolution

Wildside

Seaside

Concept Seaside Wildside Liberton 1. To know how to know others

Delineation Departure Delineation

Delineation

2. Rule bending and risk taking

Delineation Development

Departure Delineation

3. pedagogic and developmental stance at work



4. creation and development of better tools

Delineation

Delineation Departure Development

Departure Development

5. work on understanding oneself and professional values

Development Delineation


Departure

6. to be clear what they work on and to be open to alternatives

Development Delineation



7. to organise to be able to be responsive to c lients and other professionals

Delineation Departure


8. to focus on the whole child in a wider context


Departure Delineation


9. to develop processes for knowledge sharing e.g. two-way flows, new pathways for practice



10. to Departure

Collating concept learning strands

Bringing it all together

• analyse communicative action as mediated by / in the institutional context

• see how attention is directed and deflected by history of professional cultures

• evidence the ways in which the institution itself is shaped as well as shapes the possibilities for action

Language of description

urgent need to refine a language of description which allows us to ‘see’ institutions as they do their tacit psychological work through the discursive practices which they shape.

The agenda

• Subject – grounded in structural material analysis

• Discourse in terms of the context of production

• Emotional aspects of change as integral

recent developments in the application of activity theory

Documents

activity systemshistoricity

activity systems object

activity systems argument

interacting activity

activity theory research

generation of activity

childs cultural development

greater abstractnessdevelops