Vygotsky's Concept Research Articles

Toward Sociocultural Sensitivity in Rhetorical Studies of Analogy: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations

In their macroscopic approach to analogy, rhetorical studies project the latent assumption that sound analogical reasoning is a universal property of human consciousness rather than a socioculturally inherited practice that varies over time and place. After drawing briefly from landmark work in the social sciences to show notable cases of cultural variation in analogical reasoning, I present Lev Vygotsky's concept of internalization and Dedre Gentner's structure mapping theory of analogy as fruitful theoretical and methodological avenues through which to detect sociocultural variation in analogical reasoning practices in science.

Modeling the social construction of knowledge in ELT teacher education

The view that classroom knowledge is socially constructed rather than being merely transmitted from teacher to student has made a significant impact in English language teaching, as it has in other subject areas. Increasingly, English language teaching teacher education programs and Master's degrees are anchored in a strong constructivist stance. However, constructivism is not always well integrated within the training programs themselves, leaving teachers with a strongly embedded, unconscious, and unchallenged transmission model. Drawing on Vygotsky's concept of relational imitation, and Dewey's notion of learning through direct experience, this paper suggests ways of challenging the transmission paradigm and incorporating constructivism within ELT teacher education in teaching literacy, portfolio assessment, cooperative learning, and lecture classes.

The Seria-Think Instrument

The Seria-Think Instrument is a novel dynamic assessment measure developed for assessment and intervention with young children showing a variety of arithmetic difficulties. The Seria-Think Instrument is based on Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) concept and Feuerstein's mediated learning experience (MLE) theory. The Seria-Think Instrument tasks require the operation of seriation, in combination with mastery of maths skills of addition and subtraction. The task is to insert a set of cylinders into a set of holes varying in depth (in a wooden block) so as to get rows with equal height, increasing height, and decreasing height. The task must be performed with as few insertions as possible; the holes can be measured by a measuring rod. Solving problems on the Seria-Think Instrument requires planning, systematic exploratory behaviour, simultaneous consideration of few sources of information and control of impulsivity. The dependant measures are number of insertions, number of measurements and performance. A sample of grade 2 children randomly assigned to experimental (n =24) and control (n = 24) groups. Both groups were administered a preand post-teaching phases on the Seria-Think Instrument before and after an intervention. The experimental group received mediation of planning, regulation of impulsivity, comparison and computation whereas the control group received free-play manipulative experience with no teaching. Both groups received a content related maths test after the post-teaching phase. A repeated measures MANOVA of treatment by time (2 x 2) was carried out with number of insertions, number of measurements and performance scores as dependent variables. The findings showed significant treatment by time interaction (F (3, 44) = 8.41, p < .0001) indicating that the experimental children significantly increased their number of measurements and decreased their number of insertions from preto post-teaching phase. The control children showed about the same pattern of response before and after the treatment. Stepwise regression analyses showed that maths score were predicted in the experimental group by post-teaching number of insertions (R2 = .19)-the less insertion the child used in the post-teaching phase, the higher the maths score. In the control group maths scores were predicted by post-teaching number of measurements and post-teaching performance (R2 = .54)-the higher the score on both variables the higher the maths score. In both groups the post-teaching scores were more accurate in predicting the maths scores than the pre-teaching scores. The findings are discussed in view of previous dynamic assessment findings, Vygotsky's ZPD concept, and MLE theory.

Assessment of—or in—the zone of proximal development

Two perspectives on assessment are suggested by different interpretations of Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). The first perspective—developed in the field of dynamic assessment research—considers that it is possible to measure the learner's ZPD as an individual trait showing a certain stability across instructional settings. The second perspective draws on work on interactive formative assessment integrated in classroom instruction. In this approach, assessment intervenes in the ZPD created by a learner's on-going interactions with a given instructional setting. Critical appraisal is given to the way in which each perspective interprets Vygotsky's writings.

