GRACE MISSION COLLEGE

Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro

e-Mail: grace.missioncollege@yahoo.com

Module
MODULE 2 9 Subject: The Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles

Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory

At the end of this Module, you should be able to:

 explain why Vygotsky’s theory is called “Socio-cultural” theory,

 differentiate Piaget and Vygotsky’s views on cognitive development and
 explain how scaffolding is useful in teaching a skill.

INTRODUCTION

The key theme of Vygotsky’s theory is that social interaction plays a very important role in cognitive
development. He believed that individual development could not be understood without looking into the social and
cultural context within which development happens. Scaffolding is Vygotsky’s term for the appropriate assistance given
by the teacher to assist the learner accomplish a task.

Sociocultural theory is an emerging theory in psychology that looks at the important contributions that society
makes to individual development. This theory stresses the interaction between developing people and the culture in
which they live. Sociocultural theory also suggests that human learning is largely a social process.
Activity No. 1
Answer the following:
1. As a child, recall a skill that you wanted to learn and eventually learned well, through the help of another
person. (like swimming, riding a bike, playing the piano, skating, etc.)
__________________________________________
2. What made you interested to learn the skill? ______________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Who taught or assisted you?
____________________________________________________________________
4. Describe how you went about learning the skill. Describe what steps or actions the person did in order to help
you learn.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________

ABSTRACTION
When Vygotsky was a young boy, he was educated under a teacher who used the Socratic method. This method
was a systematic question and answer approach that allowed Vygotsky to examine current thinking and practice higher
levels of understanding. This experience, together with his interest in literature and his work as a teacher, led him to
 GRACE MISSION COLLEGE
Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro
e-Mail: grace.missioncollege@yahoo.com

recognize social interaction and language as two central factors in cognitive development. His theory became known
as the Socio-Cultural Theory of Development.

Piaget and Vygotsky

Vygotsky worked on his theory around the same time as Piaget in between the 1920’s and 30’s but they had
clear differences in their views about cognitive development. Since Piaget was taken up already in the preceding
module, it would be easier now to see how his views compare with Vygotsky.

Piaget Vygotsky
More individual in focus More social in focus
Believed that there are universal stages of cognitive Did not propose stages but emphasized on cultural
development factors in cognitive development
Did not give much emphasis on language Stressed the role of language in cognitive development

Vygotsky's sociocultural theory views human development as a socially mediated process in which children
acquire their cultural values, beliefs, and problem-solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more
knowledgeable members of society. Vygotsky's theory is comprised of concepts such as culture-specific tools, private
speech, and the Zone of Proximal Development.
An important concept in sociocultural theory is known as the zone of proximal development. 2 According to
Vygotsky, this "is the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving
and the level of potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance or in collaboration
with more capable peers."
Essentially, it includes all of the knowledge and skills that a person cannot yet understand or perform on their
own, but is capable of learning with guidance. As children are allowed to stretch their skills and knowledge, often by
observing someone who is slightly more advanced than they are, they are able to progressively extend this zone of
proximal development. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of human learning describes learning as a social process and the
origination of human intelligence in society or culture. The major theme of Vygotsky’s theoretical framework is that
social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. Vygotsky believed everything is learned on
two levels. First, through interaction with others, and then integrated into the individual’s mental structure. Every
function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level;
first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary
attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships
between individuals. (Vygotsky, 1978, p.57) A second aspect of Vygotsky’s theory is the idea that the potential for
cognitive development is limited to a "zone of proximal development" (ZPD). This "zone" is the area of exploration for
which the student is cognitively prepared, but requires help and social interaction to fully develop (Briner, 1999). A
teacher or more experienced peer is able to provide the learner with "scaffolding" to support the student’s evolving
understanding of knowledge domains or development of complex skills. Collaborative learning, discourse, modelling,
and scaffolding are strategies for supporting the intellectual knowledge and skills of learners and facilitating intentional
learning.
GRACE MISSION COLLEGE
Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro
e-Mail: grace.missioncollege@yahoo.com
 GRACE MISSION COLLEGE
Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro
e-Mail: grace.missioncollege@yahoo.com

Activity No. 2
An exercise in scaffolding:
1. Choose a skill you are good in.
___________________________________________________________________
2. Identify an individual to whom you can teach this skill. Somebody who will benefit from scaffolding.
__________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Break down the steps you will take in teaching the skill.
_______________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Determine how you will use scaffolding. Describe the specific actions you will do to
scaffold._________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Teach the skill to the individual
6. Describe how the learning activity went. __________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Activity No. 3
Direction: Read a research that is related to Vygotsky’s Theory. Fill out the matrix below
Problem: Research Methodology:

Source: (bibliographical/ link entry

Findings: format) Concusions:
 GRACE MISSION COLLEGE
Catiningan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro
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How are the findings of this research useful to teachers?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Activity No. 4
Reflection
From the module on Vygotsky’s Socio-cultural Theory, I realized that. . .
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Prepared by:

ROSWELL O. TOLENTINO, EdD

Instructor

“What a child can do in cooperation today, tomorrow she/he will be able to do alone.”
-Lev Vygotsky