Laurent Filliettaz

The Geneva Model of discourse analysis: an interactionist and modular approach to discourse organization

This article presents recent developments in the Geneva modular and interactionist approach to discourse organization. The first section analyses the main epistemological, theoretical and methodological properties of the Geneva Model by examining its relationship to data, communicative action, complexity and discourse organization, and then outlines the Geneva Models modular methodology. The second section of the article focuses on a text extract from a service encounter and applies some aspects of the modular methodology to the analysis of request sequences. The authors argue that requests cannot be reduced to the utterance of single speech acts but are best described as complex discourse practices linking praxeological information, conceptual knowledge and textual competence.

Guidance as an Interactional Accomplishment Practice-based Learning within the Swiss VET System

This chapter analyses how apprentices in the Swiss VET system receive practical instruction within training companies and how they are being supported and guided by experts in the workplace. It does so by paying special attention to verbal and nonverbal interaction between experts and apprentices, exploring the hypothesis that a fine-grained analysis focused on language-in-interaction could profitably inform the conditions in which learning arises from a practice-based training model. The chapter commences with a brief overview of the main issues and problems challenging initial vocational education in Switzerland . It then identifies and illustrates four distinct interactional configurations through which guidance progresses in the workplace: as spontaneously provided, explicitly requested, collectively distributed, or implicitly denied. This empirical and interactional approach, based on audio-video data analysis, contributes to a reflection on the strengths and weaknesses of a practice-based training model as it is implemented in the Swiss apprenticeship system.

Situated trajectories of learning in vocational training interactions

This paper investigates smaller-scale transitions that are part of the longer-term processes of subjective transformation and adaptation to new professional competencies for learners in the field of vocational education. On the conceptual level, it proposes to view transitions as intermediate states in situated trajectories of learning. The notion of trajectory aims to capture that (a) learning occurs through situated and highly contextualized micro activities and (b) that these activities occur within historical sequences of events, which come to form over time dynamic trajectories. The ingredients constitutive of a trajectory of learning are first defined. The notions presented are next applied to the empirical analysis of one sequence of learning, in which we show the transitions undergone by one object of knowledge as it is being taught to different apprentices in a workshop. On the theoretical plane, the paper thus proposes to view transitions as microdynamics of change. On the methodological plane, it contributes to identifying possible empirical sources and methodological frames to study micro-transitional phenomena.RésuméCet article porte sur les micro-phénomènes transitionnels à l’oeuvre dans les processus d’aprentissage des métiers en formation professionnelle initiale. Sur le plan conceptuel, il propose d’envisager les transitions comme des états intermédiaires de trajectoires situées d’apprentissage plus larges. La notion de trajectoire située vise à rendre compte d’une double dimension des processus d’apprentissage: (a) leur caractère situé et hautement contextualisé, et (b) leur inscription dans des trajectoires temporelles. L’article commence par développer la notion de trajectoire située d’apprentissage comme unité d’analyse avant d’en tester la pertinence au travers de l’analyse d’une séquence d’enseignement/apprentissage documentant des transitions et des transformations d’un objet de savoir enseigné dans le cadre d’un atelier de mécanique. Au plan théorique, cette contribution propose de considérer les transitions commes des micro-dynamiques inductrices de changement. Au plan méthodologique, il contribue à indentifier des concepts et outils méthodologiques pouvant servir de ressources pour tracer des transitions dans des données empiriquement attestées.

Collective guidance at work: a resource for apprentices?

This article focuses on pedagogical aspects of initial vocational training in the context of the Swiss VET system. Even though apprentices are usually the responsibility of one main supervisor within companies, a number of other colleagues, experts and fellow apprentices interact with them as they engage in productive tasks. In that context, the article examines how first-year apprentices are guided and supported by experienced workers in the workplace, and how this guidance and support are distributed collectively in work teams. Drawing on an ethnographic and discursive methodology borrowing concepts and tools from various trends in applied linguistics, the article analyses empirical material consisting of videotaped interactions between apprentices and workers recorded in productive conditions. Two case studies related to distinct workplaces are discussed. They illustrate contrasting conditions experienced by apprentices when joining the workplace and provide evidence for the configuring role of guidance and supervision in vocational learning. The findings suggest that particular attention should be given to the pedagogical quality of guidance in the workplace to improve the overall efficiency of the dual apprenticeship system and to foster smooth and consistent transitions into work experience for novice apprentices.

Dropping out of Apprenticeship Programs: Evidence from the Swiss Vocational Education System and Methodological Perspectives for Research.

Abstract This paper discusses the issue of attrition in apprenticeship programs, a topic that has attracted growing attention by VET researchers and policy-makers in many developed countries. It commences with a brief overview of the key issues challenging initial vocational education in Switzerland, and links these issues to similar concerns in Australia. It then demonstrates how concerns about the workplace environments can be understood through the particular lens of linguistic methods. These methods assist by providing a fine-grained analysis of the interactional processes that can lead to attrition and change in apprenticeship pathways. A case study based on empirical material collected in Swiss workplaces and documenting interactions between a first-year apprentice, his supervisor and his colleagues provides an illustration of this linguistic perspective and illuminates the challenges faced by apprentices in the early days of work.