Two ways to elaborate Vygotsky's concept of mediation.

Two ways to elaborate Vygotsky's concept of mediation.

Two ways to elaborate Vygotsky's concept of mediation.

Two ways to elaborate Vygotsky's concept of mediation.

On Some Historical Roots and Present-day Doubts: A Reply to Nicolopoulou and Weintraub (1996)

Nicolopoulou and Weintraub (1996) raised doubts about the extent of the relevance of the Humboldtian tradition for Vygotsky's concept of culture, and his semiotic approach in general. However, these doubts are unfounded—Vygotsky was in direct contact with the 19th-century German traditions of philosophical analyses of language, as well as with their Russian elaborations. Furthermore, Vygotsky borrowed theoretical notions from two distinct traditions of thought—often contrasted (by Soviet sources) as 'idealist' and 'materialist.' Defying the demand to make such contrasts mutually exclusive, Vygotsky tried to blend productive moments from each of them into his approach. He was not a 'cultural relativist' in the sense of present-day North American social discourse. It is suggested that the concepts of development and relativism are in need of further elaboration, in ways that allow recognition of local progress while avoiding global claims where the bases of comparison are not made explicit.

Individuals Create Culture: Comments on Van der Veer's 'The Concept of Culture in Vygotsky's Thinking'

The analysis of the two fundamental traditions that shape Vygotsky's concept of culture is used by Rene van der Veer (1996) to point out both the power and the limitations of this concept in Vygotsky's theory. Two of these limitations-the absence of non-linguistically mediated aspects of culture and the difficulty in explaining innovation by individuals are treated in this commentary from a piagetian point of view. It is argued that Piaget's emphasis on non-linguistically mediated forms of behaviour and his concern to explain what enables individuals to create new meanings and new forms of behaviour can contribute to the overcoming of some of the limitations of Vygotsky's concept of culture.

The Concept of Culture in Vygotsky's Thinking

It is shown that Vygotsky's concept of culture was codetermined by two fundamental traditions in the human sciences. The first tradition was initiated by Humboldt and exerted a powerful influence on Vygotsky's thinking through the works of Potebnya and Shpet. Vygotsky's thinking about linguistic mediation was to a large extent determined by this tradition. The second tradition was that of Marxism and progressive thought and influenced Vygotsky's thinking about such notions as tool-use and social and cultural progress. The way in which Vygotsky combined these different perspectives in his concept of culture is described. It is suggested that this concept of culture was powerful but also limited and biased.

The relevance of Vygotsky's theory of the "zone of proximal development' to the assessment of children with intellectual disabilities.

This paper reports a study which investigated the relevance of Vygotsky's concept of the "zone of proximal development' (ZPD) to the assessment of children with intellectual disabilities. The ZPD is the difference between a child's actual level of development shown by unassisted performance, and his or her potential level as indicated by assisted performance. This study aimed to test the validity of measuring the ZPD both among children with intellectual disabilities and in the area of map use. The results are discussed in terms of their bearing on the issues of assessment, instruction and the concept of intellectual disability.

A Mediation Model for Dynamic Literacy Instruction

Jerome Bruner (1987) remarked that Vygotsky's conception of development was also a theory of education. It is a dynamic theory of learning and teaching: the learning evolves through the teaching; and, at the same time, the teaching evolves through the learning. I shall here present a mediation model for dynamic literacy instruction that applies this idea to classroom research and makes it accessible to, and functional for, teachers.

Private Speech Assessment: A Medium for Studying the Cognitive Processes of Young Creative Children

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among metacognitive processing and creative ability in very young children. The integration of information‐processing theory and Vygotsky's conception of early thought development allowed the rationale and methodology for the research which focused on creative attributes in thought processes. Vygotskian theory provided the medium of private speech to ascertain problem‐solving characteristics. Subjects included 21 five‐ and six‐year old children. Each child was assessed on four attributes of creativity. Private speech was collected on the same children and each statement was coded into one of five categories. In addition, a frequency count of private speech that displayed metacognitive characteristics was included as a 6th category. Multiple regression analysis identified significant predictors of three indices of creativity.

