ELT LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 203

SOCIAL INTERACTIONISM

Social interactionism was what I learnt. Constructivism and interactionism have

so many common things. To social interactionist, people are born into a social
world. Trough interaction, they make their own sense of the world. Vygotsky
rejects learning piece by piece. So he doesn’t accept behaviorism. To him,
learning occurs holistically. And meaning should form main aspects of any unit of
study. Effective learning can develop with social interaction between two or
more people with different levels of skills and knowledge. The one with most
knowledge is mediator who can be a teacher, parent or peer. Basic role of
mediator is to help the other to learn. According to the zone of proximal
development, working together with another person, a mediator who is just
above the learner’s present capabilities provides learner to move into next layer.
This understanding is similar with 1+one in natural approach. If something is
taught to students at very high level, they can feel stupid. If it is very easy, this
time they feel they are genius like Einstein. It should be a bit higher than
learner’s present level to make learning challenging. One of main parts of
Feuerstain’s theory is structural cognitive modifiability. According to him,
everyone can be effective learner. And people can develop their cognitive
capacity throughout their lives. Instrumental Enrichment is a program for
teaching people to learn how to learn. Dynamic assessment is testing people
according to their potential. Ultimate goal is to become effective learner.

I suppose I need to focus on more how to put on practice all these things.
Because being a teacher is very difficult when we think that there isn’t anyone
who cannot learn, there is teacher who cannot teach. So teacher has to find out
so many ways of teaching. A few months ago I watched a movie, Her Çocuk
Özeldir. It was about a child who has difficulty in understanding. And all of his
teachers are mad at him and say “you are stupid. Why don’t you understand the
smallest thing?...” there was one thing teachers couldn’t realize. He has
‘dyslexia’. And one of teachers realizes this and teaches according to it and the
child becomes one of the most successful students. What I am trying to say is
teachers should be aware of students and their potential. As a future teacher,
when a student fails, I should ask myself why I couldn’t teach.