Teacher Learning in a Community of Practice: A Case Study of ...

eflecting. The ability of a community ofpractice to be reflective will influence the kind
oflearning that the community will engage in. In pursuing our different enterprises, our
practice will always involve"... the same kind of embodied, delicate, active, social,
negotiated, complex process ofparticipation" (ibid.:49).
3.3.2.2 Practice as Meaning
, Practice is a process by which we can experience the world and our engagement with it as
meaningful. It is about meaning as an experience ofdaily life. Meaning is located in a
process called the negotiation ofmeaning. Our engagement in practice may have
patterns, but it is the production ofpatterns anew that gives rise to an experience of
meaning (Wenger 1998). Human engagement in the world is first and foremost a process
ofnegotiating meaning. The negotiation ofmeaning may involve language but is not
limited to it. Negotiation entails a continuous interaction, ofgradual achievement, and of
give and take. "The negotiation ofmeaning is a productive process, but negotiating
meaning is not constructing it from scratch" (ibid.:54). Meaning is a product ofits
negotiation and therefore exists in the process ofnegotiation.
The negotiation ofmeaning involves the interaction oftwo constituent processes, which
Wenger refers to as participation and reification. Participation and reification form a
duality that is fundamental to the human experience and thus to the nature ofpractice
(Wenger 1998:52). Participation and reification refer to a duality that is fundamental to
the negotiation ofmeaning. Participation refers to a complex process ofdoing, talking,
thinking, feeling and belonging. It involves our whole person, including our bodies,
minds, emotions and social relations. Participation is characterized by the possibility of
mutual recognition, our mutual ability to negotiate meaning. It is a source ofidentity. By
recognising the mutuality of our participation, we become a part of each other.
Participation involves all kinds ofrelationships such as conflictual and harmonious
relationships. Participation in social communities shapes our experience and it also
shapes those communities. It is more than just direct engagement in specific activities
with specific people. It is a part ofour identity that influences the negotiation ofmeaning
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