Psychological and Pedagogical Technologies for Overcoming Meaning Barriers in the Learning Process

Introduction. In modern psychological and educational science various barriers are considered to be certain psychological obstacles preventing an individual from reaching a new level in problem solving and obstructing the implementation of ongoing activities, in particular, communication with others (e.g., cognitive barriers, learning barriers, communication barriers). Meaning barriers – a specific type of barriers – are interpreted as obstacles in meaning-making and meaning-revealing. The paper introduces a new approach to overcoming meaning barriers in the teacher-student interaction process. Theoretical Basis. In the learning process, which the modern theory of meaning defines as the process of transferring meanings between the teacher and the student, interpreting meaning barriers has its unique characteristics. In the teacher-student meaning interactions, the acceptance of meanings takes place at various levels. In so doing, meaning barriers may emerge as a subjective dissonance, as an obstacle to meaning-seeking activities and to the actualization of meanings at the level of awareness and meaning reflection. Meaning barriers in the learning process may differ from those in other contexts by their mechanisms, functions, and means that could be used to overcome them. Results. When analyzing the differentiation of meaning barriers in the learning process, the authors faced the necessity to search for both direct and indirect means of overcoming meaning barriers to learning, which could be instrumental in modeling learning situations in order to overcome meaning barriers in the actual practice of the learning process. The authors analyzed various technologies for meaning initiations, discovered their didactic effects and developing resources, and presented the experimental studies confirming the effectiveness of the suggested approach. Discussion. The analysis of various pedagogical technologies demonstrated their potential applicability for overcoming meaning barriers to learning.