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On June 11, 1934, Lev Vygotsky, Russian psychologist died (b. 1896). From the article:
"Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)
Lev Vygotsky was an early 20th century developmental psychologist who developed a sociocultural theory of child development designed to account for the influence of culture on a child's growth and development.
Professional Life
Lev Vygotsky was born into an art- and literature-loving family in what is now Belarus on November 17, 1896, and he was raised in Gomel. Vygotsky began studying at the University of Moscow in 1913, though his course options were severely restricted because he was Jewish. Vygotsky elected to study law, and he graduated in 1917.
Back in Gomel, Vygotsky taught logic and psychology at a local college. In 1924, he wowed the Second All-Union Congress on Psychoneurology with his speech, and he was subsequently invited to join the Moscow Institute of Experimental Psychology. At the institute, Vygostsky served as a teacher and researcher for nine years. Vygotsky was an innovative psychologist who made significant advancements in the field of child development. Vygotsky’s short career focused on child development, developmental psychology, and educational philosophy.
Contribution to Psychology
Vygotsky theorized that children develop their behaviors and habits from their cultures and through interpersonal experiences; he referred to this phenomena as cultural meditation. He argued that higher thinking developed as a result of sociocultural interactions and referred to shared knowledge of a culture as internalization. For example, a child who knows that using the toilet is a private activity has internalized a cultural norm.
Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) remains a popular theory within the field of developmental psychology to illustrate a child’s learning process. The zone refers to the span of time it takes a child to proceed from the early stages of learning a new task to the point at which the child can complete the new task independently. Vygotsky claimed that children learned to achieve more challenging tasks with the aid of someone more knowledgeable. Vygotsky referred to this form of social support as scaffolding: the process of helping a child do something without actually doing it for him or her. Scaffolding practices must be constantly adjusted to meet a child's new capabilities. For example, a four year-old's zone of proximal development with regards to learning the alphabet might include knowing the alphabet song independently, but pointing to and identifying letters is something he or she might need scaffolding to achieve. As the child learns to recognize letters, his or her parents or teachers might scaffold the child into reading or writing. Many contemporary parenting books advise scaffolding children.
Vygotsky drew a connection between language and thought processes and believed that internal speech developed as a result of exposure to external language. He cautioned, however, that internal speech had much different content and character than external speech. Inner speech serves as a way for a child to control and direct her own actions, while external speech plays a significant role in social and emotional development.
Vygotsky also conducted extensive research into play. He discovered that play serves a key role in learning and that children often learn concepts based upon make-believe play. Play can take on symbolic meaning, such as when a child tells an adult that a stick is actually a snake. He argued that cultural norms, rules for behavior, and social skills are frequently learned through play. Consequently, play is an important activity that enables children to learn to modulate and control their own behavior.
Selected Works by Lev Vygotsky
Educational Psychology (1926)
Historical Meaning of the Crisis in Psychology (1927)
Thinking and Speech (1934)
Tool and Symbol in Child Development (1934)
Mind in Society (1978)
Thought and Language (1986)
References:
Bryant, P. (1996). Lev Vygotsky: Revolutionary Scientist. British Journal of Psychology, 87, 350. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/199581362?accountid=1229
Harwood, R., Miller, S. A., & Vasta, R. (2008). Child psychology: Development in a changing society. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Lev Vygotsky. (2013). Encyclopedia of World Biography, Vol. 33. Retrieved from http://www.gale.cengage.com/InContext/bio.htm
Last Update: 07-13-2015"
"Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)
Lev Vygotsky was an early 20th century developmental psychologist who developed a sociocultural theory of child development designed to account for the influence of culture on a child's growth and development.
Professional Life
Lev Vygotsky was born into an art- and literature-loving family in what is now Belarus on November 17, 1896, and he was raised in Gomel. Vygotsky began studying at the University of Moscow in 1913, though his course options were severely restricted because he was Jewish. Vygotsky elected to study law, and he graduated in 1917.
Back in Gomel, Vygotsky taught logic and psychology at a local college. In 1924, he wowed the Second All-Union Congress on Psychoneurology with his speech, and he was subsequently invited to join the Moscow Institute of Experimental Psychology. At the institute, Vygostsky served as a teacher and researcher for nine years. Vygotsky was an innovative psychologist who made significant advancements in the field of child development. Vygotsky’s short career focused on child development, developmental psychology, and educational philosophy.
