JJM1 — JJM1 TASK 1: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT THEORIES

Ciara Ayala Pujols

Western Governors University

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My instructional Setting

My instructional setting is very interesting and diverse. I teach three World Languages

courses, specifically Spanish, at a middle school in West Hartford, Connecticut. Half of my

students are at school the other half are remote learners. Developmental stages vary by age,

grade, and gender. Students with 504’s, IEP’s, advance learners, special education and regular

students all share the same classes. Demographics also vary. There are students from different

cultures, countries of origin, income levels and religions. My students age range varies from 11

and 14 years and the grade level vary from sixth to eight grade. The three course I teach are

Beginning Spanish, Spanish Intermediate and Spanish II. Students are enrolled in each course

based on previous courses taken, proficiency level and availability.

Appropriateness of human development theories in an instructional setting

Two human developmental theories that I found to be more appropriate to my instructional

setting are Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development and Lev Vygotsky cognitive

development theory. Erickson believed that our personality develops over the course of life

influenced by our success or failure to accomplish these stages. Vygotsky’s believed that culture,

social interaction, and formal instruction defined cognitive development.

Erikson’s theory is based on the epigenetic principle. This principle states that, in fetal

development, certain organs of the body appear at certain specified times and eventually

“combine” to form a child. He also believed that just as the parts of the body develop, the

personality of an individual forms as one successfully resolves a series of psychosocial crises.

(McCown, 2014, p. 28) Erickson divided these psychosocial crises in eight stages; Trust versus

Mistrust, Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt, Initiative versus Guilt, Industry versus Inferiority,
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Identity versus Role Confusion, Intimacy versus Isolation, Generativity versus Stagnation and

Integrity versus Despair. Based on the ages range of my students I will focus on two stages,

Industry vs Inferiority which runs from six to eleven years, and “Identity vs Role Confusion”

which runs from twelve to eighteen years. During the “Industry vs Inferiority” stage a child will

develop self confidence while doing things in which he or she is proficient and a sense of

inferiority when doing things in which he or she is incompetent. This stage will set the base for

children in a school setting. A child will feel confident when praised and encourage for

producing things and could feel unimportant or unworthy if their work is deficient or ignored.

The word that best describes this stage is competence. How competent a child feels when

performing a task. The other stage that relates to the age range of my students is “Identity vs Role

Confusion”. During this stage adolescents develop their identity; they begin to understand who

they are and what is expected from them. The danger at the stage is role confusion. A negative

behavior could be encouraged by the positive reaction of others if the individual does not have a

clear conception of what is appropriate. This could happen due to peer pressure or the necessity

of belonging. As a language teacher I have seen this psychosocial crisis in action. A student that

is eager to learn the new language, shows interests in the topics, asks questions and volunteers to

participate and demonstrates proficiency is called a “teacher’s pet” by some of his or her

classmates. This can create “role confusion” If the student chooses to stay true to him or herself

and, know what he or she wants, identity develops.

Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development is often referred to as a sociocultural theory

because it maintains that how we think is a function of both social and cultural forces (McCown,

2014, p. 51). Vygotsky called these forces psychological tools. Some examples are speech,

traditional dances, clothing, music, and religious beliefs, among others. These tools are passed
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from generation to generation and vary between cultures. When a child is young these tools are

learned through the interactions with his or her caregivers, then with interactions with friends,

family members, educators, and society in general. Vygotsky saw social interaction as the

primary cause of cognitive development (McCown, 2014, p. 52).

Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development is very relevant in my instructional setting, the

learning of a new language. Language is closely related to culture. When you are learning a new

language, you must unlearn things that you already “know”. An example is the word “pie”. For

an English speaker, a “pie” is a dessert. For a Spanish speaker “pie” means “foot”. When I

introduce Spanish to a non-speaker, I always start with cognate words. Cognates are words, in

two languages, that share a similar meaning, root, spelling, and pronunciation. Before changing

their mental functioning, I must relate previous knowledge to the new information they are

receiving. For my English speakers I emphasized that English and Spanish share 40% of the

words. For speakers of other languages, specially those derived from Latin, like French or

Portuguese, the lexical similarity can be as high as 85%. When students realize that they already

know, the mindset automatically changes, from denial to acceptance. Other instructional strategy

I used daily in my classroom is to the use of gestures and images while speaking. Most gestures

and images are universal. These two strategies would be called by Vygotsky “mediation”.

Mediation occurs when a more knowledgeable individual interprets the behavior and helps

transform it into an internal and symbolic representation that means the same thing to the child

(McCown, 2014, p. 53). Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development also has its weaknesses in

the World Language classroom. Language is merged with culture, religion and even politics, all

which are very sensitive topics. Vygotsky’s psychological tools are interrelated in cognitive

development but, children’s reasoning skills do not necessarily appear at the same ages in
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different cultures As an educator I need to be aware of the cultural background of my students,

that way I can create appropriate lessons for all.

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References

McCown, J.S. R. (2014). Psychology Applied to Teaching. [Western Governors University].

Retrieved from https://wgu.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781305176881/