Affording learning environments in workplace contexts: an interactional and multimodal perspective

The present article seeks to contribute to reflections about learning in and through practice by addressing some general questions about the role of action and context in work-related training practices. It aims at a better understanding of the conditions under which work-production environments may or may not afford rich learning opportunities to novice workers. How can workplaces produce learning environments for newcomers in a profession? Under what conditions may workplace practices support learning opportunities or, on the contrary, generate obstacles to such opportunities? How can one assist vocational trainers or workplace supervisors to shape adequate learning environments in work-production contexts? To address these general questions, the article adopts a specific theoretical and methodological perspective, linking social theories of vocational learning with concepts and analytical tools borrowed from the fields of sociolinguistics and applied linguistics. It is proposed that an interactional and multimodal approach, based on a fine-grained analysis of discourse and interaction between learners and trainers, may inform about the challenges faced by both learners and trainers in practice-based training programmes. In the present article, these claims are elaborated and illustrated with empirical data gathered in the context of apprenticeship programmes as they are implemented in Switzerland.

Learning Through Interactional Participatory Configurations: Contributions from Video Analysis

This chapter focuses on the role and place of guidance and mentoring in learning as it may occur in the circumstances of professional practice. Recent literature in the field of workplace learning has stressed the importance of guidance in the process of learning in and from practice. Workers do not only learn just by conducting specific tasks individually; they learn when adequate resources are afforded to them and when more experienced workers are able to assist them in their practice. Hence, there is considerable importance to investigate the specific qualities of guidance at work and to understand how novice workers engage with these resources. In this particular context, the chapter advances two main ideas. The first idea is to consider that a close examination of the conditions under which mentors and students engage in face-to-face interactions provides a relevant theoretical basis for exploring the relational interdependences between these actors. These interdependences may be described and analysed as “interactional participatory configurations”. The second idea the chapter puts forward is to consider that video analysis should be seen as a rich and relevant methodological resource for describing how interactional participatory practices emerge, unfold and transform in the conditions of professional practice. These resources, it is proposed, bring complementary insights to the understanding of the importance of participation and guidance in vocational and professional learning as it occurs in the workplace. Transcripts of video data collected in the field of vocational training of early childhood educators are used as empirical illustrations of the proposed analytical frame.

Learning Through Verbal Interactions in the Workplace: The Role and Place of Guidance in Vocational Education and Training

The recent literature in the field of workplace learning has stressed the importance of guidance in the process of learning in and from practice. Workers do not only learn just by conducting specific tasks individually; they learn when adequate resources are afforded to them and when more experienced workers are able to assist them in their practice. Hence, there is considerable importance to investigate the specific qualities of guidance at work and to understand how novice workers engage with these resources. In this particular context, the chapter advances two main ideas. The first idea is to consider that a close examination of the conditions under which mentors and students engage in face-to-face interactions provides a relevant theoretical basis for exploring the relational interdependences between these actors. These interdependences may be described and analysed as “interactional participatory configurations”. The second idea the chapter puts forward is that recent research developed in the Francophone world and borrowing concepts from a wide range of disciplinary traditions such as anthropology, sociology, sociolinguistics and discourse analysis provide useful insights for investigating these issues. These resources, it is proposed, bring complementary contributions to the understanding of the importance of participation and guidance in vocational and professional learning as it occurs in the workplace. Transcripts of video data collected in the field of vocational training of early childhood educators are used as empirical illustrations of the proposed analytical frame.

Conceptualising and Connecting Francophone Perspectives on Learning Through and for Work

This chapter offers an overview of the field of Francophone research on learning through work and is intended as a platform for presenting a delineation of this field. More specifically, the chapter presents a range of research traditions that have secured important places within the French-speaking research community, as illustrated in the chapters collected in the book. This overview aims at explaining the disciplinary background underlying these traditions and identifying key premises and concepts and specific research and training methods that have emerged in that particular context. The chapter also attempts to illuminate the specific conceptions of learning these traditions are built on and have contributed to promote. To achieve that outcome, three research traditions are described, in relation to their historical and cultural backgrounds, key ideas and methodological focuses. The first of these three traditions comprises what is referred to as Francophone ergonomics and the epistemology of the so-called work analysis. The historical and disciplinary origins of emergence of the Francophone tradition of ergonomics are presented, along with its central concepts, contributions to methods and applications in the field of vocational and professional training. Second, a focus is placed on the tradition of language use in relation to work, training and learning. These issues have acquired considerable visibility within Francophone research and have developed into a specific research tradition. An overview of the main research topics that have emerged within this tradition and key contributions to vocational and professional training issues is presented below. The third tradition is that referring to learning in connection with specific organisational contexts. Here, the social dimensions of learning are foregrounded and contributions from Francophone researchers are illustrated, and their alignment with other research traditions, and particularly those widely disseminated in the Anglophone world. The final section of the chapter draws together a range of ideas which have emerged beyond and across these specific research traditions, and that can be seen as having played an influencing role on the ways questions related with learning through and for work have been addressed in the Francophone world.

Power, Miscommunication and Cultural Diversity

This chapter explores the specific domain of what is commonly referred to as initial vocational education and training (VET). It focuses on apprenticeship programmes in Switzerland, where the dominant form of training consists of a complex combination of school-based and practice-based learning. In such a ‘dual’ system, apprentices experience a plurality of training sites. They move between vocational schools or training centres, where they are introduced to technical and general content, and ordinary workplaces, where they acquire practical skills and encounter the specific requirements of work tasks.