A B.A. Program As A Community Of Practice: Participants' Expectations

This research project was conducted in a university of Mexico where the B.A. Modern Languages was offered. The aim of this project was to feature a specific community of practice in order to understand the level of students' and teachers' participation and commitment in the practices of such community, and whether their expectations were fulfilled. In addition, it aims to provide insights into what possible actions they took or opportunities they were offered to address issues of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Furthermore, it is important to understand how participants take different positionings according to their commitment levels in the practices that feature the community they belong to, and how they perceive the potential personal and social benefits from their (non) participation. Five questions guided the collection and analysis of data. Results revealed that the learner performance and modes of participation were the result of their (dis) satisfaction with what they expected of the program bringing them to occupy specific positionings within the community. Hence, a series of implications in curriculum design and teaching and learning practices were discussed.

Autorentext

Dr. Guillén Cuamatzi holds a Doctorate in Applied Linguistics from Macquarie University and has conducted some research projects related to language learning, communities of practice and satisfaction of participants' expectations. She has 15 years of experience in language teaching as a full time professor at the Autonomous University of Tlaxcala.