The Co-Construction of Competence: An Activity System Perspective for Leveraging and Strengthening Students’ Language and Mathematics Competencies

Abstract

With this article, we share a framework positioning competence not simply as attributes of individuals but as co-constructed during interactions in the classroom. The theoretical framework, Cultural Historical Activity Theory, is shared for the purpose of examining competence construction as an attribute of participation in the activity system of the classroom. A series of vignettes in a first-grade bilingual classroom highlight ways in which components of the activity system of the classroom come together to leverage and strengthen students’ mathematics and language competencies.