The teaching practice in the context of teaching reading comprehension in English as a foreign language from the perspective of the complex model

Abstract

This paper is the result of the analysis of my own practice as a member of the teaching team that is in charge of the “English for Specific Purposes” courses at the Education, Psychology and Phonoaudiology degree programs, at the National University of San Luis, Argentina. The aim of this work is to reflect upon the teaching practice from the perspective of the complex model proposed by Guyot (2011), in which different disciplines converge by contributing their concepts in order to identify problems and to help in the search for solutions through the transformation of the practice. At the core of the Complex Model, the teacher, the student and knowledge interact in the classroom microspace, which is embedded in broader spaces –the educational institution, the educational system and the social system–by which the practice is not only organized and regulated but also conditioned. The effects of the interactions in this network of subjections and interdependences are looked into under the light of different epistemological stances and subjectivity theories. These two analytical approaches are organized around three axes that complete the model: the time axis in its two dimensions, the historical situation and daily life; the theory-practice relation axis; and the knowledge-power relation axis. Examining the educational practice under the magnifying glass of the complexity paradigm enables us to see with clarity and self-criticismthe subjectivity formation process in students, who will reproduce what they have lived and learned in their own research, teaching and professional practices.