Contribution to Psychology
Vygotsky theorized that children develop their behaviors and habits from their cultures and through interpersonal experiences; he referred to this phenomena as cultural meditation. He argued that higher thinking developed as a result of sociocultural interactions and referred to shared knowledge of a culture as internalization. For example, a child who knows that using the toilet is a private activity has internalized a cultural norm.
Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) remains a popular theory within the field of developmental psychology to illustrate a child’s learning process. The zone refers to the span of time it takes a child to proceed from the early stages of learning a new task to the point at which the child can complete the new task independently. Vygotsky claimed that children learned to achieve more challenging tasks with the aid of someone more knowledgeable. Vygotsky referred to this form of social support as scaffolding: the process of helping a child do something without actually doing it for him or her. Scaffolding practices must be constantly adjusted to meet a child's new capabilities. For example, a four year-old's zone of proximal development with regards to learning the alphabet might include knowing the alphabet song independently, but pointing to and identifying letters is something he or she might need scaffolding to achieve. As the child learns to recognize letters, his or her parents or teachers might scaffold the child into reading or writing. Many contemporary parenting books advise scaffolding children.
Vygotsky drew a connection between language and thought processes and believed that internal speech developed as a result of exposure to external language. He cautioned, however, that internal speech had much different content and character than external speech. Inner speech serves as a way for a child to control and direct her own actions, while external speech plays a significant role in social and emotional development.
Vygotsky also conducted extensive research into play. He discovered that play serves a key role in learning and that children often learn concepts based upon make-believe play. Play can take on symbolic meaning, such as when a child tells an adult that a stick is actually a snake. He argued that cultural norms, rules for behavior, and social skills are frequently learned through play. Consequently, play is an important activity that enables children to learn to modulate and control their own behavior.
Selected Works by Lev Vygotsky
Educational Psychology (1926)
Historical Meaning of the Crisis in Psychology (1927)
Thinking and Speech (1934)
Tool and Symbol in Child Development (1934)
Mind in Society (1978)
Thought and Language (1986)
References:
Bryant, P. (1996). Lev Vygotsky: Revolutionary Scientist. British Journal of Psychology, 87, 350. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/199581362?accountid=1229
Harwood, R., Miller, S. A., & Vasta, R. (2008). Child psychology: Development in a changing society. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Lev Vygotsky. (2013). Encyclopedia of World Biography, Vol. 33. Retrieved from http://www.gale.cengage.com/InContext/bio.htm
Last Update: 07-13-2015"
Lev Vygotsky Biography
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The life and work of Lev Vygotsky
Thank you, my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that June 11 is the anniversary of the death of early 20th century developmental Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky "who developed a sociocultural theory of child development designed to account for the influence of culture on a child's growth and development."
The life and work of Lev Vygotsky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Kpi4SzAVo
Images
1. Zone of Proximal Development [ZPD] Scaffolding
2. By giving our students practice in talking with others, we give them frames for thinking on their own. Lev S. Vygotsky
3. Theoretical predictions Piaget and Vygotsky
Background from simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
Lev Vygotsky
By Saul McLeod, updated 2018
The work of Lev Vygotsky (1934) has become the foundation of much research and theory in cognitive development over the past several decades, particularly of what has become known as Social Development Theory.
Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition (Vygotsky, 1978), as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning."
Unlike Piaget's notion that childrens' development must necessarily precede their learning, Vygotsky argued, "learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organized, specifically human psychological function" (1978, p. 90). In other words, social learning tends to precede (i.e., come before) development.
Vygotsky has developed a sociocultural approach to cognitive development. He developed his theories at around the same time as Jean Piaget was starting to develop his ideas (1920's and 30's), but he died at the age of 38, and so his theories are incomplete - although some of his writings are still being translated from Russian.
No single principle (such as Piaget's equilibration) can account for development. Individual development cannot be understood without reference to the social and cultural context within which it is embedded. Higher mental processes in the individual have their origin in social processes.
Vygotsky's theory differs from that of Piaget in a number of important ways:
1: Vygotsky places more emphasis on culture affecting cognitive development.
This contradicts Piaget's view of universal stages and content of development (Vygotsky does not refer to stages in the way that Piaget does).
Hence Vygotsky assumes cognitive development varies across cultures, whereas Piaget states cognitive development is mostly universal across cultures.
