Vygotsky Flashcards
Key concepts
Social constructivism
Culturally specific tools
Language and thought
Zone of proximal development
Social constructivism 1
Social interaction and culture have a huge impact on cognitive development
Cognitive processes (language, thought, reasoning) develop through social interaction
Learning is mediated by social interaction with ‘more knowledgeable others
Social constructivism
Knowledge is constructed through social interaction
Learning and development are inseparable from social and cultural activities
Vygotsky focused on the tasks that children can do with the help of more knowledgeable others, rather that what children can achieve on their own
Culturally-specific tools
Physical and cognitive tools passed on through social interaction with more knowledgeable others
Physical tools
Culturally specific tool
E.g. Hammer - form and function developed through adaptation - meaning and function are culturally transmitted
Cognitive tools
Culturally specific tool
Tools to help people with cognitive processes - maps - clocks - language
Culturally transmitted
Evidence for the influence of culture on development
There is evidence that children from different cultures develop cognitive processes at different ages.
Mexican children who’s families make pottery passed conservation tasks earlier that European children (Price-William, Gordon and Ramirez, 1969)
The Mexican children studied could make more accurate judgements about quantities of clay and water.
Language
Cultural tool enabling knowledge to be shared amongst members of society
Also the most important cognitive tool - humans think in language
Language and thought
Language crucial to the development of thought
Language and thought start off being independent - thought is non-verbal, language is used soley for communication
Private speech starts around the age of 3
Private speech / inner speech
According to Vygotsky, private speech plays an important role in cognitive development
- Thought and language converge
- Helps with problem solving and planning (e.g. counting on fingers)
- Helps children to learn to guide their own behaviours through difficult tasks (e.g. working through a jigsaw puzzle)
Private speech develops into inner speech at around the age of 6 / 7
Actual versus potential development
Children can perform more difficult tasks with the help of a more knowledgeable other - adult or child
Vygotsky distinguished between the
- Actual developmental level - the upper limit of what a child can do without help
- Level of potential development
Challenging tasks can help cognitive development
Zone of proximal development
The distance between what a child can achieve without help, and what they can potentially achieve with help.
Intramental ability and intermental ability.
Intramental ability
What a child can accomplish without help
Intermental ability
What a child can accomplish with the help of others
Scaffolding
Development of Vygotsky’s ZPD - (Wood, Bruner & Ross, 1976)
- context provided by more knowledgeable others such as adults to help children develop their cognitive skills
Gradual withdrawal of support as child’s knowledge and confidence grow
Examples of scaffolding
Demonstrate the task
Divide the task into more manageable chunks
Provide guidelines
Ask questions that gets the child to think about how to complete the task
Focus the child’s attention on the most relevant aspects of the task
Give regular feedback
Scaffolding in language learning
Caregivers will automatically scaffold without consciously be aware of it
Caregivers are finely tuned to their children’s cognitive development
Evidence for scaffolding in language learning
Gogate, Bahrick & Watson, 2000
Mother taught 2 novel nouns and 2 novel verbs (shaking and leaping) to children from 3 different age ranges and were give puppets to use as aids.
The research showed that the level of temporal synchrony between the word and puppet decreased with the subjects with older children.
Vygotsky’s influence today
Developing peer to peer dialogue in the classroom - exploratory talk
Dynamic assessment of language skills
Reading recovery
Exploratory talk
Using language to think collectively
Children encouraged to engage critically but constructively with each other’s ideas
Supports intramental cognitive abilities
Evidence for exploratory talk
Rojas-Drummond,& Mercer, 2003
Group A given ‘talk lessons’ designed to encourage critical and creative thinking in peer to peer dialogue
Group B with no such programme
After lessons group A tested higher on Raven’s Progressive Matrices
Intermental activities supported intramental cognitive abilities
Raven’s Progressive Matrices
Non-verbal reasoning test
Similarities between Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theorys
Learning is a constructive process
Notion of readiness
Similarities between Piaget and Vygotsky - constructivism
Both agreed learning is a constructivist process
Piaget - individual constructivism
Vygotsky - social constructivism
Individual constructivism
Children construct knowledge on their own through self-discovery
Thought is organised in schemas
Child as scientist
Social constructivism
Children construct knowledge with adults and peers
They internalise meanings and cognitive tools that started out on a social plane
Child as apprentice
Similarities between Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories - readiness
Both agreed that:
- at any given time children are cognitively ready for some experiences but not others
- brain maturation limits readiness
Piaget - readiness is determined by the child’s current state of cognitive development
Vygotsky - readiness is determined by the child’s ZPD
Differences between Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories
Nature of change
Relationship between language and thought
Difference between P and V - nature of change
Piaget - qualitative change
- stages represent qualitative shifts
Vygotsky - mainly quantitative change
- Not specific about qualitative changes, although he did think they occurred
- Focused mainly on gradual improvements in skill
Difference between P and V - language and thought - Piaget
Cognitive development is largely independent of language
- Thought comes to a child before language - language is used to express concepts that the child already has
- The main function of language is for social communication
Difference between P and V - language and thought - Vygotsky
Language is critical for cognitive development
- Thought processes are internalised versions of social interactions that are largely verbal in nature
- Private speech and inner speech are key for problem solving and self regulation
- Conversations with others teach children how to interpret the world in culturally-specific ways
