Reflections on a didactical socio-semiotic orientation to sign-mindedness and learning: Peirce´s Semiotic and Pedagogy

The intention of this paper is to reflect upon the relevance of Semiotics to Pedagogy and make a didactical application to the relations between the triad communicator – production – tutor. A wide view of language as opposed to a narrow view of verbal language on pedestal is of focus. Pictures are significant as signs, communicating how a person refers to and thinks about the world. Generally we do not count the hand-drawn picture or a sculpture as an argument. The informants are students at an art school, Unikum. They are mentally challenged and have a minor intellectual dysfunction. A theoretical educational socio-semiotic framework (Ahlner Malmström 1998) forms the basis of present research; the world is recognised and coded by means of signs. Signs allow, according to the American pragmatic philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 – 1914), people to speak of, refer to and think about how they think.

The present research demonstrates with observations, interviews and art productions how a unique aesthetic practice usefully creates participation and acknowledgement to enable the members develop presence of mind and artistic uniqueness.  A matrix of an extended social sign ground developed by the author, has benefits with regard to the explication processes of aesthetic learning and meaning construction. Everyday work in an aesthetic practice allows tutoring and answering questions as: What room outside the picture is a production a picture of?  What is the graphic style of the subject?  What code is known or is to be learned? What knowledge and codes does the subject initiate? What is unique in a piece of art that makes the subject´s authenticity comes to mind? It is the author’s conclusion that this aesthetic practice proposes a context that opens up for nuances in knowledge about what constructional aesthetic work can be to subject construction.

Key words: educational semiotics, authentic communication, learning, sign, aesthetic reflection, meaning construction.