2: Vygotsky places considerably more emphasis on social factors contributing to cognitive development.
(i) Vygotsky states cognitive development stems from social interactions from guided learning within the zone of proximal development as children and their partner's co-construct knowledge. In contrast, Piaget maintains that cognitive development stems largely from independent explorations in which children construct knowledge of their own.
(ii) For Vygotsky, the environment in which children grow up will influence how they think and what they think about.
3: Vygotsky places more (and different) emphasis on the role of language in cognitive development.
According to Piaget, language depends on thought for its development (i.e., thought comes before language). For Vygotsky, thought and language are initially separate systems from the beginning of life, merging at around three years of age, producing verbal thought (inner speech).
For Vygotsky, cognitive development results from an internalization of language.
4: According to Vygotsky adults are an important source of cognitive development.
Adults transmit their culture's tools of intellectual adaptation that children internalize. In contrast, Piaget emphasizes the importance of peers as peer interaction promotes social perspective taking.
Effects of Culture: - Tools of intellectual adaptation
Like Piaget, Vygotsky claimed that infants are born with the basic materials/abilities for intellectual development - Piaget focuses on motor reflexes and sensory abilities.
Lev Vygotsky refers to 'elementary mental functions' –
o Attention
o Sensation
o Perception
o Memory
Eventually, through interaction within the sociocultural environment, these are developed into more sophisticated and effective mental processes/strategies which he refers to as 'higher mental functions.'
For example, memory in young children this is limited by biological factors. However, culture determines the type of memory strategy we develop. E.g., in our culture, we learn note-taking to aid memory, but in pre-literate societies, other strategies must be developed, such as tying knots in a string to remember, or carrying pebbles, or repetition of the names of ancestors until large numbers can be repeated.
Vygotsky refers to tools of intellectual adaptation - these allow children to use the basic mental functions more effectively/adaptively, and these are culturally determined (e.g., memory mnemonics, mind maps).
Vygotsky, therefore, sees cognitive functions, even those carried out alone, as affected by the beliefs, values, and tools of intellectual adaptation of the culture in which a person develops and therefore socio-culturally determined. The tools of intellectual adaptation, therefore, vary from culture to culture - as in the memory example.
Social Influences on Cognitive Development
>
Like Piaget, 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 (1978), much important learning by the child occurs through social interaction with a skillful tutor. The tutor may model behaviors and/or provide verbal instructions for the child. Vygotsky refers to this as cooperative or collaborative dialogue. The child seeks to understand the actions or instructions provided by the tutor (often the parent or teacher) then internalizes the information, using it to guide or regulate their own performance.
Shaffer (1996) gives the example of a young girl who is given her first jigsaw. Alone, she performs poorly in attempting to solve the puzzle. The father then sits with her and describes or demonstrates some basic strategies, such as finding all the corner/edge pieces and provides a couple of pieces for the child to put together herself and offers encouragement when she does so.
As the child becomes more competent, the father allows the child to work more independently. According to Vygotsky, this type of social interaction involving cooperative or collaborative dialogue promotes cognitive development.
In order to gain an understanding of Vygotsky's theories on cognitive development, one must understand two of the main principles of Vygotsky's work: the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
More Knowledgeable Other
The more knowledgeable other (MKO) is somewhat self-explanatory; it refers to someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept.
Although the implication is that the MKO is a teacher or an older adult, this is not necessarily the case. Many times, a child's peers or an adult's children may be the individuals with more knowledge or experience.
For example, who is more likely to know more about the newest teenage music groups, how to win at the most recent PlayStation game, or how to correctly perform the newest dance craze - a child or their parents?
In fact, the MKO need not be a person at all. Some companies, to support employees in their learning process, are now using electronic performance support systems.
Electronic tutors have also been used in educational settings to facilitate and guide students through the learning process. The key to MKOs is that they must have (or be programmed with) more knowledge about the topic being learned than the learner does.
Zone of Proximal Development
The concept of the More Knowledgeable Other is integrally related to the second important principle of Vygotsky's work, 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.
Through private speech, children begin to collaborate with themselves in the same way a more knowledgeable other (e.g., adults) collaborate with them in the achievement of a given function.
