The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity at school age Natalya V. Smirnova Department of...

The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity

at school age

Natalya V. SmirnovaDepartment of Foreign Languages

Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

Higher School of Economics - St.Petersburg, 2011

www.hse.spb.ru

International Conference on Education and Educational PsychologyIstanbul, Turkey

October, 19-21, 2011

Higher School of Economics , St.Petersburg, 2011

The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity at school age

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Overview

- Theoretical background and definition of Sign-Symbolic activity

- The nature of sign-symbolic mediation

- Importance of studying SSA

- Main aims of the research

- Methodology of the pilot study

- Future perspectives of the study



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Theory

1. child's development - a process of acquiring different sign systems and ways of information processing - Piaget, Bruner, Flavell, Solso, Lindsay & , Anderson, etc.

2. Vygotsky school - Galperin (1998), Davydov (1994) and Elkonin (1989) schools

3. Current stage research field - Ananyev, Lomov, Gamezo, Salmina, Glotova



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Definition

Sign Symbolic Activity is analyzed as a system of mediation, representation and relation aiming at reflection and transformation of reality. At the same time it is considered as an action and belongs to higher psychic functions and is an essential condition for the human development and life at all ages (Salmina, 1998)



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SSA nature

- signs and symbols have common structure and functioning

SS functions: CommunicativeCognitiveSubstitutional

SS micro level functions: - indicative- regulative- esthetic- valuation



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SSA nature

According to SSA functions Salmina (1998) defines its four types:

Modeling

Schematization

Encoding

Substitution



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Importance of studying SSA

- complex educational program and studying process at schools

- not the quantity of the acquired knowledge which is important but how well children can find and process new knowledge by themselves

- investigate the processes which allow learners to encode/decode information in different sign systems quickly, independently, fully, accurately and consciously



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Aims of the research

- analyze SSA nature (its structure, types, and functions)

- Study SSA dynamics with relation to the learners’ age, individual characteristics, their general cognitive level without creating any specific learning environment and without taking into account any external factors.



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Methodology of the pilot study

- theoretical literature analysis

- study and analysis of the research papers in the field of developmental, pedagogical and general psychology

- development of a set of criteria to assess the level of SSA

- development of an original experimental methodology to investigate SSA dynamics with different age groups

- development of an original experimental methodology to study the learning success and progress



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original experimental methodology to investigate SSA dynamics:e.g. Schematization/ Native language – Russian/ 7th school grade

1. Make a scheme of the following sentence (verbal – non verbal).

2. Look at the words: cat, lake, sister, table, etc. Systematize them according to their case and declination (verbal – non verbal)

3. Make words according to the following schemes (non verbal - verbal):

4. Make a sentence according to the following scheme (non verbal - verbal):



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SSA development level indicators based on Matveeva, 1989; Gamezo, 1975; Lomov, 1959; Salmina, 1988; Glotova, 1990:

- Degree of correctness of SSA

- Learner’s speed of SS mediation

- Learner’s independence of SS mediation

- Learner’s consciousness of SS mediation



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Analysis of the learning progress of students

4 learning progress variables

- successful acquisition of new notions in the subject

- general progress in studies

- teachers of English and Russian assessment of students’ learning progress

- self-assessment of their own learning progress



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Future perspectives of the study

- study SSA features and correlations of SSA and learners’ study progress in connection with their individual characteristics

- to investigate the relationship of learning progress and SSA level development according to the following primary indicators: consciousness, accuracy, and speed, independence of using SS tools and according to the secondary (derived) indicators: SSA consistency and frequency

- to investigate gender differences in the SSA process with primary school learners and if these difference disappear with age

- to study the relationship between SSA level and learners’ general cognitive level of development



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ReferencesAnderson, G.R. (2002). Cognitive psychology. ( p. 496). St. Petersburg: Piter.Bruner, G. (1997) Psychology of cognition: Beyond the limits of immediate information. Translation from English. (p.412). Moscow: Progress.Davydov, V.V. (1994) Psychological problems in teaching young learners. Age psychology. (pp.160-163). Edited by Feldshtein D.I. Moscow. Elkonin, D.B. (1989). Collection of works on psychology. (p.554). Moscow: Pedagogika.Eremeeva, V.D., Chrisman, T.P. (2001). Boys and girls – two worlds apart. (p.184). St. Petersburg: Tuskarora. Flavell, G.H. (1967). Genetic psychology by J.Piege. (p.623). Moscow: Prosvechenye. Galpirin, P.J. (1998). Psychology as objective science. Collection of works on psychology. Edited by Podolsky A.I.(p.480). Voronezh. Gamezo, M.V. (1975). Theoretical issues of managing human cognitive processes. About the role and functions of signs and sign models in managing human cognitive processes. Moscow. Glotova, G.A. (1990). Human and sign. Semiotic-psychological aspects of human ontogenesis. (p.253). Sverdlovsk: Izdatelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta. Korshunov, A.M. (1979). Reflection, activity, cognition. (p.216). Moscow: Politizdat.Leontyev, A.N. (1983). Collection of works on psychology. Moscow: Pedogogika.Lindsay, P.H., Norman, D.A. (1974). Human information processing. (p.550). Moscow: Mir. Lomov, B.F. (1959). Forming graphical knowledge and skills with school learners. (p.206). Moscow: Izdatelstvo APN RSFCR.Matveeva, L.A. (1989). Young learner as an object and a subject of pedagogical influence. Encoding, prediction and projection as characteristics of the young learner being the subject of learning process. (pp.14-30). Leningrad: LSPI.Piege, J. (1997). Speech and cognition of a child. (p.250). St. Petersburg: Souz.Raev, A.I. (1983). The problem of developing cognitive processes. Prediction, encoding, and projection as cognitive processes. (pp.21-33). Leningrad.Rubinshtein, S.L. (1999) The foundations of psychology. (p.720). St.Petersburg: Piterkom. Salmina, N.G. (1988). Sign and symbol in learning process. (p.287). Moscow: MSU. Solso, R.L. (1996). Cognitive psychology. (p.600). Moscow: Trivola. Turchin, A.S. (2006). Peculiarities of sign-symbolic development in ontogenesis. (pp.65-71). Vestnik KSU by N.A.Nekrasov. Psychology (12th issue, #4).Vygotsky, L.S. (1983). The history of development of higher psychic functions. (3rd. issue). Moscow. Zakharov, A.I. (2000). Nature of child’s neurosis and psychotherapy. (p.448). Moscow: Izdatelstvo EKSMO-Press.

Zinchenko, T.P. (1981) Recognizing and encoding. (p.183). Leningrad: Izdatelstvo Leningradskogo Universiteta.

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