Communication and Learning

Andrew Stables

3The End(s) of Learning and the Role of Instruction: Shaping the Debate

Abstract: Learning is a term applied to certain instances of change, often retrospectively. It is not possible to draw scientifically verifiable conclusions about the nature of learning from what is conventionally regarded as empirical evidence. There can be no direct observational test of learning. Furthermore, learning cannot be divorced from practices, so it takes as many forms as there are forms of activity; learning is not a form of life. It is therefore inevitable that it should be a contested term. Instruction (cf. the broader term teaching) serves whatever purposes are ascribed to learning, on whatever account. The contours of a practice shape the demands ...