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Cognitive and language development
Strength & weakness of sociocultural theory
Strengths and weaknesses of sociocultural theory
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Recommended: Cognitive and language development
According to Development of Children and Adolescents, children learn five new words a day. Therefore, people wonder how children construct their knowledge and language, along with what is going through their complex and developing brains. Different theories have been developed and researched to try and demolish some of the confusion encircling the minds of parents, educators, psychologists and others. With this being said, over the past decade there has been a major upsurge of interest in the ideas of Lev Spencer Vygotsky (1896-1934), which has reflected in the dramatic rise in citations of Vygotsky’s publications (Wertsch & Tulviste, 1992). There are many features involved with Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory that focuses on language and …show more content…
Vygotsky emphasizes the idea of co-construction of knowledge, which is the theory that children construct knowledge with the assistance of others, and children learn first at the social level and then gradually internalize that learning (Hauser-Cram, Nugent, Thies, & Travers, 2014). Vygotsky knew the importance of language because he focused on how children developed language, along with how children’s social interaction with one another was effected by their language skills. Another feature of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory is the concept of inner speech, which is the internal speech used to guide behavior. It may also be referred to as “self-talk,” which is common among both adults and children (Hauser-Cram et al, 2014). Speech is an important factor in a child’s life. It lays out the foundation for their self-control and self-direction within them. Vygotsky’s perspective indicates that inner speech does not die out, but instead is internal. Young children who use such speech to guide them during challenging activities tend to be more attentive and show better performance than those who do not (Hauser-Cram et al, …show more content…
This theory may not be widely known and practiced in various places, but it is becoming more popular with the development of early childhood. There are many features involved with Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory that focuses on language and the sociocultural context in terms of children. Research studies have also been conducted that support his theory, even though some experts remain to have criticisms about
This reading reminded me about how Vygotsky’s theory is mostly based on the interactions and influences help children to learn. I really do believe this theory is very accurate, because students can learn from each other. If a teacher is having trouble explaining a complex topic to a student, another student can explain it in more relatable way. Also, I was fascinated when I read about what cultural tools, were and how they related to Vygotsky’s beliefs. Learning about what cultural tools were, helped me to broaden my understanding of how crucial cultural tools are to student’s learning process. Also, the chapter did a great job of elaborating on how these tools can help to advance and grow in the understanding of student’s thinking process. Another aspect of this reading that interested me was the elaboration on private speech and the Zone of Proximal Development. Each of the definitions displayed help me to advance my own thinking on what it was and how it is used in regards to the education of students. The description of what private speech and how it is basically the inner narration of their thinking process helped me to understand how this aspect can help with students learning. Also, the Zone of Proximal Development helped me to make a connection to both what is and how it relates to private speech as well. The Zone of proximal development plays a crucial role in the
Vygotsky believes that a child’s cognitive development originates in socialization activities, and then goes through a process of increasing individuation. He argued that self-directed speech did not show any cognitive immaturity, but did show some form of development. He claims that private speech represents a functional differentiation in the speech of a child, or that a child begins to differentiate between speech that is directed towards the others and speech that is self-directed.
Vygotsky refers to these as tools of intellectual adaptation, which allow children to use basic mental functions more effectively, and these are culturally determined (McLeod, 2007). Vygotsky sees cognitive functions as things that are affected by beliefs, values, and these tools of adaptation of the culture in which a person develops. These tools vary culture to culture, but all play a large role in development. Even personal thoughts, the decisions that someone makes alone, are all effected by socio-cultural actions (Balakrishnan & Claiborne, 2012). Vygotsky also insists that emotion is an important part of understanding consciousness. He emphasized the development and cultural construction not only of meaning, but of emotion and directivity. It is hoped that through these two domains, the moral actions of children become acceptable and guide them into becoming moral citizens. (Balakrishnan & Claiborne,
Why I think Vygotsky sociocultural, theory work best in childcare development is that children work best in small group; there are many opportunities to incorporate individual work as well. The individual work can also be used as assessments. A child working alone will show the teacher what she actually knows, and how much their development has improved. It exposes students to different ways of thinking and higher standards, which in turn lead to greater accomplishments. Finally, yet importantly this theory will produce well-rounded, confident individuals who grow into high producing
Lev Vygotsky stages of development were not defined by age or biology. Social and cultural experiences were the basis for his theory. Consciousness was an end product of social interactions (Kearsley, 1994-2010). The history of the child’s society and his own personal history determine how the child thinks. Language is crucial for development as it is with words that a child conceptualizes and makes sense of the world (Schütz, 2004). A precept of Vygotsky’s theory wa...
