TESTE DE PROFICÊNCIA – Habilidade Leitora – Name: ______Date: ______/______/______Total scores: 50 Scores obtained: ______Grade: ______

Lev Vygotsky

by Saul McLeod

1 The work of Lev Vygotsky (1934) has become the foundation of much research and theory in 2 cognitive development over the past several decades, particularly of what has become known 3 as Social Development Theory. 4 5 Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of 6 cognition Vygotsky, 1978), as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the 7 process of "making meaning." 8 9 Unlike Piaget's notion that childrens' development must necessarily precede their learning, 10 Vygotsky argued, "learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing 11 culturally organized, specifically human psychological function" (1978, p. 90). In other words, 12 social learning tends to precede (i.e. come before) development. 13 14 Vygotsky has developed a sociocultural approach to cognitive development. He developed his 15 theories at around the same time as Jean Piaget was starting to develop his ideas (1920's and 16 30's), but he died at the age of 38 and so his theories are incomplete - although some of his 17 writings are still being translated from Russian. 18 19 No single principle (such as Piaget's equilibration) can account for development. Individual 20 development cannot be understood without reference to the social and cultural context within 21 which it is embedded. Higher mental processes in the individual have their origin in social 22 processes. 23 24 Vygotsky's theory differs from that of Piaget in a number of important ways: 25 1: Vygotsky places more emphasis on culture affecting/shaping cognitive development - this 26 contradicts Piaget's view of universal stages and content of development. (Vygotsky does not 27 refer to stages in the way that Piaget does). 28 (i) Hence Vygotsky assumes cognitive development varies across cultures, whereas Piaget 29 states cognitive development is mostly universal across cultures. 30 31 2: Vygotsky places considerably more emphasis on social factors contributing to cognitive 32 development (Piaget is criticized for underestimating this). 33 (i) Vygotsky states cognitive development stems from social interactions from guided learning 34 within the zone of proximal development as children and their partners co-construct

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35 knowledge. In contrast Piaget maintains that cognitive development stems largely from 36 independent explorations in which children construct knowledge of their own. 37 (ii) For Vygotsky, the environment in which children grow up will influence how they think and 38 what they think about. 39 40 3: Vygotsky places more (and different) emphasis on the role of language in cognitive 41 development (again Piaget is criticized for lack of emphasis on this). For Vygotsky, cognitive 42 development results from an internalization of language. 43 According to Piaget, language depends on thought for its development (i.e. thought comes 44 before language). For Vygotsky, thought and language are initially separate systems from the 45 beginning of life, merging at around three years of age, producing verbal thought (inner speech). 46 47 4: According to Vygotsky adults are an important source of cognitive development. Adults 48 transmit their culture's tools of intellectual adaptation that children internalize. In contrast Piaget 49 emphasizes the importance of peers as peer interaction promotes social perspective taking. 50 51 Effects of Culture: - Tools of intellectual adaptation 52 Like Piaget, Vygotsky claimed that infants are born with the basic materials/abilities for 53 intellectual development - Piaget focuses on motor reflexes and sensory abilities. 54 Lev Vygotsky refers to Elementary Mental Functions – 55  Attention 56  Sensation 57  Perception 58  Memory 59 60 Eventually, through interaction within the sociocultural environment, these are developed into 61 more sophisticated and effective mental processes/strategies which he refers to as Higher 62 Mental Functions. 63 64 For example, memory in young children this is limited by biological factors. However, culture 65 determines the type of memory strategy we develop. E.g., in our culture we learn note-taking to 66 aid memory, but in pre-literate societies other strategies must be developed, such as tying knots 67 in string to remember, or carrying pebbles, or repetition of the names of ancestors until large 68 numbers can be repeated. 69 70 Vygotsky refers to tools of intellectual adaptation - these allow children to use the basic mental 71 functions more effectively/adaptively, and these are culturally determined (e.g. memory 72 mnemonics, mind maps). 73 74 Vygotsky therefore sees cognitive functions, even those carried out alone, as affected by the 75 beliefs, values and tools of intellectual adaptation of the culture in which a person develops and 76 therefore socio-culturally determined. The tools of intellectual adaptation therefore vary from 77 culture to culture - as in the memory example. 78 79 Social Influences on Cognitive Development 80 Like Piaget, Vygotsky believes that young children are curious and actively involved in their own 81 learning and the discovery and development of new understandings/schema. However, 82 83 Núcleo de Língua – Itaperi Fone: 3101 – 9673 E-mail: [email protected]

