The socio-contextual nature of learning

Understanding and articulating the significance of life experiences is a meaning-making process, where the individual interprets their experiences and transforms them into learning through their personal meaning-making lens. Adult learning theory in the latter part of the twentieth century recognised the role of socio-contextual factors in the learning process (Merriam 2017), particularly from the influence of Vygotsky’s work on social constructivism. Socio-contextual factors influence both the content of the experience and the learner’s response to that experience (Fenwick 2000). This study recognises the interrelationship of the learner and their social world. It acknowledges that, while “the learner’s meanings still exist in the learner’s head” (Fenwick 2000, p. 250), these meanings are

influenced by the situation that the learner experiences and the individual’s meaning-making system

that in itself is shaped by social and contextual factors. This study draws from social constructivism, which proposes that “reality takes on meaning which is formed and reformed through the social process” (Gogus 2012, para. 8), thus emphasising the role of social context in the learning process.

2.9.1 Social influences on meaning-making

Learning is not simply a psychological process that happens in “splendid isolation from the world in which the learner lives, but that it is intimately related to that world and affected by it” (Jarvis 1987, p. 11). Experience may be seen as “subjective and a form of thought, but these thoughts are constructed and influenced both by our biography and by the social and cultural conditions within which they occur” (Jarvis et al 2003, p. 54). This idea recognises that personal meaning systems are formed within a social context. As Jarvis (1987, p. 15) contends, “learning always occurs within a social context,…the learner is also to some extent a social construct, so that learning should be regarded as a social phenomenon as well as an individualistic one”. Personal meaning systems are made up of values and beliefs and learnings from past experiences, but these things are constructed from within a socio-cultural context (Merriam & Clark 1993; Mezirow 1991). Jarvis (1987) notes that every individual is subject to socialisation processes (such as interacting with other people and exposure to different forms of media), and every individual grows and develops within a socio- cultural context. He proposes that learners themselves are to some extent a reflection of their socio- cultural context (Jarvis 1987).

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As previously discussed, personal meaning systems are not static, and a person’s individual biography is constantly refined in response to new experiences or interactions with the social world (Jarvis 1987). Moreover, while reactions to experiences come from within the person – using all five senses – these reactions occur within a social context and are framed by social forces, thus they may embody social expectations and cultural norms. The framework for this study recognises the social nature of learning and that interpreting an experience for its personal significance is both individually and socially framed.

2.9.2 Contextual influences on meaning-making

Context is a key influence on meaning-making; outcomes of learning are shaped by individual meaning and social forces but may also be product of a particular learning context (Taylor 2007). Usher (1993, p. 170) notes that “meaning is…contextual. When we interpret ‘our’ experience, we do so from a particular context or standpoint”. This standpoint includes the learner’s orientation to the experience (and at a particular point in time and in their personal growth journey) and their subjective reactions to it, but also the context of the learning environment or situation. This environment is referred to by Boud and Walker (1990, p. 66) as the ‘learning milieu’ which they define as “all those entities, human and material, which provide the context and events within which the learner operates”. The learning milieu can foster certain kinds of learning (Boud & Walker 1990). As previously noted., Park (2010; 2017) calls this ‘situational meaning’, which is meaning in the context of an occurrence in a certain type of environment, or situation. This means that outcomes of the learning process should be viewed within the context of the situation, (i.e. bereavement, changing jobs, or international study), and may be in part determined by that situation.

Summary: Contribution to the framework

Section 2.8 discussed the idea that meaning-making occurs using a lens that reflects the learner’s own frame of reference (Boud & Walker 1990; Dirkx 2001a; Jarvis 1987; Jarvis 2006; Kegan 1980; Mezirow 1991; 2000). It was important to include this idea in the framework so that the researcher could investigate what shapes the search for significance of a life experience, (i.e. the factors that influence personal impact and subjective value). The learner’s frame of reference plays a key role in meaning-making (Meriam & Clark 1993; Mezirow 2000).

Section 2.9 discussed the socio-contextual nature of meaning-making. The constructivist approach to learning that underpins experiential learning theory has the individual as the primary instrument in the learning process (Fenwick 2000). However, the researcher acknowledges the social and

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contextual influences on meaning-making, as theorised by Jarvis (1987) and Boud and Walker (1990), and in Vygotsky’s theories of social constructivism, and seeks to take account of these influences on the meaning-making process. The framework recognises that meaning-making does not occur in a vacuum and that the lens through which meaning-making occurs includes individual, social and contextual forces (Merriam, Caffarella & Baumgartner 2007).

The final iteration of the framework, given in Section 2.11 (Figure 2.5), shows the inclusion of the learner’s meaning-making lens in the process of understanding and articulating the significance of a life experience.