Vygotsky sees "private speech" as a means for children to plan activities and strategies and therefore aid their development. Private speech is the use of language for self-regulation of behavior. Language is, therefore, an accelerator to thinking/understanding (Jerome Bruner also views language in this way). Vygotsky believed that children who engaged in large amounts of private speech are more socially competent than children who do not use it extensively.
Vygotsky (1987) notes that private speech does not merely accompany a child’s activity but acts as a tool used by the developing child to facilitate cognitive processes, such as overcoming task obstacles, enhancing imagination, thinking, and conscious awareness.
Children use private speech most often during intermediate difficulty tasks because they are attempting to self-regulate by verbally planning and organizing their thoughts (Winsler et al., 2007).
The frequency and content of private speech are then correlated with behavior or performance. For example, private speech appears to be functionally related to cognitive performance: It appears at times of difficulty with a task.
For example, tasks related to executive function (Fernyhough & Fradley, 2005), problem-solving tasks (Behrend et al., 1992), schoolwork in both language (Berk & Landau, 1993), and mathematics (Ostad & Sorensen, 2007).
Berk (1986) provided empirical support for the notion of private speech. She found that most private speech exhibited by children serves to describe or guide the child's actions.
Berk also discovered than child engaged in private speech more often when working alone on challenging tasks and also when their teacher was not immediately available to help them. Furthermore, Berk also found that private speech develops similarly in all children regardless of cultural background.
Vygotsky (1987) proposed that private speech is a product of an individual’s social environment. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that there exist high positive correlations between rates of social interaction and private speech in children.
Children raised in cognitively and linguistically stimulating environments (situations more frequently observed in higher socioeconomic status families) start using and internalizing private speech faster than children from less privileged backgrounds. Indeed, children raised in environments characterized by low verbal and social exchanges exhibit delays in private speech development.
Childrens’ use of private speech diminishes as they grow older and follows a curvilinear trend. This is due to changes in ontogenetic development whereby children are able to internalize language (through inner speech) in order to self-regulate their behavior (Vygotsky, 1987).
For example, research has shown that childrens’ private speech usually peaks at 3–4 years of age, decreases at 6–7 years of age, and gradually fades out to be mostly internalized by age 10 (Diaz, 1992).
Vygotsky proposed that private speech diminishes and disappears with age not because it becomes socialized, as Piaget suggested, but rather because it goes underground to constitute inner speech or verbal thought” (Frauenglass & Diaz, 1985).
Classroom Applications
A contemporary educational application of Vygotsky's theories is "reciprocal teaching," used to improve students' ability to learn from text. In this method, teachers and students collaborate in learning and practicing four key skills: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. The teacher's role in the process is reduced over time.
Also, Vygotsky is relevant to instructional concepts such as "scaffolding" and "apprenticeship," in which a teacher or more advanced peer helps to structure or arrange a task so that a novice can work on it successfully.
Vygotsky's theories also feed into the current interest in collaborative learning, suggesting that group members should have different levels of ability so more advanced peers can help less advanced members operate within their ZPD.
Critical Evaluation
Vygotsky's work has not received the same level of intense scrutiny that Piaget's has, partly due to the time-consuming process of translating Vygotsky's work from Russian. Also, Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective does not provide as many specific hypotheses to test as did Piaget's theory, making refutation difficult, if not impossible.
Perhaps the main criticism of Vygotsky's work concerns the assumption that it is relevant to all cultures. Rogoff (1990) dismisses the idea that Vygotsky's ideas are culturally universal and instead states the concept of scaffolding - which is heavily dependent on verbal instruction - may not be equally useful in all cultures for all types of learning. Indeed, in some instances, observation and practice may be more effective ways of learning certain skills."
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The life and work of Lev Vygotsky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Kpi4SzAVo
Images
1. Zone of Proximal Development [ZPD] Scaffolding
2. By giving our students practice in talking with others, we give them frames for thinking on their own. Lev S. Vygotsky
3. Theoretical predictions Piaget and Vygotsky
Background from simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
Lev Vygotsky
By Saul McLeod, updated 2018
The work of Lev Vygotsky (1934) has become the foundation of much research and theory in cognitive development over the past several decades, particularly of what has become known as Social Development Theory.
Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition (Vygotsky, 1978), as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning."
Unlike Piaget's notion that childrens' development must necessarily precede their learning, Vygotsky argued, "learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organized, specifically human psychological function" (1978, p. 90). In other words, social learning tends to precede (i.e., come before) development.
