LANGUAGE ACQUISITION – 201

WEEK 7

What I learnt was what social interactionism says to us, language

teachers.Teaching should be social-bounded.The interaction that people
make creates a meaningful context in the classroom.Social interactionism
is influenced by humanistic approach and behaviorism:it sees learners as
whole person and it uses of rewards and punisment.As in the Piagetian
view, independent learning through exploration is very important for social
interactionists.According to Piaget, meaning is more important than the
structure and language cannot be divided into small pieces, it also
includes signs and symbols.The concept of mediation is important for both
Vygotsky and Feuerstein.There are some significant people in the learners
lives,the mediators who helps you find your way and they have gerat
effects on our learners’ learning.Vygotsky’s most widely known concept is
probably the zone of proximal development.It means that the knowledge
taugt to our students should be just beyond their capability.( I suppose
that is sth like comprehensible input).According to Feuerstein,anyone can
be a fully effective learner.There may be some learning difficulties as a
result of some psychological or traumatic experience but if the necessary
skills and strategies are applied to overcome our students’ learning
difficulties, they can be fully effective learners.One of the most known
aspects of his work is Instrumental Enrichment; we must teach our
learners how to learn.He is also famous for dynamic assessment, which is
a way of assessing the true potential of children.

What I had difficulty in figuring out was nothing.At least I hope so

I suppose I need to focus more on what I can do to see true potential of my

future students.

I believe I am going to use the knowledge of social interactionism in my

teaching.I am going to try to reveal true potential of my students and I will
never give up.I will be hopeful for their learning.Lastly, Iwill always keep in
mind that everyone can be a fully effective learner.