Vygotsky and His Theories
Schunk, citing Tudge & Scrimsher (2003), notes that Vygotsky’s theories place “more emphasis on the social environment as a facilitator of development and learning” than does Piaget (“Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory”, para. 1). His initial contention was that “unlike animals, which react only to the environment, humans have the adaptive capacity to alter the environment for their own purposes”; this aligned with his Marxist political leanings (“Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory”, Background, para. 3-4). Vygotsky “moved from a Pavlovian view of psychology focusing on reflexes to a cultural-historical perspective that stressed language and social interaction (Tudge & Scrimsher 2003)” (para. 5).
Vygotsky’s approach emphasized “softer” factors than Piaget with regard to how humans develop. Three items are marked to stand out:
- Interpersonal/social factors (“students transform their [interpersonal/social] experiences based on their knowledge and characteristics and reorganize their mental structures” (“Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory”, Basic Principles, para. 2))
- Cultural-historical factors (environmental context in its totality colors learning, and situates learner in the world (“Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory”, Basic Principles, para. 3))
- Individual factors (inherited factors that impact development, such as mental/physical disabilities (“Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory”, Basic Principles, para. 4)) Ultimately, the society in which a learner develops impacts cognition through its various mores, technologies, and standards; in this way, “[s]ocial interactions help to coordinate the three influences on development (“Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory”, Basic Principles,para. 5). Because the development is mediated through social interaction, Vygotsky’s theories are a “form of dialectival social constructivism” which emphasize “the interaction between persons and their environments” (para. 5).
Table 8.5 in the text is derived from Meece (2002), and identifies key points in Vygotsky’s theory
- Social interactions are critical; knowledge is co-constructed between two or more people.
- Self-regulation is developed through internalization (developing an internal representation) of actions and mental operations that occur in social interactions.
- Human development occurs through the cultural transmission of tools (language, symbols).
- Language is the most critical tool. Language develops from social speech, to private speech, to covert (inner) speech.
- The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is the difference between what children can do on their own and what they can do with assistance from others. Interactions with adults and peers in the ZPD promote cognitive development. (“Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory”, Basic Principles, Table 8.5)
The zone of proximal development is a core concept. Some characteristics that Schunk identifies are:
- ZPD is “the amount of learning possible by a student” under appropriate conditions
- ZPD “shows how learning and development are related” and “can be viewed as an alternative to the concept of intelligence”
- Engages with “the Marxist idea of collective activity”
- Social interaction (peer-to-peer, teacher-learner) is critical to create cognitive change within the ZPD, and “integrating those understandings with their experiences in the context” are what help produce the cognitive change. (“Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory”, Zone of Proximal Development, para. 1-2)
For Vygotsky, schooling was important because “it [allows learners] to develop greater awareness of themselves, their language, and their role in the world order” (“Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory”, Zone of Proximal Development, para. 5). One of the most-used applications of his theories is the idea of scaffolded learning. Scaffolding has the following functionalities, according to Schunk: provide temporary support; function as a tool; extend the range of a learner; permit the attainment of tasks not otherwise possible; be used selectively as needed (“Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory”, Applications, para. 2). Anothers applications are the idea of reciprocal teaching, which “involves an interactive dialogue between a teacher and a small group of students” and peer collaboration (“Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory”, Applications, para. 6-7).
Private Speech and Socially Mediated Learning
Private speech “refers to the set of speech phenomena that has a self-regulary function but is not sociall communicative (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015; Fuson, 1979)” (“Private Speech and Socially Mediated Learning”, Private Speech, para. 1). In development, Luria postulated that the third and final stage of a child’s transition to the second signal system (in a Pavlovian sense) would be one in which “the child’s private speech becomes capable of initiating, direction, and inhibiting motor behaviors” (“Private Speech and Socially Mediated Learning”, Private Speech, para. 3). It is the “mediating and self-directing role of the second signal system” which shows itself in Vygotsky’s theories (“Private Speech and Socially Mediated Learning”, Private Speech, para. 4); he distinguishes between overt verbalization (vocalized speech) and covert verbalization (internal speech).
There is an abundance of evidence suggesting that this kind of self-talk, whether overt or covert, is beneficial to learners in many different personal contexts. Schunk cites Meichenbaum’s self-instructional training procedure (in which certain guiding statements are self-directed to the learner in order to proceed through a problematic situation) as one which “is not rooted in constructivism” but “recreates the overt-to-covert developmental progression of private speech” (“Private Speech and Socially Mediated Learning”, Verbalization and Achievement, para. 1). Overall, “verbalization is more likely to promote student achievement if it is relevant to the task and does not interfere with performance” (“Private Speech and Socially Mediated Learning”, Verbalization and Achievement, para. 5).
Constructivist Learning Environments
Because of its reliance on the social aspect of learning and meaning construction, classrooms which carry the mantle of constructivism are not traditional. Schunk identifies a few key features in Table 8.6:
- Teachers pose problems of emerging relevance to students (question and challenge preconceptions)
- Teachers structure learning around primary concepts (present holistic ideas rather than isolated concepts)
- Teachers seek and value students’ points of view (collaborative discussion between instructor and students exposes students’ views)
- Teachers adapt curriculum to address students’ suppositions (use previous point to adjust as necessary)
- Teachers assess student learning in the context of teaching (consistency between assessment structure and values in classroom, which likely requires ‘non-standard’ assessment forms) (“Constructivist Learning Environments”, Key Features, para. 3-11 and Table 8.6)
The American Psycological Association developed learner-centered principles intended to help shape curricular redesign and reform:
- Nature of the learning process
- Goals of the learning process
- Construction of knowledge
- Strategic thinking
- Thinking about thinking
- Context of learning
- Motivational and emotional influences on learning
- Intrisic motivation to learn
- Effects of motivation on effort
- Developmental influences on learning
- Social influences on learning
- Individual differences in learning
- Learning and diversity
- Standards and assessment (“Private Speech and Socially Mediated Learning”, APA Learner-Centered Principles, Table 8.7) —
Citations
Schunk, D.H. (2019). Learning theories: An educational perspective (8th ed.). Pearson.