Learner identity and the training of competent learners / La identidad de aprendiz y la formación de aprendices competentes

Abstract

The goal of this article is to demonstrate the importance of learner identity, that is, the view students construct of themselves as learners with certain characteristics, and its usefulness for exercising an educational influence geared at training competent learners and promoting the sense of school learning. The importance of the concept is linked to the role played by people’s views of themselves as learners when they tackle learning situations and activities. Regarding its use, first I analyse the impact of classroom recognition processes in the construction of learner identity. Secondly, I describe two types of learning situations that particularly lend themselves to exercising an educational influence geared at training competent learners. Both are based on promoting and facilitating student reflection, in one case on learning experiences, both in and out of school, and in the other, on students’ views of themselves as learners.