Adult and Higher Education (2022) DOI: 10.23977/aduhe.2022.

040709
Clausius Scientific Press, Canada ISSN 2523-5826 Vol. 4 Num. 7

Application of the Zone of Proximal Development in

College English Teaching
Lulu Ni*
Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal,
Canada
*Corresponding author

Keywords: Zone of proximal development (ZPD), college English teaching, teaching

process, teaching methods, scaffolding

Abstract: As an important teaching theory, Vygotsky’s theory of the zone of proximal

development (ZPD) has an undeniable guiding role in English teaching. This article is
mainly aimed at college students’ English teaching classrooms and provides teachers with
specific teaching processes and methods based on ZPD theory. Among them, heuristic
teaching method, interactive teaching method and scaffolding teaching method are all
based on the actual development level and potential development level of students in ZPD
theory, as well as the peer help point of view emphasized by ZPD. This article uses the
literature analysis method, combined with the actual classroom situation, to illustrate the
effectiveness, limitations and further research directions of ZPD. In terms of
effectiveness, this article focuses on the actual application results of ZPD in college
English classrooms; In terms of limitations, this article discusses the limitations of ZPD
and the deficiencies of the research in this article; In terms of future research, this article
proposes empirical research necessity.

1. Introduction

As society’s demand for talents continues to increase and education reforms continue to deepen,
all countries are exploring teaching theories and methods that are suitable for their own educational
development in the new environment. This prosperous educational background has led to more and
more scientific teaching and development theories that conform to the law of student development.
Vygotsky put forward the theory of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) on the relationship
between teaching and development, especially the relationship between teaching and intellectual
development [1]. This theory has had a profound impact on contemporary pedagogy. Although the
development of ZPD in theoretical innovation was lagging and it seemed difficult to make a
breakthrough [2], the application of ZPD in teaching, especially in the field of language teaching,
was very extensive and effective [3,4]. More specifically, the teaching effect of ZPD in English
teaching classes had been analyzed and discussed by many researchers [5,6]. Scaffolding, as an
extension of the actual teaching method of ZPD, was a hot spot because of applying peer
cooperation and teacher- student interaction in ZPD [7-9]. From the point of view of stakeholders,
for teachers, ZPD provided teachers with basic factors that affected their career development, and
teachers could expand the main points of ZPD into practical teaching strategies [10]. For students,
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the application of ZPD could not

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only provide effective English learning methods, as well as improving English learning motivation,
most importantly, it could also provide a theoretical framework for the development of critical
thinking [11]. Therefore, ZPD has deep and meaningful influences on teachers and students in
English teaching and learning.
On the basis of ZPD, this article studies how teachers should effectively cultivate students’
independent innovation and learning ability in college English teaching, and at the same time
achieve the purpose of improving students’ comprehensive ability. This topic not only meets the
needs of current education, but also provides theoretical support, practical measures and examples
for college English teachers. The research is aimed at college students and provides a clear and
practical research framework for teachers and students to use ZPD. The main body of the paper is
composed of theoretical basis, teaching objective, teaching process, teaching methods and teaching
examples. Finally, the paper discusses implications for practice, limitations, further research and
conclusion.

2. Literature Review

Vygotsky believed that children had two levels of development [12]. The first was the current
level of development, that was, the level of the child’s mental function formed on the basis of the
completed development [2,9]. The second was that with the help and guidance of the outsiders, such
as teachers, parents or capable peers, children could reach the level of problem-solving that they
had not formed before, that was, the level of development potential obtained through teaching
[8,13]. In such intellectual activities, there might be differences between children’s potential and
current levels of development, and such differences could be eliminated through teaching. This was
the zone of proximal development (ZPD) theory. Vygotsky pointed out that teaching created ZPD
[1], so teaching should be at the forefront of ZPD. It was worth noting that Vygotsky emphasized
that in actual teaching [1], teachers should adapt to the current development level of students and
turn the potential development level into a realistic level of development.

