Sociocultural Sociocultural ApproachApproach

Sociocultural Sociocultural ApproachApproach

David, Michael, Rachel David, Michael, Rachel And HiuAnd Hiu

The Man Behind the Theory

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)

• Russian psychologist• At a younger age he

was interested in literature and literary analysis, becoming a connoisseur of poetry and philosophy

Lev Vygotsky (cont’d)

• He entered medical school at Moscow University

and quickly switched to law school and enrolled in a private university to study literature again

Lev Vygotsky (cont’d)

He became interested in psychology at 28 where attended the Pedagogical Institute of Psychology in Moscow

Here he worked extensively on ideas of cognitive development

He emphasized the roles of historical, cultural and social factors in cognition

Vygotsky (first row, 3rd from left) and colleagues at the entrance to the Psychological Institute. Leont'iev is 2nd from left.

Lev Vygotsky (cont’d)

Lev Vygotsky (cont’d)

• He never had formal training in psychology

• Collaborated with Alexander Luria and Alexei Leontiev, who helped create the body of research now known as the Vygotskian approach

Lev Vygotsky (cont’d)

• He died in 1934 from tuberculosis • And only then his ideas were

repudiated by the government but his ideas were kept alive by his students and later revived

Vygotsky’s Basic Assumptions

• Sociocultural perspective: a theoretical perspective that emphasizes the importance of society and culture for promoting cognitive development

Vygotsky’s Basic Assumptions

• Complex mental processes begin as social activities; as children develop, they gradually internalize these processes and begin to use them independently

» Internalization

• Thought and language become increasingly interdependent in the first few years of life

» Self-talk» Inner speech

Vygotsky’s Basic Assumptions (cont’d)

• Through both informal conversations and formal schooling, adults convey to children the ways in which their culture interprets the world

• Children can perform more challenging tasks when assisted by more advanced and competent individuals

» Actual development» Level of potential development

• Challenging tasks promote maximum cognitive growth

» Zone of proximal development

Zone of proximal development

• Stage 1 - assistance provided by more capable others (coaches, experts, teachers);

• Stage 2 - assistance by self; • Stage 3 - internalization

automatization (fossilization); and • Stage 4 - de-automatization:

recursiveness through prior stages.

4 Stages of the Zone of proximal development

Current Perspective’s on Vygotsky’s Theory

The Sociocultural Theory has encouraged other ideas of how to promote learning and cognitive development.– Self Instruction– Guided Participation– Scaffolding– Apprenticeships– Peer Interaction

Self Instruction• Definition:

– “Instructions that students give themselves as they are about to perform a complex behavior” (Ormrod, 2006)

• Helps children think before they actions• Self talk• Example…

Guided Participation

• Assisting your students as they perform adult like activities

Scaffolding

• Providing students with help or support so that they can be successful in any activity– Once they are progressing, take away some

support so that they can start to perform the task independently

Apprenticeships

• A student working with an expert to learn how to complete complex tasks

Apprenticeship (cont…)

• Ways a student can learn through apprenticeship:a) Modelingb) Coachingc) Scaffoldingd) Increasing complexity of taskse) Reflection of performance

Peer Interaction

• Working together promotes increased cognitive development, increased social development, and increased achievement.

• Social interaction plays a fundamental role in the cognitive development of children

Group ActivityPick one of the 4 ideas on how to promote cognitive and learning development in children and make an activity that can be used in a school setting.

-Scaffolding

-Guided Participation

-Apprenticeship

-Peer interaction

Example: Scaffolding

Work through problems in math with the students the first time and then allow them to proceed to do future problems independently.

X = 2 ( 4 x 9 )2 +36

Example: Guided Participation

In a grade 7 class, the students have to hypothesize which object, when dropped from a height, will travel with a greater downward force. They are then asked to make a generalization about why certain objects drop with greater force.

The teacher can then give them the equation and allow them to calculate the approximate force of the falling object.

Force due to gravity = (mass)(acceleration)

Example: Apprenticeship

In a physical education class, a teacher models a proper technique and then allows the students to attempt the activity. Once the students are performing the activity, the teacher gives feedback to the student.

Note: Make sure to use sandwich feedback (positive comment, something the student could work on, positive comment)

Example: Peer Interaction

Before, during, and after reading it is important to make connections about the book to real life.

Allow the students to discuss connections to real life, the meaning of the book, and questions that arise.

Critiques of Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

• Hard to find critiques on it because it is currently the most widely accepted theory

• For example, some of the first things we learned included Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development and concept of metacognition…

BUT…

Critiques• One critique of Vygotsksy’s Sociocultural Theory was that his focus

on verbal instructions may not benefit cognitive development in some cultures where verbal instructions aren’t the primary form of communication

• Vygotsky’s theory is about social transmission, so he places less emphasis than other theorist on children's capacity to shape their own development

• neglects the biological side of development (although he recognized the importance of heredity and brain growth, he said little about their role in cognition)

• Representatives of the Krakov school of psychology criticized Vygotsky for ignoring the role of practice and practical, object-bound activity and that his research emphasized too much on the research on the role of language

• Also Vygotsky based much of his findings on evidence gathered from his own children, which may be seen as not to be a valid representation of the general population