This story unveils my initial exposure to the mediation pedagogical process as an English Teacher since I realized that as a student, I was hardly exposed to ways to mediate my learning conditions before enrolled in Master of Pedagogical Mediation in English Learning.
Prior to going specifically into the issue of mediation criteria, I wish first to state that when I was required to write about my experience with pedagogical mediations, I started by trying to clearly understand what this matter is. Checking on the presentation of Pedagogical Mediation in Language Learning course I could found out that Francisco Gutiérrez and Cruz Prado (n,d) established meaningful learning, self-development of skills, self-directed learning, intuitive learning, learning-by-doing, learners' expression ways, and alternative evaluation methods as the seven keys of pedagogical mediation to “transform learners’ lives” (as cited in Martínez, 2019). Simplifying:
“The act of mediating means to be a conciliator between knowledge and the learner” (Delgado, 2013. p.515).
Going deeper, Feuerstein (1986) came up with the teacher's role, not as a transmitter of knowledge but a coach of apprentices (as cited in Torres, 2005). In a nutshell, the purpose here is not to portray a model of the teacher but to be concerned about some features which would encourage my teaching practice experience with pedagogical mediations.
My first steps in Pegagogical Mediation as a Multicultural Educator.
Considering the notions presented above, I would like to preface the rest of my sketch by relating that my first experience as an English teacher was in an ESL (English as a Second Language) context where livelihood needs prevailed in an unknown cultural system to many learners, this was their fundamental motivation to learn English. Coping with a heterogeneous and culturally diverse group, I had to improvise as a multicultural educator what involved a dynamic process requiring constant self-supervision on a set of misconceptions, beliefs, principles, concerns, attitudes, and practices; it was about to understand individuals’ identities since these learners came from different historical, social and cultural backgrounds given their immigration status, and for some, illegal conditions. Pedagogical mediation took place here when apprentices' emotions and identities became the main pretext to mediate meaningful learning activities attending their second language needs.
Meeting Pedagogical Mediantion Challenges
Coming back to my own context where my teaching experience continues, and where I can take a more assertive look at what Colombian education is within the public and private, and middle and higher education, I can state that there are countless differences in the mediation of learning in each sub-setting. Private high schoolers enjoy greater benefits and resources that allow the quality of pedagogical mediation in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learning process: however, it is well known that in this type of population apprentices' needs are taken for granted that’s why we as mediators should call for awareness of selecting activities for them. “They should not only be meaningful for the mediators' teaching purposes but for the learners’ motivation and interest” (Torres, 2005). Teacher guidance has a limited but indispensable impact on high school learners' curiosity.
On the other hand, my experience in higher education has meant hard work with heterogeneous groups of students enrolled in different engineering programs and with little interest in learning a foreign language, which has led to a concern about carrying out new and innovative methods of pedagogical mediation in English learning. CLIL, ESP, PBL, Critical Thinking and Literacy are in the list of approaches that have been already implemented in the engineering curriculums. Throughout this period of change, B-learning has also become a reliable source to make students acquire important digital literacy and develop online competences. I have overcome this worthy challenge in my profession by creating opportunities and guiding students to take advantage of digital tools and environments in their English learning process.
"The more you practice, the more you learn"
Meeting these challenges in my professional life has influenced self-critical thoughts about the limitations or competences in pedagogical mediation that I still have to take up. This is one of the main reasons that made my decision to enroll in the Master of Pedagogical Mediation in English Learning assertive as well as mastering my knowledge, enhancing my personal development, acquiring pedagogical mediation skills, and addressing research competencies to solve social educational problems in my work context. We as facilitators should keep working on social impacts achievements that no only benefit ourselves but the community around.
Taking a look at the program curriculum, The Master of Pedagogical Mediation in English Learning prospects an opportunity to become more competitive in my professional field by getting abilities to manage good decision-making in problem-solving and research foundations to develop education projects. It also offers the proper tools to innovate in education and create useful learning environments for apprentices. My first steps to meet this wonderful challenge have already started with Pedagogical mediation in language learning course as a source of fundamental theory and practice to invovate in my ELT praxis.
References
Delgado, A. (2013). Pedagogical Mediation and Learning. En Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N° 19, 2013, pp. 513-522 / ISSN: 1659-1933. Recovered from https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rlm/article/view/14033/13339
Martínez, D. (2019). Reflections on pedagogical mediation in virtual environments. [Web page]. Recovered from http://hdl.handle.net/10596/24267
Torres Vigoya, Fanny Stella. (2005). The Mediated Learning Experience and the Mediator’s Implications. Profile Issues in Teachers` Professional Development, (6), 177-186. Retrieved April 08, 2020, from http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1657-07902005000100016&lng=en&tlng=en.