3. Zone of Proximal Development Theory and College English Teaching

3.1. Teaching Object

The teaching object is college students, and the stakeholders are mainly college English teachers
as well as students. Before explaining why college students are chosen as the application group, we
must clarify two theoretical premises of ZPD. Firstly, it was impossible for two students’
development tracks were exactly the same [13]. The theory emphasized that according to the actual
development of each student and different ZPD, teachers should choose appropriate methods and
strategies to formulate their own teaching plans and implement education interventions [5,6,10,13].
Secondly, the two development levels included in ZPD required teachers not only to study and
understand the current development level of students, but also to estimate the potential development
level of students [3,4]. If the estimated level is too low, they will miss the optimal development
period of students and eventually cause obstacles to the intellectual development of students; If the
estimated level is too high, the students will not be able to achieve the teacher’s expected goals,
resulting in a lack of self-confidence and even loss of interest in learning. Both of these results are
unwilling to be seen by teachers. Therefore, compared with students of other age groups, in addition
to having the opportunities to be guided one-on-one by teachers, even in a large class, college
students can be controlled between 10 to 20, while other age groups usually have 30 to 50 students.
So it is easier for teachers to provide academic guidance under the ZPD theory for a small class. In
addition, college students already have a certain ZPD foundation, that is, their current level of
development is similar, which can be roughly stratified by different unified exams in different
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countries, such as the College

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Entrance Examination, GRE, etc. This makes it more convenient for teachers to guide students and
reduces the pressure on teachers.

3.2. Teaching Process

In order to further improve the accuracy of teaching interventions, teachers should first find the
student’s ZPD. Specifically, teachers can determine the current development level of students
through tests, questionnaires, interviews or other methods before the actual class. Secondly,
according to the results of the pre-class survey, teachers should not only meet the requirements of
the teaching goals and complete the necessary teaching content, but also accurately find the
potential development level of the students to eliminate the gap between the current and potential
development level, then predict the difficulties students will encounter when studying, and provide
them with necessary support and help. Thirdly, teachers should take practical solutions according to
different situations. For some students with a good foundation and strong classroom acceptance,
teachers can provide some additional reading materials or exams that may exceed the overall level
of the class; But for students who have difficulty keeping up with the overall progress of the class, it
is obvious that the current teaching content exceeds their ZPD. In this case, teachers need to give
them more attention and guidance, such as frequent email communication and one-on-one
consultations. Besides, in classroom teaching, teachers can encourage students to dictate or answer
the teaching content and questions to judge students’ mastery, then guess their ZPD based on the
different questions put forward by the students, and finally assign different assignments.
In short, as guides and helpers, teachers must emphasize the subject status of students in teaching
[5,7,14]. In detail, in the classroom, different levels of learning materials and assignments are
arranged according to the ZPD of different students, then teachers should answer the students’
questions, which can effectively help students improve their creativity, thinking ability, critical
ability and independent learning ability, and finally students get better development and real
benefits in ZPD. In other words, as a dynamic and constantly changing field, ZPD required teachers
to make constant adjustments in the teaching process according to different situations, different
students, and different feedback [8,10,13].
Applying the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) in an educational setting involves
understanding each student's current level of knowledge and skills and then providing appropriate
support and guidance to help them progress to the next level. Here are some ways to apply the ZPD
in the classroom: Assessment and Diagnosis: Use formative assessments to gauge each student's
current abilities and identify their ZPD. This could involve observations, discussions, quizzes, or
other assessment tools to understand what the student can do independently and what they can do
with assistance. Scaffolding: Provide scaffolding, which refers to temporary support or guidance, to
help students bridge the gap between what they can do independently and what they can achieve
with assistance. This could include breaking down complex tasks into smaller, more manageable
steps, offering hints or prompts, modeling the desired skills, or providing additional resources.
Differentiated Instruction: Tailor instruction to meet the individual needs of students within their
ZPDs. This might involve grouping students based on their current levels of understanding and
providing different tasks or materials for each group. Peer Collaboration: Encourage peer
collaboration and cooperative learning activities where students can work together to support each
other's learning within their ZPDs. This could involve pairing students with different levels of
expertise or assigning group projects that require students to pool their knowledge and skills.
Gradual Release of Responsibility: Gradually shift the responsibility for learning from the teacher
to the student as they gain confidence and competence within their ZPD. Begin with more guidance
and support and then gradually allow students to take on more independent work as they
demonstrate understanding and proficiency. Feedback and Reflection: Provide constructive

