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Sociocultural Theory

Conference Paper · June 2015

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2642.1921

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Nanang Zubaidi
State University of Malang
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SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY
Nanang Zubaidi
Workshop Researching Language
University of Melbourne
April 16, 2015
2
GOAL
 To present a general overview of Sociocultural
Theory (SCT), and its relation to human cognitive
development.
 To outline some aspects of language that are
relevant to SCT.

3
SCT: A THEORY OF MIND
 Initiated by Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934).

 Terminology
“Despite the label “Sociocultural” the theory is not a
theory of the social or of the cultural aspects of human
existence….it is, rather,…a theory of mind…that
recognizes the central role that social relationships and
culturally constructed artifacts play in organizing
uniquely human forms of thinking” (Lantolf, 2004:30-1)
 Through SCT, Vygotsky focused on the
relationships between individual’s psychological
aspects and the social and culturally produced
contexts and artifacts that transform the 4
individual’s cognitive or mental functions.
 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Maturation (nature rather than
nurture)
 Changes are genetically
Human pre-determined
Development  Similar across
individuals and cultures

Physical Personal Social Cognitive

development development development development

Principles :
• Different rates
• Orderly 5
• Gradual
SCT & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Culture

Development

Social Language
Interaction 6

Retrieved from: Korb, K.A. (n.d., p.6)

 SCT: MIND-BODY RELATION
 Upward reductionism
 Downward reductionism

 Vigotsy’s dialectics of mind (world  human)

Formed by
 abstract (theoretical domain) and
 concrete (emprical realm)

http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/big-cartoon-whale-17349766.jpg http://cliparts.co/cliparts/pT7/K8A/pT7K8AXec.png
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT &
SOCIAL INTERACTION
 Cognitive development occurs in
interpersonal contact.
 Knowledge or information is co-constructed:

 interpsychologically
 intrapsychologically
 People's thinking differs dramatically
between cultures.

8
CHILD: VYGOTSKY’S RESEARCH AGENDA
 SCT is not to be limited to childhood and
adolescents.
 However, most research done by Vygotsky involve
children.

 Child is a product of social interaction.

 Social world mediates children's cognitive
development.
 In dyadic interaction (e.g. children and parent).
 Knowledge is personally constructed.
9
CHILD’S KNOWLEDGE PROCESS

If Mom looks fearful,

child won’t cross.

If Mom looks happy,

child will cross.

10
Child uses emotional cues from social partner to
interpret new things!
VYGOTSKY’S SCT
Main SCT ideas on cognitive (mental) development:
• Internalization

• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

• Scaffolding

• Mediation

• Dynamic Assessment

11
INTERNALIZATION
 Internalization - taking in knowledge observed in
a social context.
 Language is key to the internalization of complex
ideas.

12
 ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT (ZPD)
 “…the distance between the actual development level as
determined by independent problem solving and the
level of potential development as determined through
problem solving under adult guidance or in
collaboration with more capable peers.” (Vygotsky,
1978, p. 86)

13
Retrieved from
http://d75822.medialib.glogster.com/media/e4/e4624f94ddc69edc92994932a9d1046d3a43a8153be79566b2a6
529da78cfab1/zpd1-jpg.jpg
ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT (ZPD)
 Students should be assisted to achieve slightly
more than what they might do by themselves
(Woolfolk, 2010, p.31)
 Restricted to child development (Chaiklin via
Lantolf & Poehner, 2008)
 Zone of proximal development vs zone of
potential development (Negueruela in Lantolf
& Poehner, 2008)

14
15
YU GI OH
Card game

16
17
SCAFFOLDING
 Competent assistance or support, usually
provided through mediation of the environment
by a parent or teacher, by which cognitive, socio-
emotional, and behavioral forms of development
are facilitated.

