Classrooms as learning communities: a review of research

Abstract

This article reviews published research on (i) classrooms as communities; (ii) classrooms as communities of learners; and (iii) classrooms as learning communities. It is based on a reading of about 100 texts. It aims to answer the question 'What do we now know about the effects of operating classrooms as learning communities?'. Despite the fact that this mode of operating classrooms is not the dominant one, and is correspondingly under-researched, there is good evidence that it brings significant benefits.

Examining Hong Kong students’ motivational beliefs, strategy use and their relations with two relational factors in classrooms

“…In essence, the student learning community describes a constructive peer relationship in which members of the community have a feeling of belonging and interdependence, and are willing to commit to the learning of self and others (Rovai, 2002). When a sense of community was embraced in classrooms or schools, students were more likely to be intrinsically motivated toward learning (Watkins, 2005). For those students who were actively involved in helping to build a learning community, the community itself functioned first and foremost as a source of motivation (Eteläpelto et al, 2005).…”

Transforming marginalised adult learners’ views of themselves: Access to Higher Education courses in England

“…Despite students' power-invested relationships (Handley et al 2006) with their tutors, the negotiations amongst students and teachers were viewed as legitimate and normal, not pathological aspects of teaching and learning that helped students to develop their sense of agency as citizens that went beyond the requirements of the tightly framed academic curriculum of their Access to HE courses that formed part of the performative cultures of their colleges. The works of Watkins (2005) and Sebba and Robinson (2011) show similar cultures can also be applied in schools for students under the age of 16 years and will improve the success and quality of learning amongst those students.…”

“Podcast Time”: Negotiating Digital Literacies and Communities of Learning in a Middle Years ELL Classroom

“…The study adhered to established methods of ethnographic classroom research in which observations were prolonged and repeated, interview questions were developed from observation data (Spradley, 1979(Spradley, , 1980, and findings and interpretations were mapped closely to insights and themes from observational field notes, interviews, and member checking made possible the creation of a new kind of "community of learners" (Rogoff, 2004;Watkins, 2005) and thus new opportunities for collaborative knowledge creation. The third element was the nature of student engagement with conventional print literacy, in the context of their collaborative, multimodal work.…”