Sociocultural Theories

Sociocultural theory description + feature

• Emphasise how interaction of surrounding people + culture influences child’s development (as opposed to just interaction with general environment)

• Skills + knowledge imparted by others are those valued by the culture

Key processes (2)

• Guided participation

  • Social scaffolding

Guided participation def

• Process in which more knowledgeable individuals organise activities in ways that allow less knowledgeable people to learn

Social scaffolding def

A type of guided participation in which more competent people provide a temporary framework that supports children thinking at a higher level than children could manage on their own

Cultural tools def + examples

• The innumerable products of human ingenuity than enhance thinking

• E.g. symbol systems, manufactures objects, skills + values

Key features of Vygotsky’s theory (3)

• Children participate in activities specific to socio-historical-cultural context (as opposed to universal logical, mathematical concepts emphasised by Piaget)

• Intermental to intramental shift in cognitive skills

• Gradual, continuous change

Process of internalising speech + ages (3)

• Behaviour is first controlled by social/external speech other people’s statements (around age 2)

• Then controlled by private (egocentric) speech: children tell themselves what to do aloud (like their parents might have), (around age 3-4)

• Then controlled by inner (silent) speech (thought) (around age 6-7)

Vygotsky on development of thought + language

• Develop independently but later converge to form thinking using internalised speech

How Vygotsky’s theory sees children (2)

• As teachers + learners (from very early age)

• As products of their culture

Relationship between individual + culture

• Cultures influence individuals but individuals also influence culture (bidirectional)

Intersubjectivity def, why important + precursor

• The mutual understanding that people share during communication

• Vital for effective teaching + learning

• Pre-cursor: joint attention

Joint attention def

Process in which social partners intentionally focus on a common referent in the external environment

Zone of proximal development

• Zone where children can complete task with help

Similarities (1) + differences (2) to Piaget

• Contructivist

• Contextualist: culture influences cognition

• Social interaction critical for development

Weaknesses of Vygotsky’s theory (3)

• Too vague to be a theory

• Emphasises how skills develop (i.e. socially), but does not specify which skills are acquired

• Mechanisms of learning are not clear (how does social interaction influence learning?)