a) Considering your future as a primary teacher, what are the main implications of these ideas

for your teaching? Give specific examples to support your discussion.

Vygotsky’s theory of Social Constructivism has several implications for teaching practice. The main
implications being, that teachers need to identify each student as an individual operating within
different social contexts and as a result, there should be no uniform approach to teaching or learning.
Because of the differing contexts in which each student has developed, they will all be at varying
locations in the ZPD and therefore require individual approaches applied to their learning. Vygotsky’s
theory identifies the significance of early linguistic skills in the ability of children to understand and
interpret their thoughts through language. The implications of this are significant in the context of
literacy, but also in the role of a teacher in developing the external monologue of young children and
teaching the skills required to improve the cognitive abilities that will be necessary to interpret their
thought processes when the external monologue eventually transitions to internal monologue. A third
implication of Vygotsky’s theory relates to the importance of the integration of educational content
in the classroom that is relevant to the real-world and social contexts in which the students are
embedded. Social and real world context should be entrenched in all learning content, with the intent
of creating socially responsible and independently thinking members of society. The children of today
are the leaders of tomorrow and become the teachers and creators of the cultural tools that the next
generation will use in developing their cognitive abilities and therefore process of learning.

Unlike Piaget’s theory, Vygotsky’s ideas propose that at any time, each child will sit in different
positions in the ZPD, and will therefore learn at different rates. The implication for this in teaching is
a need for understanding and tailoring your approach to each child as an individual with different
needs and motivations. Personalising your teaching methods for each student will often not be
feasible, however in attempting to do so, content can be customised to benefit each child and assist
in extending their cognitive ability, thus advancing them into the next ZPD. For example, in a literacy
lesson focused on writing a climax in a story, one child might need to focus on extending their story
using adjectives and connectives, whilst another child might need assistance in increasing the length
of their story. Each classroom will contain students, all lying at different points in the ZPD, all with
different personalities and backgrounds, and all would benefit from a tailored approach to their
learning.

Social Constructivism supports the notion that a successful teacher needs to understand that
social contexts such as culture, language, social class and gender, can have an impact on education
and learning. A teacher needs to understand that student’s will have a range of varying learned
behaviours and understandings of the world around them. Therefore, there should be no uniform
approach to teaching, and the varied social backgrounds in a classroom should be used to a teacher’s
advantage (Kozulin, 2004; Takaya, 2008). Students who are actively involved in what they are learning
will be more motivated to absorb what is being taught. Teachers should use the diverse backgrounds
of their students as a resource in teaching the children about multi-culturalism across all contexts.
Diversity in a classroom also needs to be considered in the context of behavioural implications such
as differing cultural perspectives on eye contact, and it is important to plan lessons, critically to ensure
content, opinions and material are being presented respectfully and representative of all cultures and
backgrounds. Additionally, the themes of social context need to be engrained in teaching across all
subjects, consequently making students more socially aware and assisting them to function as ethical
and productive members of society.

Another practical implication of Vygotsky’s theory can be made through the example of adults
reading to children in early childhood. Social Constructivism advocates the importance of supporting
the early linguistic skills of children in the role of cognitive development and their ability to interpret
their thoughts through language. (McInerney, 2014). Multitudes of successful studies have been
carried out on the positive influence that reading aloud to children in the early years can have on their
intellectual development (Rich, 2015; Matthiessen, 2016), unlike Piaget’s theory of personal
constructivism, that suggests knowledge is formed from a child’s individual interactions with the
world, and that learning should be self-regulated, Sociocultural theory, proposes that every person is
born with basic biological processes that can be developed over time through education and
socialisation (McInerney, 2014). The implications of these studies in teaching would be to encourage
the external monologue of children in the early years, which would consequently assist the child in
interpreting and successfully using this dialogue to support their cognitive thoughts and behaviours
when language eventually becomes internalised (Vygotsky, 1978).

The main implications of Vygotsky’s theory are to assist in both the understanding of, and
development of children’s cognitive skills and thought processes. This is achieved through identifying
student’s as individuals and valuing their diverse backgrounds. Students with differing levels of ability
need to be identified and presented with specialised challenges that will encourage growth in their
ZPD. A teacher should utilise this diversity as a resource in the classroom, and ensure there is critical
self-evaluation of the materials being used and information being presented to the students
Additionally, early linguistic skills need to be encouraged and student’s need to be supported in their
understanding of how their thoughts relate to their cognitive abilities and behaviours, thus preparing
them for the internalisation of their monologue. In addition to teaching students how to understand
their internal workings, the implications of external social contexts need to be addressed and
meaningful learning experiences offered across all learning environments. In nurturing both the
internal and the external, a teacher can assist in preparing a student for real-world situations and aid
in generating a socially responsible adult. (Levykh, 2008).