Communities of practice are groups of people who wish to learn something by collaborating with other members of the group both in real and virtual world. These people share a goal or interest and learn from each other by sharing information and experiences. The term originates from Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger (1991) and has since spread into other fields of learning research, including second language learning.
Lave and Wenger (1991) characterize learning as a legitimate peripheral participation in communities of practice. They examine learning is distributed among participants of the communities. In their view, learning is an integral part of generative social practice in the lived-in world (p. 35). Learning can be explored as a legitimate peripheral participation. When a person becomes a member of communities of practice, he or she gradually transforms into a practitioner, a newcomer becoming an old-timer and/or a novice becoming a practitioner, a member of community of practice in...
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References
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning. Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press.
Wenger, E. (2006). Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved May 31, 2011, from http://www.ewenger.com/theory/communities_of_practice_intro.htm
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Ataizi, M. (2012). Communities of Practice. In: Seel, N.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_2075
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