Action-based Teaching, Autonomy and Identity

Action-based teaching puts agency at the centre of the learning process. This can be defined as the socioculturally mediated capacity to act (Ahearn, 2001: 112). An actionbased approach is related to other approaches, such as content-based, project-based and task-based teaching and learning. However, it makes agency, rather than the particular curricular organisation, the defining construct. In this paper, various situated aspects of agency are examined, such as issues of power and control, democracy in the classroom, and the relationships between structure and process. A central aspect of an action-based approach is the centrality of perception, and its intricate connections to action and understanding. Perception is also central in the development of self and identity, in the shaping of the learners' relationships to their world. Finally, pedagogical strategies and actions are illustrated, such as a coherent and non-trivial model of pedagogical scaffolding that integrates structuring and microgenesis.