VYGOTSKYAN
The ideas of the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) cover several areas:
Thought and language. For Vygotsky, thought and language are mutually supportive. Thought exists prior to language, and there is initially a separation between the two; but, during three phases of language acquisition, their different functions become established:
Phase 1: Before the age of two, pre-linguistic thought (action schemas and images) becomes linked to pre-intellectual language in the form of babbling. ‘Thought becomes verbal and speech rational.’
Phase 2: From two to seven, the child does not distinguish clearly between private thoughts and public conversation. Both are expressed externally in egocentric speech. Speech thus serves as a means of imposing patterns upon thought.
Phase 3: From seven onwards, thought becomes internalised. The thinking aloud of the previous phase continues in the form of ‘internal speech’, the voice in the head which plays a role in reading, in writing and in the rehearsal of items which need to be memorised.
Concept formation. Vygotsky suggested that the way in which children learn to categorise the world around them followed three phases.
Phase 1: The child puts together disparate objects in a heap to form a syncretic relationship. A group of objects is created at random; the group then becomes defined by its spatial proximity.
Phase 2: The child begins to think in complexes, associations based upon concrete relationships between objects, rather than simply its own impressions. At this stage, Vygotsky identified what he terms a chain complex: a child used QUAH (= quack) for a duck on a pond, then any liquid including milk, then a coin with an eagle on it, then any round coin-like object. Each new item that is added has something in common with a previous member of the category.
Phase 3: The child moves from grouping objects on the basis of maximum similarity to grouping them on the basis of a single attribute (e.g. roundedness or flatness). When a trait (or potential concept) has been identified, it now becomes stable and established.
Cognitive and linguistic development. Vygotsky saw human behaviour as closely related to the social environment in which it developed. He suggested that, for the developing child, there was always a potential area of skill and knowledge (a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)) just ahead of what it could currently achieve. Vygotsky argued that a child is enabled to enter the next ZPD as a result of communicative interaction with its carers, who provide step-by-step support for the learning process. The concept of a ZPD has been invoked in discussion of both first and second language acquisition.
See also: Scaffolding, Social-interactionism, Thought and language
Further reading: Vygotsky (1934/1962)
