Introduction
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY (LEVY VYGOSKY)
Meaning of the theory
Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning."
The theory keeps forward into the emphasis on culture affecting/shaping cognitive development. Also places considerably more emphasis on social factors contributing to cognitive development and emphasis on the role of language in cognitive development.
History of the theory
Over the past three decades there has been an increased number of studies that address the role of cultural contexts and social influences in the use of computer technologies in teaching and learning. This coincides with a growing interest of educational researchers in Vygotsky's socio-cultural theory, which is widely renowned for its profound understanding of teaching and learning as embedded in the cultural context of children’s everyday lives and inextricably linked to the way that children interact with other people. The recently presented statistics in relation to the most often cited work in Ed-Media 2004-2008 (Ochoa, Mendez & Duval, 2009) confirms this trend: Vygotsky’s theoretical work, “Mind in Society”, originally published in Russia in the 1930s, came top of the list by a large margin!
Originator of the theory
Vygotsky’s theoretical views were shaped by his own background and the social and intellectual context in which he lived and worked. A brief look into Vygotsky's educational background, as well as his professional interests and aspirations, will provide a ‘biography of the ideas’ (Kozulin, 1990) and give an insight into the uniqueness of his theoretical views and beliefs. Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was born to a middle class family of a small town in Tsarist Russia. His father was a local ‘enlightener’ and a founder of the first public library in the town (Yaroshevsky, 1989). Vygotsky was educated by a private tutor, whose pedagogical technique was grounded in a form of Socratic dialogue (Wertsch, 1985) - teaching by engaging in extended critical inquiry and philosophical conversations with students. Undoubtedly, this kind of teaching influenced Vygotsky's further views on the role of social dialogue in learning. From young age Vygotsky had become known as a ‘little professor’ (Wertsch, 1985) showing extensive interests in and knowledge of theatre, literature, history, philosophy and languages. He was fluent in a number of languages such as German, French, English, and also read in Latin, Greek and Hebrew (Wertsch, 1985; Yaroshevsky, 1989). Vygotsky started his career as a teacher during a time of dramatic revolutionary change in Russia when the newly formed government of workers was seeking a comprehensive system of education suitable for all classes in society. Vygotsky was inspired by the idea of creating a new education system and he took the challenge of searching for its new theoretical base which provided the groundwork for his book on Educational Psychology, published in 1926 (Wertsch, 1985; Yaroshevsky, 1989). Vygotsky's innovative ideas on the culturally and historically mediated nature of the human mind, based on his extensive theoretical knowledge and everyday immersion in educational practice, resulted in his leading a research group which included such famous scholars as Luria and Leontiev and later became known as the Vygotskian school of psychology (Yaroshevsky, 1989). Vygotsky's theory was not known in the English speaking world of educators until the 1960s when the first translation of his book, Thought and Language, was published in the USA (Vygotsky, 1962). There were several reasons for such a delay. Firstly, only a few of Vygotsky's scholarly works were published during his lifetime and these had been left as drafts. Secondly, and most importantly, shortly after Vygotsky's death, his theory was banned in the Soviet Union for twenty years, with publication of his work not being resumed until 1956 (Yaroshevsky, 1989). There was renewed interest in the ideas of Vygotsky in the latter part of the twentieth century as demonstrated by the rise in the number of new translations of his writing and the number of citations of his work (Wertsch & Tulviste 2005). Wertsch and Tulviste suggest that the major reason for this was the re-emergence in the West of the study of developmental psychological and the relevance of Vygotsky’s studies to “the social origins of mental processes” (p. 60).Lev Vygotsky, ‘Mozart of psychology’ (Toulmin, 1978, in Wertsch, 1985), lived a short but productive life as a truly "revolutionary scientist" (Newman & Holzman, 1993). He had inspired many generations of educational theorists and practitioners.