The issue of directiveness in therapy

ABSTRACT This paper discusses speech and language therapy with pre‐schoolers, focusing on the ‘directive’ versus the ‘non‐directive’ construct. Which factors in clinical practice promote development? Could they sometimes be obstructive or incidental? To the extent that we may misrepresent what we are doing, we may mislead ourselves, and possibly parents or students, into practices which are not as effective as they could be, or at worst may be more definitely unhelpful. Widely accepted defining characteristics of play (Garvey, 1977) indicate why play might be central to therapy, as it is in psychotherapeutic play therapy (Axline, 1989). Play therapy techniques have been adapted to speech and language therapy, for example, in the form of ‘non‐directive therapy’ (NDT) (Tierney & Cogher, 1994). The author compares play therapy and NDT in terms of the goals, assumptions and procedures in each approach, finding significant differences. Additions to NDT from the developmental psycholinguistic literature bear on these differences. Bruner's (1983) ideas on ‘joint attention’; Vygotsky's concept of ‘scaffolding’ (for example, Zukow, 1986) and the research of Harris (1992) on early language development: all have major implications for clinical practice, which may not necessarily fall under the non‐directive end of the directiveness construct. Support for this view is drawn from the multiple‐factors model of Snow, Perlmann and Nathan (1987) apropos the match or mis‐match between learning style and teaching style in child‐led or adult‐led interactions. Directiveness may vary according to contextual factors, such as culture, child or adult styles, and clinical goals. In autistic spectrum learning disorders, the goal of establishing better behaviours may be obstructed by a lack of adult direction. No technique can have universal application. Therapeutic variables may have no inherent good or bad quality; what matters is the skill, flexibility and appropriacy with which any variable is wielded. Therapy is the art of judging the needs and contexts of children, expertly formulating clinical goals and reaching those goals by discerning use of a wide range of techniques.

A Vygotskian Perspective on Literacy Development

L.S. Vygotsky's theory of the sociocultural approach to development is examined in relation to a school-aged child's learning to write in an inner city after-school computer program. Case study material on an 8-year-old African American girl and the variety of people she interacted with in writing is presented in order to trace how the arrangements of relationships in the activity setting made possible the development of new forms of skill and expertise for her and the adults facilitating her efforts. The case study documents Vygotsky's concept of 'transformation' (1978) as a function of the dynamics in the significant relationships supporting her over time.

Partner Reading and Writing: Peer Social Dialogue and the Zone of Proximal Development

This classroom action research study investigated Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development using peer social dialogue integrated with teacher support to develop children's reading, writing, and abstract thinking in story reflection and sense of audience. Twenty-four first and second graders were paired for a 6-week partner reading and writing activity to provide peer social dialogue through partner storybook reading, discussion, and dialogue journal writing. A class mini-lesson on verbal story reflection added teacher support to the partner instructional activity. Data sources included student evaluations of their own classroom literacy performance and preferences, observational notes collected during the partner sessions, and students' dialogue journal entries. Students showed the most improvement in word recognition, minimal improvement in fluency, accurate evaluations of their own reading progress, and felt more positive about reading aloud. Students' journal entry writing progressed from copying their partners' statements to printed conversations about their stories. Teacher support influenced students' written dialogue and the strategies they used to share text meaning in verbal dialogue.

Identification of Gifted with the Dynamic Assessment Procedure (DAP)

The study investigated the feasibility of the Dynamic Assessment Procedure (OAP) for identification of the gifted. The OAP, based upon the Soviet psychologist Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development, focused on identifying the highest receptive vocabulary level a child could achieve with adult mediation. The major intent was to determine the influence of mediation for students' performance on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. The 19 gifted and 20 average students enrolled in grades second through ninth who served as subjects were tested with and without mediation. There were significant differences between the static versus dynamic measures, suggesting the OAP paradigm of “test-mediate-test” a more accurate predictor of potential.

