Appropriation from a script theory of guidance perspective: a response to Pierre Tchounikine

Abstract

In a recent paper, Pierre Tchounikine has suggested to advance the Script Theory of Guidance (SToG) by addressing the question how learners appropriate collaboration scripts presented to them in learning environments. Tchounikine’s main criticism addresses SToG’s “internal script configuration principle.” This principle states that in any collaboration situation, the learners’ set of goals and perceived situational characteristics influence how they dynamically configure internal collaboration scripts. Tchounikine's critique is that SToG is not very clear about how exactly “the learner’s set of goals” and particularly “perceived situational characteristics” influence the way learners understand and act in a CSCL situation. In response, we argue that SToG, at its core, is deeply concerned with appropriation of external scripts by focusing on how external scripts influence the (re-)configutration of internal scripts. Here, we lay out different aspects of appropriation in line with the basic assumptions of SToG, namely perception, interpretation, and implementation. The process of appropriation may be followed by an internalization of the result of appropriation (or appropriated external guidance).