Vygotsky placed much more emphasis on language that Piaget (book). Vygotsky’s theory focuses on the role of interpersonal processes and the role of the child’s community and culture which provide a framework from which the child’s construction of meaning develops (book). Although Vygotsky stressed that the process must be in in the context of the child’s culture and the tools available within that culture. Vygotsky was always especially interested in cognitive processes which underline understanding which has led to the concept of shared understandings that occur when people communicate with each other. Vygotsky argued that through the use of language formed through social interaction a child can develop as a thinker and a learner (book). As a conscious individual people could not accomplish very much without the aids and tools within their culture such as language (book). Piaget argued that language was strongly influenced by the underlying cognitive structures within the individual child (book). They also disagreed on the egocentric speech of children. When observing children Piaget concluded that half of the mistakes children made was down to egocentric speech which he argued showed that children have not tried to communicate with another or adapted so others can understand them he also argued that young children did not seem to care if anyone else could understand them and
Vygotsky believed that children developed by what belief and culture they brought up in. He strongly believed that children would learn more from hand on experience and that children would develop better with people around them so they were continuously socialising and communicating.
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory was his main focus and it helped him make sense of a person’s cognitive development through the way they interaced with others and emphasised on one’s social interaction (blabla). Vygotsky focused on how learning consisted of gathering knowledge and skills from the social community and the different attractions a person observes (v2); a process known as internationalization. His theory was based on two key concepts, first that knowledge can be developed through the experiences a child lives (v1), and an example would be a child seeing his parents arguing over their beliefs; he’d learn how he should have his own belief...
Piaget (1926) looked at the private speech phenomenon and referred to it as ¡§egocentric speech¡¨, as he believed it was the result of children being cognitively immature. He observed many children between the ages of four and six, and concluded that their private speech was egocentric as they were unable to communicate the views of others. Piaget also concluded that their speech was solely for themselves, and served ¡§no developmental or social purpose¡¨ (Allyn & Bacon). It was also suggested that as children grow older and their social skills develop, and they are able to adopt the perspectives of people, the amount of private speech they use decreases. This can easily be illustrated in Figure 1.
Psychology is one of the newest sciences. Because it is the science of the mind and behavior, it is also less concrete than some of the other sciences. Over the years, social scientists have developed theories or perspectives based off of their observations, research, and the perspectives of other scientists. Although there is some overlap, each of the major perspectives of psychology is unique. As a result, they each have strengths and weaknesses and explain psychology in a different way. One theory, the sociocultural perspective, is exactly what its name suggests. It’s the idea that the society and groups that an individual belongs to are what influences development, thoughts, and behavior. The sociocultural perspective was pioneered by a Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, in the 1920’s (John-Steiner, 1998). Vygotsky stressed the idea that children learn through what he called guided participation (Sigelman, 2009). His theory was that children develop through interactions with parents, teachers, and other knowledgeable members of the culture and are given tools to adopt the group’s way of thinking.
It stated that, "Sociocultural approaches to learning and development were first systematized and applied by Vygotsky and his collaborators in Russia in the 1920s and 1930s. They are based on the concept that human activities take in cultural contexts, are mediated by language and other symbol systems, and can be best understood when investigated in their historical development (John-Steiner & Mahn, 1996). " At the core of this theory, "Vygotsky focused on the way that a child co-constructs meaning through social interaction, and the role word meaning plays in the development of thinking(Mahn, 1999). " It seems as though Vygotsky's socio-cultural theory is continuous. This theory is continuous due to the emphasis it places on the need for social interaction in the growth of humans mentally, linguistically, and socially.
For Vygotsky, children are seen as active beings on their development through social interactions with parents, teachers, and other adults, as well as by participating in their cultural activities. The interactions they have with other individuals and their culture opens their minds to new information and helps develop skills not previously attained. To further understand cognitive development in Piaget and Vygotsky’s theory, we must first look at the processes involved.
The similarities in the theories, including the development perspective and dialectical approach, are very complex and focus upon the fundamentals of each theory. The differences in each theory make them very unique, including the autonomous and heteronomous approaches for each respective theory. The four cognitive stages of Piaget’s theory, including sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations, provide a clear, effective progression of an individual’s development path from infancy to adulthood. This is very unique to Piaget’s theory and is utilized immensely in academic studies of psychology. The fundamental aspects of Vygotsky’s theory, including cultural and historical factors contributing to the individual’s development is also very unique and is regularly utilized in academic studies. Without the research that each theorist conducted and presented, the psychology studies that we know today would not be the same. The work of both respective theorists will continue to be utilized in academia and in psychology for many years to
Interationists on the other hand believe that learning takes place when students interact with each other and the teacher. The founder of the theory, Long (1983, 1996) believed that acquisition of vocabulary takes place when meanings are “negotiated”. This is considered when students start working with each other and start to go through cognitive process of checking what they have learned, the meaning of words and looking for clarification. Beginning
Growing up, everyone has different upbringings and everyone develops in different ways or at different rates. Their social class, social background, and or gender identities play a large role in the way which they perceive the world and in the way that the world perceives them. According to Vgotsky social interactions play a crucial role in the development of cognition. This term refers to the mental processes that are involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension. These processes include thinking, knowing, remembering, judging