Gifted and the “Zone of Proximal Development”

Identification of the gifted student is problematic. Prescription, the matching of student needs with program services, is perhaps even more precarious. To optimize potential and maximize achievement, diagnosis and instruction should be linked, on going, and based on state-of-the-art knowledge. Despite a burgeoning paradigm shift in the theory and practice of assessment in general, identification procedures for the gifted remain little changed. The bulk of the literature still recommends standardized, “product” measures of potential and achievement. Although status-quo recommendations include the use of multiple criteria, teacher judgment, and attention to cultural differences, scant endorsement is made for “process” measures. Dynamic assessment, based upon the Soviet psychologist Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development (ZOPD), which measures the difference between what a learner can do alone and with appropriate guidance, has gained increased attention and suggests modification in the way the gifted are identified. This paper expounds upon the application of the dynamic assessment procedure (OAP) for the identification and instruction of the gifted. Pedagogical implications and conflicts to be resolved are also addressed.

Constructing design and technology an early years perspective

This paper argues that a pedagogic model grounded in both constructivist and Vygotskyian theory can be consistently applied throughout Design and Technology education. The constructivist model outlined, is borrowed from the work of Rosalind Driver in Science education and applies a perspective grounded in Piaget and moderated by Ausubel. This perspective involves a clear recognition that: ‘The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows’. This argument is extended further to cover the acquisition of scientific, design and technological capabilities. The paper focuses on how effective learning is achieved when new understandings are related to appropriate existing concepts and cognitive structures. Vygotsky's conception of the ‘zone of proximal development’ is utilised to show how cognitive functions that have not yet matured and which the child is unable to apply independently, can be productively applied, with the assistance of an educator. Child development is, from this perspective, dependent upon existing competencies, knowledge and understandings being challenged and extended with support, it is argued however, that it is essential that the challenges are not so great or irrelevant that the child experiences failure. The consequences of allowing individuals to experience educational failure are widely apparent in the context of science and technology throughout our society. The role of ‘play’ in the early years is seen as particularly valuable in this context. From this perspective the essential task for the teacher must be to clearly identify the limits of proximal development and to restrict as far as possible their teaching to this zone. The identification of such limits demands an appreciation of ‘progression’ within the learning context. The paper argues that the structure of the attainment targets within the UK Design and Technology National Curriculum provides teachers with a framework of ‘constructive scaffolding’ within which children may be given the maximum freedom and autonomy while developing their practical capability in designing and making. This heuristic framework may be lost in the application of the new proposals for Design and Technology.

The concept of sign in the work of Vygotsky, Winnicott and Bakhtin: further integration of object relations theory and activity theory.

In a recent paper Ryle introduced the idea of integrating object relations theory and activity theory, a conceptual tradition originated by Vygotsky and developed by a number of Soviet psychologists during the previous decades. A specific aspect of this integrative perspective will be examined, implied in Ryle's paper but not elaborated by him. It is the issue of sign mediation which was Vygotsky's primary contribution to the methodological problems of modern psychology. The aim is to show that object relations theory, especially the work of Winnicott, may bring fresh understanding into Vygotsky's early notions. It is further claimed that, by introducing the contribution of Mikhail Bakhtin and his circle to the notion of sign mediation, the profundity in Winnicott's understanding of the transitional object and of the potential space may be more fully appreciated. At the same time the ideas of Winnicott and Bakhtin will jointly clarify the limitations in Vygotsky's sign conception.

Cognitive strategies and strategic learning. The socio-instructional approach.

Recent developmental studies have focused on children's learning strategies and on the socio-instructional dynamics that foster strategic learning. The introduction of Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development has been central to this research effort. Zone theory is discussed in the context of traditional cognitive strategies research and in terms of its practical applications.