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feedback that helps students understand their progress within their ZPDs and identifies areas for
improvement. Encourage students to reflect on their learning and set goals for further development.
Flexible Grouping: Be flexible with grouping strategies to allow students to work with peers who
can provide appropriate levels of support within their ZPDs. This might involve adjusting groupings
based on ongoing assessments and observations of student progress. Curriculum Design: Design
curriculum and learning activities that are aligned with students' ZPDs, offering challenges that are
just beyond their current abilities but achievable with support. By applying these strategies,
educators can effectively support students' learning within their ZPDs, fostering growth and
development in a supportive and challenging educational environment.
Topic: Describe your favorite vacation spot. Guided Writing Prompt: Think about your favorite
vacation spot. Write a descriptive paragraph describing this place. Include details about what makes
it special, how it looks, sounds, smells, and feels. In this activity, scaffolding is provided through
the modeling of the writing process, guided practice with support resources, and opportunities for
peer review and reflection. This gradual release of responsibility allows students to develop their
writing skills within their Zone of Proximal Development.
An activity that can be conducted in an English language classroom using the Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD) to cater to students whose native language is not English is a collaborative
language learning task. This task allows students to work together to improve their language skills
with support from both the teacher and their peers.

3.3. Teaching Method

ZPD reflected the ability of students to solve problems under the guidance of adults or
cooperation with more capable partners, which was the level of development that students could
achieve after education [1,3,11]. The following provides three teaching methods based on ZPD.
First, teachers can adopt heuristic teaching methods. That was, teachers created a situation
related to the content or problems in the classroom, and left space for students to actively think and
create [10]. When creating a problem situation, teachers are required to be familiar with the content
of the textbook, master the structure of the content, and understand the internal connection between
old and new knowledge. In addition, teachers are required to strive to form an appropriate span
between the new learning content and the students’ existing level. There are many ways to create a
problem situation. It can be raised by the teacher’s questioning or assignments, be introduced from
the connection between the old and new textbook content, or from the daily experience of the
students. The creation of problem situations can be carried out either at the beginning or at the end
of the teaching process.
Activity: Collaborative Language Learning Task Objective: To improve English language skills
through collaborative learning within the students' ZPDs. Procedure: Group Formation: Divide the
students into small groups of mixed language abilities, ensuring that each group has a balance of
stronger and weaker English language learners. Task Assignment: Assign a language learning task
that is suitable for collaborative work, such as creating a dialogue, writing a short story, or
preparing a presentation on a given topic. Supportive Resources: Provide supportive resources such
as bilingual dictionaries, language learning materials, or sentence starters to help students who are
still developing their English language skills. Collaborative Work: Encourage students to work
together to complete the task, utilizing their individual strengths and supporting each other's
learning. Stronger English speakers can help their peers by providing explanations, clarifications,
and language models. Teacher Facilitation: Circulate among the groups to provide guidance,
monitor progress, and offer support where needed. Encourage students to ask questions and provide
feedback to each other. Peer Feedback: After completing the task, encourage students to give each
other constructive feedback on their language use, pronunciation, grammar, and overall
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 communication skills. Reflection: Facilitate a reflection session where students can discuss their
learning experience, what they found challenging, and what they learned from working
collaboratively. Encourage them to set goals for further language development. Example Task:
Creating a Dialogue Task Description: In small groups, create a dialogue between two people
discussing a topic of interest, such as planning a trip, ordering food at a restaurant, or solving a
problem. Supportive Resources: Provide vocabulary lists related to the chosen topic, sentence
starters for initiating dialogue, and examples of common dialogue structures. Collaborative Work:
Students work together to brainstorm ideas, plan the dialogue, and write the script. They take turns
practicing the dialogue with each other, focusing on pronunciation and fluency. Teacher
Facilitation: The teacher circulates among the groups, offering guidance on language use, providing
feedback on pronunciation and grammar, and answering any questions that arise. Peer Feedback:
After the dialogues are completed, groups perform their dialogues for the class. Peers provide
feedback on each group's performance, focusing on language accuracy, fluency, and communication
effectiveness. In this activity, the ZPD is addressed through collaborative learning, where students
with varying levels of English proficiency work together to complete a task that is challenging yet
achievable with support. The activity allows students to learn from each other, receive guidance
from the teacher, and practice their English language skills in a supportive environment.

