Conversing with subjects: Applying Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics to pedagogical and academic language and learning practice

Abstract

In this paper, I explore the ways in which philosophical hermeneutics, and especially Paul Ricoeur’s variant of it, has shaped my teaching practice, with the hope that the insights gleaned might have some wider bearing on issues related to Academic Language and Learning (ALL). Like many academics, my teaching practice has evolved for the most part in an ad hoc fashion, and the principles underlying it for a long time remained implicit. Recently, however, changing student demographics have brought the need for more explicit attention to fundamental academic language and learning skills to the fore, and prompted a reflection on the logic underlying my largely intuitive practices. This reflection has brought to light a set of hermeneutical principles, some canonically elucidated by Hans-Georg Gadamer, and others bearing the mark of Ricoeur’s themes and concerns. An ethos of open dialogue and receptivity, and a sensitivity to the intensely personal transformations that learning can involve, both underpinned by a strong conception of the creativity and agency of the learner, are identified as crucial elements.