Õpiruumi keeleline konstrueerimine üliõpilaste arusaamades
Construing the meaning of learning space in university: perceptions of students

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to understand and describe the hidden meanings of learning space in the construing of learning space experience among learners in university. We also attempt to identify how to change the learning space so that it would support learning and teaching and promote the emergence of learning communities. Universities around the globe have been investing in the creation of contemporary learning spaces (Cox 2011) but the sole focus on new spatial solutions disguises the inability to be engaged in the content-related aspects of learning and teaching (Karvalho, Yeoman 2018). This neglects the experience of learning space in its wider meaning, which involves not only the physical aspects of a space or environment, but also how learning and teaching is done (see Saar et al. 2012) and how learners are talking about it. Analysis of texts, including the metaphors used by learners, allows us to understand how the learning space is construed in learners’ experience.To achieve our aim, we focused on the course of forum theatre as a non-formal learning method. Based on the Freirean idea of dialogue and relationship between teacher and learner (Boal 1995, 1998), it brought out the learners’ language usage regarding learning space. The learners in the course filled in two written reflections, one at the beginning of the course, the other at the end. Two focus groups were carried out as well and the data collected was analysed with critical discourse analysis, including metaphors. As a result, we can say that the learners found physical space marginal. Instead, it was creating and keeping the social space together with the relations in it that was valued most highly. The latter covers not only the relations among the learners themselves but also those between the lecturer and the learner, both being equal in a safe space. As learners themselves are willing to contribute in the creation of learning space, this should be seen as a resource to use in the everyday working life of lecturers.

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