Second, teachers can use interactive teaching methods. This method also emphasized the student-
centered approach, using teacher-student dialogue or student display to express the students’
internalized knowledge, constructed system, and existing problems [8]. At the same time, the
teacher gives corresponding suggestions and solutions. Under this method, students can express
their view
One activity that can be conducted in an English language classroom using the Zone of
Proximal Development (ZPD) to promote peer interactions in groups is a collaborative storytelling
activity. This activity encourages students to work together to create a story, allowing them to
practice their English language skills in a creative and interactive way. Activity: Collaborative
Storytelling Objective: To promote peer interactions and language development through
collaborative storytelling within students' ZPDs. Procedure: Group Formation: Divide the students
into small groups of 3-5 members, ensuring a mix of language proficiency levels in each group.
Story Starter: Provide each group with a story starter sentence or a thematic prompt to kickstart their
story. For example, "Once upon a time, in a magical forest, there was a curious rabbit named..." or
"Imagine you are on a spaceship traveling to a distant planet. What adventures await you?"
Collaborative Story Development: Instruct the groups to take turns adding to the story, with each
member contributing a sentence or a paragraph based on the story starter. Encourage them to build
on each other's ideas, create characters, develop settings, and introduce plot twists. Language
Support: Offer language support as needed, providing vocabulary assistance, grammar tips, and
sentence structure guidance to help students express their ideas effectively in English. Peer
Collaboration: Encourage active peer collaboration within the groups, where students discuss and
negotiate the direction of the story, share their thoughts on how to develop the plot, and provide
feedback to each other's contributions. Story Presentation: After a designated time, ask each group to
present their collaborative story to the class. This can be done through oral storytelling, written
presentations, or multimedia formats, depending on the students' preferences and skills. Feedback
and Reflection: Facilitate a feedback session where students provide constructive feedback to their
peers on their storytelling skills, language use, and creativity. Encourage reflection on the
collaborative process and the language learning experience. Example: Story Starter: "In a small town
nestled between the mountains, there was a mysterious old house that everyone believed was
haunted. One day, a group of adventurous children decided to explore the house..." In this activity,
students collaborate in groups to continue the story based on the given starter. They take turns adding

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to the narrative, building on each other's ideas, and creating a cohesive story. This activity promotes
peer interactions, as students work together to develop their story within their ZPDs, practicing their
English language skills in a supportive and creative context.

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and problems as much as possible in a free learning environment based on the content and materials
provided by the teacher. In order for students to express better, teachers should first demonstrate to
students so that students understand the basic form, instead of making students confused without a
hint, and then ask students to guide others in the role of the teacher in turn. After students’
presentations, the teacher should give feedback in time or even ask other students to give peer
feedback. The purpose of giving feedback is to allow students to better improve their self-learning
ability and realize their own innovations or deficiencies in thinking of problems, rather than
criticizing students with scores.
Third, teachers can adopt the scaffolding learning method, that is, the collaborative learning
method. Both Vygotsky and Bruner emphasized the importance of peer tutoring in their
interpretation of ZPD [1,15]. Among them, Bruner believed that ZPD was the integration of
collectivist concepts and the role of consciousness [15], which meant that when people expressed
themselves in their own way, it involved the sharing of consciousness. The application of this
theory in reality could be regarded as group cooperation and discussion, that was, the teacher only
provided the questions to be discussed and the necessary knowledge background, then gradually
reduced teaching interventions to the students [7,9,11]. The entire inquiry process is mainly carried
out in groups. When grouping, teachers can arrange students with different development levels to
conduct cooperative learning according to different needs. Because of the help and guidance of
peers, students are more receptive to knowledge. The scaffolding learning method is one of the
most effective ways to promote ZPD.

3.4. Teaching Examples

Rezaee and Azizi selected 86 high school students and distributed them in the control group [5],
ZPD error correction experimental group and non-ZPD error correction experimental group for
comparative experiments. The experiment used comparative analysis and data analysis methods
(mean, SD, t, df, etc.), and it was concluded that teaching English adverbs in students’ ZPD would
enable students to understand more deeply and remember more firmly [5]. In addition, when the
group learning and teacher-answer mode were adopted, the learning effect of students would be
significantly improved [5]. Even though the participants in this experiment were not college
students, this teaching method and conclusion were still applicable to college students. The biggest
difference may be that the English adverbs learned by college students are more difficult to
understand and difficult to remember.

