What Does it Mean to be a Student? Exploring the Experience of “Studenting” as Referring and Hosting

Abstract This article follows the “Biestian” concept of “teaching as pointing,” and expands on it by adding the role and perspective of the student in educational interactions or contacts, which are largely underdeveloped or marginalized in Biesta's theory of education. I explore the nature and experience of “being a student” with a reconstruction of the concept of “studenting” as the starting point. This article then posits two imageries that may be used to depict the experience of studenting: studenting as referring and studenting as hosting. I will elaborate on these two imageries with references to child psychology and the culture of hospitality, respectively. The host‐guest analysis also yields the possibility of the teacher being (and acting as) a host in relation to the student‐as‐guest. Finally, I will draw some possible pedagogical implications from my overall analysis and discussion to concretize what has been said in this article.