摘要：The Merriam-Webster Dictionary tells us that to teach is “to cause or help (aperson or animal) to learn how to do something by giving lessons, showinghow it is done, etc.” First of all, it is clear from this that the notion of teachingdepends on the notion of learning - teaching involves helping someone to learn.There is furthermore, implicit in this, and other, definitions, some idea that theprocess of learning can be enhanced or improved through the process of“teaching,” that is, by having someone show us “how it is done”. Before goinginto this any further, perhaps we should find out what the dictionary tells usabout learning. To cite the Merriam-Webster again, to learn is “to gainknowledge or skill by studying, practicing, being taught, or experiencingsomething”. Here we have a kind of core notion of what it means to learn, thatis, “to gain knowledge or skill,” a notion that does not return us to teachingwithin an infinite loop. Finally, what about “pedagogy”? M-W says it is “theart, science, or profession of teaching”. The Oxford English Dictionary(www.oed.com) says something very similar to what the M-W tells us aboutlearning and teaching, but has this to say about “pedagogy”: the “method andpractice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept”.[1] From either point of view, pedagogy is, at its root, two levels of abstractionaway from the core problem of learning.
