Lenguaje y educación: Perspectivas metodológicas y teóricas para su estudio

Abstract

The book presented below is the result of the first pooling of the theoretical and methodological assumptions of the lines of research that support the Language Emphasis of the Inter-institutional Department of Education, DIE. There are several points in common in the approaches presented here. In the first instance, a clear break with the classic approaches of structuralist and positivist research, as pointed out when speaking of hermeneutic and ethnographic criticism, critical discourse analysis and narrative research as new ways of approaching social realities. Secondly, there is a trend towards inter- and transdisciplinary studies that require a constant dialogue between sciences such as history, sociology, psychology, philosophy, pedagogy and linguistics. It should not be forgotten that these "new" approaches to problems are not "new" at all; most of them draw on disciplines and methodologies with some tradition in social studies, such as ethnography, interactionism, pragmatics, sociolinguistics or discourse analysis. The new trends in research recognize the contributions and advances made in certain fields of knowledge in order to broaden their outlook and horizons and to delve deeper into the causes and consequences of phenomena with the aim of deepening their explanations. Another aspect has to do with the epistemological turn of the sciences towards discourse and language; a turn around the meaning given by the actors to their actions, which becomes the starting point for interpretation and in which social practices are understood fundamentally as the product of discursive practices. The authors hope that these pages will serve as a guide for teachers seeking to approach the problem of language in general, and more specifically in the educational context.