robert fitzgerald, phd

I first came across the word mathetic in the seminal work of Seymour Papert and his book, Mindstorms (1980). Papert argued we have a word for teaching (i.e. pedagogy) but no comparable word for learning. He proposed mathetic to refer to the art of learning (from the Greek mathmatikos meaning “disposed to learn” - see the Wikipedia entry for Mathetics). My colleague, Mary Macken-Horarik, recently drew my attention to the use of mathetic in the work of Michael Halliday (1978). Halliday's (1978, 1980, 1993) three-stage theory (learning langauge; learning through language and learning about language) sees much language development taking place through the pragmatic (doing and acting) and mathetic (learning and reflecting) macrofunctions of language.

References

Halliday, M.A.K. (1978). Language as social semiotic: the social interpretation of language and meaning. Sydney: Edward Arnold.

Halliday,M. (1980). Three Aspects of Children's Language Development: Learning language, Learning through Language, Learning about Language. In Oral and Written Language Development Research, Y. Goodman, M.H. Haussler, and D. Strickland (Eds.), 7-19. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Halliday, M. (1993). Towards a language-based theory of learning. Linguistics and Education, 5, 93-116.

Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms. Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas. New York: Basic books.