18
EXAMPLE OF SCAFFOLDING IN A CLASSROOM
 A teacher first instructing her English L2 students to
write an essay using correct pronunciation.
 As the week goes on,

 He asks his students to practice writing an essay

with peers,
 He gives students feedback.
 Students process the feedback.
 Eventually, the students are able to complete
writing task with correct punctuation without his
guidance.
19
MEDIATION
 Human contact with the world is indirect and is mediated
by signs (tools) (lantolf & Poehner, 2008, p.7)
 Psychological tools Cultural
 Social tools tools

Cultural tools: “People could represent their thoughts

well when they are familiar with the communication
form used.”

 Learning is mediated
 Cognitive development is not a direct result of activity,
but it is indirect; other people must interact with the
learner, use mediatory tools to facilitate the learning 20
process, and then cognitive development may occur.
VYGOTSKY’S MEDIATION
(LANTOLF & POEHNER, 2008, P. 8)
• Implicit vs Explicit mediation (Vygotsky, 1987 via Lantolf & Poehner, 2008, p. 8)
Implicit Explicit
Transparent
Not artificially introduced into Intentionally and obviously
ongoing action introduced into the course of an
activity either by the individual or
by someone else
Supracommunicative view of
language
Speech is is implicated in the
thought process

Forbidden Color Task

21

Retrieved from http://www.clipartbest.com/cliparts/9ip/Rpd/9ipRpdGiE.png

LEONT’EV’S FORBIDDEN COLOR TASK
 “…Our ability to use auxiliary means to mediate
thinking develops over time and eventually
become interiorized as we become adult.” (Lantolf
& Poehner, 2008, p.10).

22
VYGOTSKY’S MEDIATION
(LANTOLF & POEHNER, 2008, P. 11)

• Metacognitive vs Cognitive mediation (Lantolf &

Poehner, 2008, p. 11)

• Metacognitive mediation: Process through

which humans control their thinking through
the use of (implicit or explicit) signs

• Cognitive mediation: domain specific quality of

the semantic content of self-directed speech

23
DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT
 Dynamic Assessment: What children can do with
assistance better reflects intelligence than what a
child can do alone
 The experimenter progressively provides more clues
on how to solve the task
 Goal is to assess how much support a child requires
in order to solve the task

24
LANGUAGE ROLE IN COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
 Language plays a central role in mental development.
 As a primary means of thinking and information
transmission between expert and learner  means
for mediating higher level thinking skills
 Becomes important tool of intellectual adaptation
 Language development is a part of the manner in
which many of us learn about nuances of our culture
and appropriate forms of interaction.
 Those who have mastered one language are better
able to learn others.
 Young children tend to learn foreign languages more
slowly than adolescent.
25
VYGOTSKY’S VIEW ON LANGUAGE
 Vygotsky’s view of linguistic signs was very much
in line with Saussure’s.
 Signs have indicative & symbolic functions.
Indicative function predominates in the early
stages of ontogenesis, while symbolic function
comes in later development (Vygotsky, 1981).
 Signs have two functions (as a unit of social
interaction & a unit of thinking) that link
thinking to communicative activity.
 The meaning of a sign has a reversibility to act
upon the agent, the environment, etc. similarly
(Prawat via Lantolf & Thorne, 2006, p.18).

26
CRITIQUE OF SCT
 Strengths
 Attention to social and cultural context
 Sensitive to the diversity of development
 Weaknesses
 ZPD is vague
 Little description of the process of development or an
explanation of development
 Difficult to study the cultural-historical contexts

(Korb, n.d., p.14) 27

REFERENCE
 Korb, K.A. (n.d.). Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory.
University of Jos. 680_04Vygotsky.ppt
 Lantolf, J.P. & Poehner, M.E. (Eds). (2008).
Sociocultural theory and the teaching of second
languages. London: Equinox Publishing Ltd.
 Lantolf & Appel (Eds.). (1994). Vygotskian
approaches to second language research.
Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
 Applied Linguistics Revision of Theories.ppt
 Swain, M., Kinnear, P. &
 Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The
development of higher psychological processes. 28
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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