Notes: Vygotsky's Sociocultural Development | Child Development and Pedagogy for CTET Preparation - CTET & State TET PDF Download

Socio-cultural Theory of Learning and Development (Vygotsky)

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was a Russian Psychologist, born in Western Russia (Belorussia) in 1896. He died at the early age of 38 and his work was acknowledged only after his death. His theory is known as the socio-cultural theory of development. His basic argument is that development and learning takes place because of cooperative processes between the child and a more knowledgeable person of the society. Whatever children learn is the product of this cooperative process and this product is actually a process. This approach to learning is dominant these days, and society’s contribution to a person’s development is considered significant. 

Lev Vygotsky was a social constructivist and believed that higher order functions and thinking process are developed with the help of parents, peers and other members of the society. He said, knowledge development takes place through a co-constructed process in which interaction and negotiations happen among people to understand and solve the problem. And that is how all members participate to solve the problem: walking, reading, writing and even thinking is mediated upon by a more capable person. Go a little back to your childhood and think, how you learnt to walk, write and so on? Who helped you? And how? 

There are certain ways and tools for this interaction and negotiation. These are real tools and psychological tools. Real tools are the physical entities available to us such as computers, notebooks, books, pencils, telephones and so on. Whereas, psychological tools are tools such as languages, signs and symbols. 

According to Vygotsky, inter-psychological and intra-psychological activities are two processes through which a child’s development can happen. Every child starts with inter-psychological processes and then move to intra-psychological activities. Interpsychological interactions are those that take place between people (in this process, the learner interacts with society, i.e., family, peer, school, media etc. which help in the learner’s cognitive development). On the other hand, intra- psychological interactions are those involving interaction with one’s own self (Here, the learner talks to one’s self, which is also known as private speech. The learner reflects upon his or her own ideas and actions). This evolution of inter-psychological to intra-psychological thought process applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals before they progress to become part of interactions with one’s own self.

The Zone of Proximal Development

An important concept in socio-cultural theory is known as the zone of proximal development (ZPD). According to Vygotsky, the zone of proximal development “is the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (Vygotsky, 1978, p.86). Essentially, it includes the knowledge and skills that a person cannot yet understand or perform on their own yet, but is capable of learning with guidance.

Zone of proximal development is one the most important concept of Vygotsky’s theory. ZPD means a phase or area of development where a child can master the task if appropriate help is provided. Vygotsky believed that when a student is at the ZPD for a particular task, providing appropriate support will help the student to achieve the task. This support is known as scaffolding. 

It is important to know that Vygotsky has never used the term ‘scaffolding’. This term was first used by Wood in 1976. Wood defines scaffolding as those elements of the task that are initially beyond the learner’s capacity, thus permitting him to concentrate upon and complete only those elements that are within his range of competence. The scaffolding can be removed, once the child masters the task and is able to complete the task own his or her own. 

Scaffolding supports for learning and problem solving could be a clue, reminder, encouragement, breaking the problem down into steps, providing an example, or anything else that allows students to grow independently. (As referred by Woolfolk, Anita, 2000).

The following diagram explains the concept of ZPD:
Assisted learning has also been explained by Vygotsky. According to him, assisted learning takes place when we provide strategic help at the beginning of a work and slowly remove that help as learner gains independence. Providing all appropriate material to the learners before they start solving any problem, is also a good example of assisted learning.

Language Development

Vygotsky believed that language develops from social interactions, to personalised talk. He viewed language as man’s greatest tool, a means for communicating with the outside world.

Vygotsky perceives a significant role of social negotiations and interactions in language development. He believes that language is a powerful tool for development. According to him, language has an important role to play in cognitive development. First, it helps in the transmission information from one generation to another and second, it acts as a powerful tool of intellectual adaptation. 

Three types of speech have been discussed by socio-cultural theorists in the process of language development. These are social speech, private speech and silent inner speech.

Social speech: Social speech represents external communication, i.e., talking to others. This is the type of speech observed when children talk to other persons about almost everything.

Private speech: Children self-talk, which directs their thinking and action. Here, children talk to themselves. They verbalise everything and speak a loud. 

Silent inner speech: Gradually, these verbalisations are internalised and become silent inner speech. Here, children talk to themselves but without verbalisations. 

Vygotsky strongly believed that language and thought are separate systems until age three and thereafter they get associated and interdependent. As the child grows older, collective monologues (Piaget) get converted into inner speech. This internalisation is very important for cognitive development. Vygotsky (1987) was the first psychologist to document the importance of private speech. He considered private speech as the transition point between social and inner speech, the moment in development where language and thought unite to constitute verbal thinking.

Vygotsky talks about various steps in language development. He said, in this process, children learn pronunciation. Children try to speak, what they hear from the surrounding. These pronunciations are a result of their social interaction with parents, siblings and so on. Gradually, they learn to make small sentences. They learn to arrange words in syntax, which carry a meaning. They also learn to frame meaningful sentences. After knowing about sentence structure, children learn the use of language. They also learn what to use, how to use and why to use a particular form of language. This process makes them effective communicators in a specific culture. This is called pragmatics of language. At a higher level of language development, children learn and understand one’s own use of language. This is called meta-linguistic awareness. Children become aware of their own language.

Vygotsky (1987) proposed that private speech is the 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. Slowly, with age, children curtail their private speech and learn to internalise language. With age and task mastery, private speech goes underground, diminishing in audibility as it takes on a self-regulating function and is transformed into silent inner speech or verbal thought.

Difference between Piaget and Vygotsky

Educational Implications of Vygotsky’s’ Theory

• Few important points can be understood about educational implications of Vygotsky’s’ theory: Present challenging tasks within the context of the learner’s life, where they can work collaboratively and cooperatively.
• Children efforts must be scaffolded by demonstrations, reducing complex tasks into a series of simpler ones, providing regular feedback to the learners. 
• Present problems in ZPD, because it will help them to overcome the hurdles they would face in the course of their development. 
• The teacher should provide authentic and real-life examples while explaining the concepts. 
• The teacher should have faith in the learner’s ability and should provide him or her with ample opportunity to demonstrate it. 
• The socio-cultural context of a child is very significant in the learning process. The teacher should value it in cognitive development. 
• Peer tutoring should be used for teaching. 
• Critical, meta-cognitive, analytical thinking should be developed.