Vygotsky has developed a sociocultural approach to cognitive development. He developed his theories at around the same time as Jean Piaget was starting to develop his ideas (1920's and 30's), but he died at the age of 38, and so his theories are incomplete - although some of his writings are still being translated from Russian.
No single principle (such as Piaget's equilibration) can account for development. Individual development cannot be understood without reference to the social and cultural context within which it is embedded. Higher mental processes in the individual have their origin in social processes.
Vygotsky's theory differs from that of Piaget in a number of important ways:
1: Vygotsky places more emphasis on culture affecting cognitive development.
This contradicts Piaget's view of universal stages and content of development (Vygotsky does not refer to stages in the way that Piaget does).
Hence Vygotsky assumes cognitive development varies across cultures, whereas Piaget states cognitive development is mostly universal across cultures.
2: Vygotsky places considerably more emphasis on social factors contributing to cognitive development.
(i) Vygotsky states cognitive development stems from social interactions from guided learning within the zone of proximal development as children and their partner's co-construct knowledge. In contrast, Piaget maintains that cognitive development stems largely from independent explorations in which children construct knowledge of their own.
(ii) For Vygotsky, the environment in which children grow up will influence how they think and what they think about.
3: Vygotsky places more (and different) emphasis on the role of language in cognitive development.
According to Piaget, language depends on thought for its development (i.e., thought comes before language). For Vygotsky, thought and language are initially separate systems from the beginning of life, merging at around three years of age, producing verbal thought (inner speech).
For Vygotsky, cognitive development results from an internalization of language.
4: According to Vygotsky adults are an important source of cognitive development.
Adults transmit their culture's tools of intellectual adaptation that children internalize. In contrast, Piaget emphasizes the importance of peers as peer interaction promotes social perspective taking.
Effects of Culture: - Tools of intellectual adaptation
Like Piaget, Vygotsky claimed that infants are born with the basic materials/abilities for intellectual development - Piaget focuses on motor reflexes and sensory abilities.
Lev Vygotsky refers to 'elementary mental functions' –
o Attention
o Sensation
o Perception
o Memory
Eventually, through interaction within the sociocultural environment, these are developed into more sophisticated and effective mental processes/strategies which he refers to as 'higher mental functions.'
For example, memory in young children this is limited by biological factors. However, culture determines the type of memory strategy we develop. E.g., in our culture, we learn note-taking to aid memory, but in pre-literate societies, other strategies must be developed, such as tying knots in a string to remember, or carrying pebbles, or repetition of the names of ancestors until large numbers can be repeated.
Vygotsky refers to tools of intellectual adaptation - these allow children to use the basic mental functions more effectively/adaptively, and these are culturally determined (e.g., memory mnemonics, mind maps).
Vygotsky, therefore, sees cognitive functions, even those carried out alone, as affected by the beliefs, values, and tools of intellectual adaptation of the culture in which a person develops and therefore socio-culturally determined. The tools of intellectual adaptation, therefore, vary from culture to culture - as in the memory example.
Social Influences on Cognitive Development
>
Like Piaget, 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 (1978), much important learning by the child occurs through social interaction with a skillful tutor. The tutor may model behaviors and/or provide verbal instructions for the child. Vygotsky refers to this as cooperative or collaborative dialogue. The child seeks to understand the actions or instructions provided by the tutor (often the parent or teacher) then internalizes the information, using it to guide or regulate their own performance.
Shaffer (1996) gives the example of a young girl who is given her first jigsaw. Alone, she performs poorly in attempting to solve the puzzle. The father then sits with her and describes or demonstrates some basic strategies, such as finding all the corner/edge pieces and provides a couple of pieces for the child to put together herself and offers encouragement when she does so.
As the child becomes more competent, the father allows the child to work more independently. According to Vygotsky, this type of social interaction involving cooperative or collaborative dialogue promotes cognitive development.
In order to gain an understanding of Vygotsky's theories on cognitive development, one must understand two of the main principles of Vygotsky's work: the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
More Knowledgeable Other
The more knowledgeable other (MKO) is somewhat self-explanatory; it refers to someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept.
Although the implication is that the MKO is a teacher or an older adult, this is not necessarily the case. Many times, a child's peers or an adult's children may be the individuals with more knowledge or experience.
