Interaction Theory and Interactional Nature of Learning

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Interaction Theory and Interactional Nature of Learning Learning is an interactional process. It is reciprocal, which means each parties are learning interactionally at the same time. For instance, both teacher and students are learning during the learning process. That's why the nature of learning is indeed interactional. However, every interactional environment is not a learning environment, because environmental context also matters. Interaction theories study how people understand each other and the contextual factors associated with learning is analyzed. Goffman is a pioneer symbolic interaction theorist. He adopted an ethnographic research methodology towards interaction studies. His studies relied on participant observation and interview methods (Wayne, 2010) and focused on observable everyday behavior. He questioned the definition of community and asserted that it is more than a definition. Community means more complex interactions and relationships (Charles, 2010). He proposed that since society is composed of interactions among individuals, face-to-face interaction needs to be focused in interaction research (Rawls, 1987). He explained social action by face-to-face interactions in contrast with determinist patterns. His target is to develop classification of different elements of social interaction, because sociological tools are not enough to capture lived experience. In fact, his famous theme is the investigation of face-to-face everyday interactions which he called interaction order (Philip, 2011). Interaction order proposes a conceptual map of each interaction and covers behaviors everywhere. In other words, his analysis provides a set of classification of everyday interaction. This classification involves empirical details like in conversational analysis and ethnomethodology (Philip, 2011). He adopted a dramaturgical approach in studying
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