Lesson 2: Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development

At the cnd of the

lcsson. you will be alble to:

Cplain the sociocultural theory of cognitive development:

discuss the major terms and concepts related to the theory; and

cie classroom implications of the theory.

THINK

Sociocultural Theory
he socioculural theory of cognitive development was formulated by Lev Semenovich Vygotsky,
a Russian psychologist. Its major
argument is that social interaction, mediated through language, is
a key factor in the
child's development. From the child's interaction with others, concepts and social
behavior are formed (social level), and he or she later thinks
internally (see Figure 7).
The theory
underscores his belief that children's thinking is affected
by their knowledge of the social community,
which Vygotsky considered as learned from either technical or
1978). By cultural tools, it meant real tools
psychological cultural tools (Vygotsky,
(like measuring instruments, calculators, etc.) and symbol
systems (like numbers, language, etc.) that allow people to communicate, think, solve problems, and
create knowledge (Woolfolk, 2016).

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Cultural Context

Figure 7. Key components of sociocultural learning.

The Role of Social Interaction

Vygotsky emphasized the

signiicance Ol social interaction in one's thinking.
Children learn trom
the more knowledgeable others (MKOs), which include parents, teachers,
adults, and more advanced
neers, An MKO is anyone who has a higher skill level than
the learner in terms
of the specific task
perform. For instance, a child who is guided by verbal clues by the mother learns how t0
to tear ofl the
piastic covering of the cookies. In another case, children playing "Chinese
garter" abide by the rules that
thev agree with. This is called a co-constructed
process
As the children
negotiated to create an aceeptable
rule on how to play the gamne.

The Role of Language

Vveotsky's theory emphasizes hat tanguage piays a Cenal rOle in the theoryot human cognitive
development. Language plays muliple roles, ncluding culturally shaping the overt behavior o

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individuals as well as influencing their covert behavior, such as thinking (Burkholder & Pelaez, 200).
functions initiated from soCial
Through language, human cognitive development and higher mental
are
communications. As people engage in social activities, they are involved in mental and communicative

functions (Vygotsky. 1986).

The three stages ofspeech development (see Figure 8) were identified by Vygotsky (Johnson, 2014).
These are as follows

Egocentric
Thinking not related Speech (Speech internalized
to speech Speech guides
Thinking out loud
Thinking in the form thinking, behavior
Talking to oneself
of images, emotions

SOcial or Inner Speech

Externalpeecn

Figure 8. Stages of speech development.

is not
Social or external speech. At this stage (birth to approximately age 3), thinking
of images. emotions, and
related to speech at all. Instead, thinking is primarily in the form
social level to express a desire or to
impressions. Speech only occurs on the external or
as shouting or crying. For instance,
a child would tell "Dede"
convey simple emotions such
or milk ifhungry. At this stage, speech
is merely a tool to make things happen in the external
world.
children think out loud or talk to
2 Egocentric speech. At this stage (approximately ages 3--7),
themselves as they are doing something. For instance, as
Paul plays with his toy car and it
Called egocentrie speech, it is used
does not run, he tells himself "Sira na" or "It's destroyed."
It is an important part of the transition to inner
to guide behavior and help to solve problems.
speech and more sophisticated thinking.
or thought. Here, speech becomes
intermalizei and
3. Inner speech. Inner speech is soundless speech
is used to guide thinking and behavior. It eventually
leads to higher levels and more complex rypes
of thinking

Zone of Proximal Development

(ZPD) as illustrated
One major Vygotsky's theory is the zone of proximal development
feature of
diticulties in pertorming tasks
9. He argued that at any time. children find
by Wheeler (2013) in Figure handle them With the guidance of the
or problems posed to
them as they are not yet matured enough to
ofeues.
could perform the task. Scaffold1ng, the provision
MKOs, like their parents or elder siblings, they
demonstrations of the MKO, can assist the children
in successtully pertorning the
clues, hodeling, and
the child move from the level of curent independent performance
task. T he goal of the ZPD is to help
demonstrated to do a task alone) to the level of potential performance
(thhe competenee
(the competence
achieved with the guidance of others).

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 Knowledgeable
Others
Technology
and Tools

What I can learn

by myself
WhatI can learn
with assistance from others

Not within my ability to learn

igure 9. Scaffolding as intervention to reach the zone of proximal development.

Source: Wheeler (2013)
For instance, a difficult word is used in a sentence. Asked about its meaning, the children could not
provide the
meaning on their own. When the teacher reminds them that the context or the
Words or phrases could reveal the
meaning, they begin giving
neighboring
Word. The teacher's synonyms or related words to the difficult
reminder scaffolded the children to arrive at the correct answer.

Teaching Implications of Vygotsky's Theory

The theory of sociocultural learning has greatly influenced
Vygotsky's theory promotes learning contexts in which students practices
in facilitating
learning.
theory requires that the teacher and student are collaborators in the play an active role in
learning. His
facilitator or guide in learner s construction of learning process, with the teacheras
knowledge and development of skills. The
learning a reciprocal experience for both the teacher and learners. process makes

Citing research findings (e.g., John-Steiner & Mann, 2003;

(2018) proposed the following teaching Webb, 2008; Slavin, 2014), Slavin
use of ZPD, teachers can
practices for consideration by the facilitator of
learning. In the
organize classroom activities in the following ways:
. Instruction can be planned to provide
of children. For
practice within the ZPD for individual children or
example, hints and prompts that helped children during a groups
form the basis of instructional activities. preassessment could
2. Scaffolding provides hints and prompts at different levels. In
simplify the task. but the role of the learner is simplified scaffolding, the adult does not
of the teacher." "through the graduated intervention
3. Cooperative learning activities can be planned with groups of children
can help each other to learn. at different levels who
Moreover, Karpov and Haywood (1998)
recognized that for the curriculum to be
appropriate, the teacher must plan activities that encompass not developmentally
only what children are capable of doing
on their own but what they can learn with the help of others.

EXPERIENCE

The concepts and principles of VygoUSky S

exneriments. Tutoring as a form of scaftolding is ansoCiocultural learning theory found credence in many
ertecive instructional
Wood et al. (1976) for instance. 3-, 4-, and 5-yr-olds were tutored in intervention. In the study of
the task of
a constructing pyramia
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 of an
from complex, interlocking constituent blocks. The results indicate that some of the properties
learner's acts to
interactive system of exchange in which the tutor operates with an implicit theory of the
maintains "direction"
recruit his attention, reduces degrees of freedom in the task to manageable limits,
and demonstrates solutions when the
in the problem solving, marks critical features. controls frustration,
learner can recognize them.
as a Foreign Language (EFL)
learners' private
Meanwhile, the role' of the advanced iranan Engiish
the exicrnalization of the process of reasoning during carrying
speech production characterized as beng the reasoning-
tested (Mir/ace & Mafioon. 2016). While perforniing
out reasoning-gap tasks was
filler. and
the EFL learners produced four types of private speech-repetition, translation,
gap tasks, The finding supported the earlier
both their LI and L2, which enhanced learmers' reasoning.
question-in
mediational role in problem-solving and self-regulatory
processes.
assertion that private speech plays a