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A qualitative research paradigm engrained in phenomenology enables a direct exploration of the learner's experience of learning to attain an empathetic understanding of the learner's learning experience. Edmund Husserl's (1859–1938) Transcendental Phenomenology emphasizes subjectivity and discovery of the essences of our lived experiences, including the experience of learning. When the learner turns her regard to her experience of learning something, what appears in her consciousness is the phenomenon of learning that thing. We investigate this phenomenon, that is, the consciousness of learning. The learner instinctively strives to make sense of the experience. To make sense of it, the learner thinks predicatively to establish the ground for her meaning of the experience. The learner comes to know the parts and moments of the experience and thus its unity or wholeness. Through the unfolding and folding of the noemata and noeses of different "horizons' of the experience, layers of meaning are added until the sense of the thing being learnt becomes distinct and the learner feels fulfilled. The learner presents to herself the self-perceived evidence for these layers of meaning. The mental processes of this self-presentation constitute the structure of the learning. The researcher reflects intuitively to discern the essence of the learning. This knowledge that is accessed phenomenologically serves to extend our understanding of the teaching–learning process and more importantly to re-examine our present understanding and its prevailing assumptions.

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-13-2679-0_5

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