Monitoring activities: a possibility for classroom development

Abstract

This study aims at discussing how students become collaborative agents in the teaching-learning process, as well as describing the results obtained from the implementation of a school intervention project which involved monitoring activities in the classroom. The monitoring activities consist of forming groups of three to four students, with a monitor, so they can perform the classroom tasks provided by the teachers. This study is based on Cultural Historical Activity Theory, and applies some central concepts of Vygotsky’s work, such as the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Such a concept is essential for understanding the emergence of collaborative agency. Methodologically, this study is based on the Critical Collaborative Research (CCR), which enables all stakeholders to participate actively in the development of activities. We draw our data from classroom recordings and from a questionnaire responded by the students. We analyze the data using conversational and interactional analysis. Our results suggest that when students are also co-authors of a school intervention process, they have a potential for developing collaborative agency, so they can apply the concepts and rules developed during the implementation phase of the research to other activities outside the initial research aim.