84 Vygotsky placed more emphasis on social contributions to the process of development, whereas 85 Piaget emphasized self-initiated discovery. 86 87 According to Vygotsky (1978), much important learning by the child occurs through social 88 interaction with a skillful tutor. The tutor may model behaviors and/or provide verbal instructions 89 for the child. Vygotsky refers to this as cooperative or collaborative dialogue. The child seeks to 90 understand the actions or instructions provided by the tutor (often the parent or teacher) then 91 internalizes the information, using it to guide or regulate their own performance. 92 93 Shaffer (1996) gives the example of a young girl who is given her first jigsaw. Alone, she 94 performs poorly in attempting to solve the puzzle. The father then sits with her and describes or 95 demonstrates some basic strategies, such as finding all the corner/edge pieces and provides a 96 couple of pieces for the child to put together herself and offers encouragement when she does 97 so. As the child becomes more competent, the father allows the child to work more 98 independently. According to Vygotsky, this type of social interaction involving cooperative or 99 collaborative dialogue promotes cognitive development. 100 101 In order to gain an understanding of Vygotsky's theories on cognitive development, one must 102 understand two of the main principles of Vygotsky's work: the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) 103 and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). 104 105 More Knowledgeable Other 106 The more knowledgeable other (MKO) is somewhat self-explanatory; it refers to someone who 107 has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular 108 task, process, or concept. 109 110 Although the implication is that the MKO is a teacher or an older adult, this is not necessarily the 111 case. Many times, a child's peers or an adult's children may be the individuals with more 112 knowledge or experience. For example, who is more likely to know more about the newest 113 teenage music groups, how to win at the most recent PlayStation game, or how to correctly 114 perform the newest dance craze - a child or their parents? 115 116 In fact, the MKO need not be a person at all. Some companies, to support employees in their 117 learning process, are now using electronic performance support systems. Electronic tutors have 118 also been used in educational settings to facilitate and guide students through the learning 119 process. The key to MKOs is that they must have (or be programmed with) more knowledge 120 about the topic being learned than the learner does.

Source: http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

Responda as questões abaixo com base no artigo acima.

1- Qual a ideia geral do texto? ______(Vale 2 escores) Núcleo de Língua – Itaperi Fone: 3101 – 9673 E-mail: [email protected]

2- Qual a teoria sustentada por Vygotsky por muitas décadas? Especificamente qual teoria? Oque ele pensa sobre o papel da comunidade? ______

(Vale 3 escores)

3- De acordo com o artigo, qual a diferença entre as teorias de Piaget e Vygotsky? ______(Vale 10 escores)

4- Qual a concepção de Vygotsky sobre a aprendizagem do indivíduo? ______(Vale 5 escores) Núcleo de Língua – Itaperi Fone: 3101 – 9673 E-mail: [email protected]

5- Por que a interação social é importante para o aprendizado da criança? Justifique a sua resposta baseado no texto. ______(Vale 5 escores)

6- Escreva “V” para as assertivas verdadeiras e “F” para as assertivas falsas. ( ) Vygotsky acredita que as crianças são curiosas e ativamente envolvidos em sua própria aprendizagem e na descoberta e desenvolvimento de novas compreensões / esquema. ( ) Shaffer (1996) cita um exemplo contrário à teoria de Vygotsky. ( ) Para compreender a teoria de Vygotsky sobre o desenvolvimento cognitivo, é preciso entender somente um princípio do seu trabalho: o outro mais experiente (MKO). ( ) O mais experiente outra (MKO) é um pouco auto-explicativa; refere-se a uma pessoa que tem uma melhor compreensão ou um nível de capacidade mais elevada do que o aluno, com respeito a uma tarefa, processo, ou conceito particular. ( ) As funções mentais superiores são desenvolvimentos de processos mentais/estratégias mais sofisticadas e eficazes (Vale 5 escores)

7- Traduza os trechos abaixo. Lembre-se de usar termos apropriados e tenha zelo pela linguagem formal e com a ortografia: - Trecho I - “Although the implication is that the MKO is a teacher or an older adult, this is not necessarily the case. Many times, a child's peers or an adult's children may be the individuals with more knowledge or experience. For example, who is more likely to know more about the newest teenage music groups, how to win at the most recent PlayStation game, or how to correctly perform the newest dance craze - a child or their parents?” (Linhas 110 – 114)

______(Vale 10 escores) Núcleo de Língua – Itaperi Fone: 3101 – 9673 E-mail: [email protected]

- Trecho II – “In fact, the MKO need not be a person at all. Some companies, to support employees in their learning process, are now using electronic performance support systems. Electronic tutors have also been used in educational settings to facilitate and guide students through the learning process. The key to MKOs is that they must have (or be programmed with) more knowledge about the topic being learned than the learner does.” (Linhas 116 – 120) ______(Vale 10 escores)

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