On the relevancy of using Vygotsky’s theoretical framework to legitimize dialogic teaching/learning

Abstract

This paper is a response to the growing acceptance that dialogic teaching/ learning focusing on the role of intersubjectivity in developing knowledge and reasoning, particularly when this intersubjectivity is mediated and maintained by means of language is an appropriate reaction to the weaknesses of direct instruction within the Vygotskian framework. In this paper, the theoretical background of dialogic teaching/learning inspired by Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory is elaborated to discuss the crucial elements of the way in which the theoretical relevance of this stance in education has evolved from Vygotsky’s theory.