Mediation(s) in an on-line, multilingual teacher education environment

Resumo

In the paper, we examine the concept of mediation, through an analysis of an on-line, multilingual teacher education environment. In particular, we analyse the exchanges of the participants during an on-line session aimed at teacher development in Intercomprehension theories and practices. Due to the pluralistic approach to teacher education adopted in the session, linguistic diversity is accepted by the participant as a natural ingredient of communication, so that clashes are usually absent or not directly thematised.

We have adopted a socioconstructivist approach to mediation, anchored in the detailed presentation of the collaborative communicative scenario. We intend to describe how mediation, and especially cognitive and relational mediation, works in such an educational environment. Mediation is understood by participants as a shared responsibility, deployed collaboratively and, therefore, as a communicative process and strategic educational tool supporting collaborative professional development. Hence, mediation closely relates to and depends on shared and co-constructed linguistic, cognitive and emotional dispositions.