4. Implications for Practice

4.1. Understanding the Current Development Situation of Student Is the Basis of Teaching

When using ZPD teaching, it was critical and necessary for teachers to understand the current
development level of students [10]. Indeed, every student is unique. If the teacher can find the
similarities and differences in ZPD of the students, it will save a lot of time and energy in the
teaching process. In view of the common points in ZPD of students, teachers can uniformly or
hierarchically teach in the classroom and predict the potential development level of students; For
different points, teachers can take the form of personal presentation, group interaction, one-on-one
tutoring, etc. In short, students’ ZPD needs to rely on the teacher’s advance, planned and in-depth
understanding in order to be better developed.

4.2. Emphasizing the Interaction among Students, Peers and Teachers

Compared with the help of teachers and parents, the guidance of excellent peers was more
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persuasive and easier to be accepted by students [7,14]. Therefore, in the mode of teacher-student
interaction classroom, teachers should play a guiding role. By helping students create situations that
meet the requirements of the teaching content and prompting clues of the relationship between new
and old knowledge, teachers should establish the subject status of students in the learning process.
By creating an atmosphere of student interaction within the group, giving students opportunities to
express and question, teachers should make timely summaries and feedback, which can promote
students’ independent innovation and continuous improvement of their ZPD. The interactive mode
based on ZPD is the prerequisite and guarantee for students to learn effectively and realize their
potential.

5. Limitations

The limitations discussed here are mainly divided into two aspects, one is the defects and
shortcomings of the ZPD itself, the other is the lack of research in this article. First of all, ZPD
theory emphasizes the importance that teachers need to understand the two development levels of
students. But how many teachers can really do that in reality? How teachers judge students’ ZPD?
The specific theoretical support and strategies still need to be explored. Moreover, one of the
teaching methods emphasized by ZPD theory is peer interaction in groups. So how can teachers
ensure that grouping is effective and that the ZPD of each member can be fully developed? To sum
up, the standards for teachers are very high in the practical application of ZPD, especially college
students belonging to the group with a higher knowledge level, which means the responsibilities
and pressure of college English teachers are greater. Therefore, how to apply and master the core of
ZPD theory is a great challenge for college English teachers.
On the limitation of this paper, first of all, this paper mainly adopts the way of literature analysis
without empirical research and proof, that is, the examples and methods used are all from the
researches in other articles. That makes the authenticity and validity of this paper questioned. In
addition, the factors considered in this paper are not complete. While the paper tries to narrow the
group of ZPD theoretical analysis as much as possible, whether a student’s ZPD is affected by
gender, socio-economic status and family background (urban or rural) are not clearly analyzed and
explained in the group of college students. When analyzing college English teachers’ teaching
process, it is not pointed out whether they are restricted by English majors and non-English majors.
Thirdly, the main background of this paper is Chinese college English teaching, that is, discussing
the teaching effect of ZPD in a country where the native language is not English. So it is unknown
whether the teaching process and methods discussed in this paper are the same in native English
countries. Finally, only one of the references in this paper written by Wass et al. conducted in-depth
research on college students under the guidance of ZPD theory [11]. Although ZPD theoretical
conclusions in other literature can be applied to college students, the relevant evidence is still
insufficient.

6. Future Research

First of all, the article needs to carry on the empirical research and establishes the prompt group
and the control group, respectively using the ZPD theory and the traditional teaching method to
conduct the college English teaching. Empirical investigation requires complete, long-term,
structured research and analysis, and bases on the final conclusions to make an informed judgment
for the effectiveness of ZPD in college English teaching. Secondly, the article needs to take as many
forms as possible to carry out ZPD-based English teaching, not just in class, such as an English
performance or competition. Students are required to use English to simulate the performance of
fragments in learning, life or a subject given by the teacher, combine lesson content and perform
enlightening content.
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7. Conclusions

In summary, the paper analyzes the college English classroom practice based on ZPD theory and
provides specific teaching methods and ideas. Although there are still some deficiencies in
empirical research, this paper affirms the significance and applicability of the scaffolding method
and group learning in ZPD theory. With the further improvement of the research, it is believed that
this project can provide more evidence for ZPD and further enhance the innovation of ZPD teaching
practice.

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