For example, who is more likely to know more about the newest teenage music groups, how to win at the most recent PlayStation game, or how to correctly perform the newest dance craze - a child or their parents?
In fact, the MKO need not be a person at all. Some companies, to support employees in their learning process, are now using electronic performance support systems.
Electronic tutors have also been used in educational settings to facilitate and guide students through the learning process. The key to MKOs is that they must have (or be programmed with) more knowledge about the topic being learned than the learner does.
Zone of Proximal Development
The concept of the More Knowledgeable Other is integrally related to the second important principle of Vygotsky's work, 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.
Through private speech, children begin to collaborate with themselves in the same way a more knowledgeable other (e.g., adults) collaborate with them in the achievement of a given function.
Vygotsky sees "private speech" as a means for children to plan activities and strategies and therefore aid their development. Private speech is the use of language for self-regulation of behavior. Language is, therefore, an accelerator to thinking/understanding (Jerome Bruner also views language in this way). Vygotsky believed that children who engaged in large amounts of private speech are more socially competent than children who do not use it extensively.
Vygotsky (1987) notes that private speech does not merely accompany a child’s activity but acts as a tool used by the developing child to facilitate cognitive processes, such as overcoming task obstacles, enhancing imagination, thinking, and conscious awareness.
Children use private speech most often during intermediate difficulty tasks because they are attempting to self-regulate by verbally planning and organizing their thoughts (Winsler et al., 2007).
The frequency and content of private speech are then correlated with behavior or performance. For example, private speech appears to be functionally related to cognitive performance: It appears at times of difficulty with a task.
For example, tasks related to executive function (Fernyhough & Fradley, 2005), problem-solving tasks (Behrend et al., 1992), schoolwork in both language (Berk & Landau, 1993), and mathematics (Ostad & Sorensen, 2007).
Berk (1986) provided empirical support for the notion of private speech. She found that most private speech exhibited by children serves to describe or guide the child's actions.
Berk also discovered than child engaged in private speech more often when working alone on challenging tasks and also when their teacher was not immediately available to help them. Furthermore, Berk also found that private speech develops similarly in all children regardless of cultural background.
Vygotsky (1987) proposed that private speech is a product of an individual’s social environment. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that there exist high positive correlations between rates of social interaction and private speech in children.
Children raised in cognitively and linguistically stimulating environments (situations more frequently observed in higher socioeconomic status families) start using and internalizing private speech faster than children from less privileged backgrounds. Indeed, children raised in environments characterized by low verbal and social exchanges exhibit delays in private speech development.
Childrens’ use of private speech diminishes as they grow older and follows a curvilinear trend. This is due to changes in ontogenetic development whereby children are able to internalize language (through inner speech) in order to self-regulate their behavior (Vygotsky, 1987).
For example, research has shown that childrens’ private speech usually peaks at 3–4 years of age, decreases at 6–7 years of age, and gradually fades out to be mostly internalized by age 10 (Diaz, 1992).
Vygotsky proposed that private speech diminishes and disappears with age not because it becomes socialized, as Piaget suggested, but rather because it goes underground to constitute inner speech or verbal thought” (Frauenglass & Diaz, 1985).
Classroom Applications
A contemporary educational application of Vygotsky's theories is "reciprocal teaching," used to improve students' ability to learn from text. In this method, teachers and students collaborate in learning and practicing four key skills: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. The teacher's role in the process is reduced over time.
Also, Vygotsky is relevant to instructional concepts such as "scaffolding" and "apprenticeship," in which a teacher or more advanced peer helps to structure or arrange a task so that a novice can work on it successfully.
Vygotsky's theories also feed into the current interest in collaborative learning, suggesting that group members should have different levels of ability so more advanced peers can help less advanced members operate within their ZPD.
Critical Evaluation
Vygotsky's work has not received the same level of intense scrutiny that Piaget's has, partly due to the time-consuming process of translating Vygotsky's work from Russian. Also, Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective does not provide as many specific hypotheses to test as did Piaget's theory, making refutation difficult, if not impossible.
Perhaps the main criticism of Vygotsky's work concerns the assumption that it is relevant to all cultures. Rogoff (1990) dismisses the idea that Vygotsky's ideas are culturally universal and instead states the concept of scaffolding - which is heavily dependent on verbal instruction - may not be equally useful in all cultures for all types of learning. Indeed, in some instances, observation and practice may be more effective ways of learning certain skills."
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