Task
Key terms/Principles of the theory
- Effects of Culture as tools of intellectual adaptation: Vygotsky claimed that infants are born with the basic materials/abilities for intellectual development - Piaget focuses on motor reflexes and sensory abilities, Vygotsky refers to Elementary Mental Functions:
- Attention
- Sensation
- Perception
- Memory
Eventually, through interaction within the socio-cultural environment, these are developed into more sophisticated and effective mental processes/strategies which he refers to as Higher Mental Functions.
- Social Influences on Cognitive Development: Vygotsky believes that young children are curious and actively involved in their own learning and the discovery and development of new understandings/schema. However, Vygotsky placed more emphasis on social contributions to the process of development, whereas Piaget emphasized self-initiated discovery.
According to Vygotsky, much important learning by the child occurs through social interaction with a skillful tutor.
Process
Implication of the theory in education
In education the theory can be implicated by taking into consideration of the concept of ZPD, that is the Zone of Proximal Development.
This is an important concept that relates to the difference between what a child can achieve independently and what a child can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner.
For example, the child could not solve the jigsaw puzzle (in the example above) by itself and would have taken a long time to do so (if at all), but was able to solve it following interaction with the father, and has developed competence at this skill that will be applied to future jigsaws.
Vygotsky sees the Zone of Proximal Development as the area where the most sensitive instruction or guidance should be given - allowing the child to develop skills they will then use on their own - developing higher mental functions.
Vygotsky also views interaction with peers as an effective way of developing skills and strategies. He suggests that teachers use cooperative learning exercises where less competent children develop with help from more skillful peers - within the zone of proximal development.
Evaluation
The effect of the theory in the classroom when integrated to ICT
The doctoral study of Tony Stojkovski (2010) examined computer-supported learning in a socio constructivist environment in an Australian high school classroom. The study is based in the pedagogical approach of social constructivism (Palincsar, 2005; Smagorinsky, 2007) where the communication with more knowledgeable members of society is the underlying premise of learning and development (Vygotsky, 1978). Learning is seeing as a process of social negotiation or collaboratively making sense of theories, mentoring, and joint knowledge construction. The study also drew on Vygotsky’s ideas of the role of language in learning (Vygotsky, 1978). The social constructivist approach to learning has been applied by Scardamalia and Berieter (1994) in computer mediated (online) communication in a purposefully designed Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE). The study drew on the role of written language in enhancing both the understanding of the content and the development of higher order thinking in students (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1994; Chan, Burtis, Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1992). The researchers found that written communication provided an opportunity for students to give elaborate explanations of their thoughts. However, communication in these studies was restricted to online interactions only. The study of Stojkovski (2010) extended this line of research by investigating learning and communication in a computer-mediated social constructivist environment that supported both oral and written communication in an authentic classroom setting. A computer-mediated socio constructivist environment (CMSCE) was created to incorporate writing in the process of exchanging of ideas and, as such, to enhance the co-construction of knowledge by drawing on the strength of written language as a powerful complementary learning tool to oral communication (Shy-Jong, 2007). Over a period of eight weeks the participants (nine Year 11 students) were required to complete a research project on a topic in an area of physical health, social drugs and physical activity. The students had to enter their work into their CMSCE page. This ‘work in progresses was available to be viewed by all members of the class, and allowed the teacher and other students to provide feedback. The study allowed the capture of a significant number of episodes of social construction of knowledge among the participating students in their communication with the teacher and peers in both oral and written modes of communication.
Conclusion
- ØVygotsky’s theoretical views were shaped by his own background and the social and intellectual context in which he lived and worked.
- ØLev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was born to a middle class family of a small town in Tsarist Russia.
- ØVygotsky was educated by a private tutor, whose pedagogical technique was grounded in a form of Socratic dialogue (Wertsch, 1985) - teaching by engaging in extended critical inquiry and philosophical conversations with students.
- ØThis kind of teaching influenced Vygotsky's further views on the role of social dialogue in learning.
- ØVygotsky started his career as a teacher during a time of dramatic revolutionary change in Russia when the newly formed government of workers was seeking a comprehensive system of education suitable for all classes in society.