The zone of proximal development as an overarching concept: A framework for synthesizing Vygotsky’s theories

The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is defined as an overarching concept that integrates the main tenets of Vygotsky’s theory of human development. The conceptualization of the ZPD begins with its social, cultural, and historical context and traces its development as a spatial and temporal metaphor that reflects the sociogenetic root of all human mental functioning. Beyond the explication of sociogenesis, the ZPD is reconceptualized to include the notions of voice and dialogicality. The insights gained from the fields of semiotics and discourse studies allow a broader understanding of the ZPD by bringing to light participant structures and institutional and historical forces that may not have been included in the dominant interpretations of the ZPD.     

从“最近发展区”理论到“两高”教学原则

维果茨基的“最近发展区”概念创造性地阐明了教学、教育与发展之间的辨证关系。赞科夫从“最近发展区”理论中得到启示,建立了发展性教学体系,其“两高”教学原则是“最近发展区”理论在教学实践中发展应用的结果。     

Understanding Vygotsky for the Classroom: Is It Too Late?

Determining the capability of Vygotsky’s cultural–historical theory to fulfill key functions of educational theory (such as revealing the complexity of apparently simple events) has been hindered primarily by the following factors: (a) inaccurate information about a minor discussion, the zone of proximal development (ZPD), attracted attention early on and became identified as a major aspect of his theory; (b) the unavailability of accurate translations of his complete theory for several years; and (c) the lack of key information in popular discussions of Vygotsky’s work on scientific (subject matter) concepts, a major factor in cognitive development. This article first describes the original misconception of the ZPD, current extrapolations, and discrepancies between Vygotsky’s thinking and those views of the ZPD. Then the pivotal role of subject matter concepts in cognitive development, their relationship to logical thinking, and levels of thinking (pseudoconcepts, preconcepts, true conceptual thinking) are discussed. Implications for education include (a) rethinking classroom practices (accurately assessing the ZPD, collaborative learning in the classroom), (b) providing a sound rationale for reducing the proliferation of content requirements, and (c) refuting the practice of introducing abstract ideas and complex intellectual capabilities in the early grades. Issues in constructing curricula according to Vygotsky’s perspective are also discussed.     

“最近发展区“语境中的教学之超越性

教育通过发展个体自我发展的能力实现人的自我超越.作为教育实践重要内容之一的教学,通过激发、形成学习者目前正处于成熟过程中而又未完全成熟的心理机能,即创造“最近发展区“,促进、引领着学习者超越自我,不断向前发展.     

Assessment of—or in—the zone of proximal development

Two perspectives on assessment are suggested by different interpretations of Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). The first perspective—developed in the field of dynamic assessment research—considers that it is possible to measure the learner's ZPD as an individual trait showing a certain stability across instructional settings. The second perspective draws on work on interactive formative assessment integrated in classroom instruction. In this approach, assessment intervenes in the ZPD created by a learner's on-going interactions with a given instructional setting. Critical appraisal is given to the way in which each perspective interprets Vygotsky's writings.     

Play in the Preschool Classroom: Its Socioemotional Significance and the Teacher’s Role in Play

The goals of this paper were two-fold. The first goal was to examine the emotional and social developmental value of play in the early childhood classroom. This issue is important because of the recent impetus for a more academic focus in early childhood classrooms, and questions about the developmental benefits of play. The second goal was to examine and discuss the role teachers could play in making play a developmental and educational experience. This is because understanding the significance of play could make teachers less apprehensive about using play to promote learning and development, and enable them answer questions regarding the value of play. Using these goals as a backdrop, this paper discussed views of children’s play; the defining characteristics of emotional and social development; play and the socioemotional development of children; and the role of early childhood teachers in children’s play.     

Bully/Victim Problems Among Preschool Children: a Review of Current Research Evidence

Bullying in schools has been identified as a serious and complex worldwide problem associated with negative short- and long-term effects on children’s psychosocial adjustment (Smith 1999; Ttofi and Farrington, Aggressive Behav 34(4):352–368, 2008). Entering kindergarten is a crucial developmental step in many children’s lives mainly because it is within this context where they participate, for the first time, as members in a stable peer group and well-organized team activities. Consequently, preschool may be the first context beyond the home environment where children’s difficulties in social interactions with peers can be primarily detected and assessed by adults and professionals. This paper reviews recent empirical evidence over the nature and different aspects of bullying among preschool children. Recent findings concerning the development of preschool bullying and its prevalence, family and genetic factors, gender and age differences, participant and peripheral roles, school context, methodological issues, and prevention policies are reviewed while directions for future research are addressed.     

Dynamics of the Sun-Earth-Moon system

The dynamics of the Sun-Earth-Moon system is discussed with special attention to the effects of Sun’s perturbations on the Moon’s orbit around the Earth. Important secular effects are the regression of the nodes, the advance of the perigee and the increase in the Moon’s mean longitude. We discuss the relationship of the first with the occurrence of eclipses, the second with the fluctuations in the moon’s synodic period, and the third with the slowing down of the Earth’s rotation due to tidal friction. The Sun-Earth-Moon system is compared with other triple celestial systems with regard to the intensity of tidal effects. S M Alladin is a retired professor of Astronomy, Osmania University, Hyderabad. He specialized in dynamical astronomy and did research on the dynamics of colliding and merging galaxies. He is interested in the interaction between religion and science. G M Ballabh is a retired professor of Astronomy, Osmania University, Hyderabad. His field of research includes dynamical astronomy and positional astronomy. At present he is the Chairman of the Standing Advisory Committee for the Positional Astronomy Centre, Kolkata     

Vygotsky from ZPD to ZCD in moral education: reshaping Western theory and practices in local context

This article explores Vygotsky’s concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) in the Malaysian context to support local reform of the Moral Education (ME) classroom. Small groups of students in three different types of school were involved in a participant action research (PAR) project. Such classrooms in Malaysia bring together students from various ethnicities aligned with Hindu, Confucian and Christian beliefs and understandings. Using the Malaysian multicultural ME classroom as a case study, we offer some examples of group conversations around moral dilemmas that illustrate ways that collaborative processes beyond the individual might expand an individual student’s ZPD and the consensual as well as divergent views of each group as a whole. This suggests possibilities for an extension of the ZPD into a zone of collaborative development (ZCD).     

Using the known to chart the unknown: A review of first-language influence on the development of English-as-a-second-language spelling skill

Currently, there is a practical demand and necessity for research on how English-as-a-second language (ESL) learners acquire literacy skills, such as spelling. One important issue of this research agenda is how ESL learners apply first-language knowledge to learning to spell in English. Twenty-seven studies were reviewed that investigated the influence of the first language on ESL learners’ development of English spelling skill. Evidence was found for both positive and negative transfer of first-language knowledge and processes to ESL learners’ English spelling. These results are in agreement with theoretical propositions about the interdependence between first- and second-language academic skills [e.g., Cummins, J. (1981). In California State Department of Education (Ed.), Schooling and language minority students: A theoretical framework (pp. 3–49). Los Angeles: Evaluation, Dissemination, and Assessment Center, California State University, Los Angeles]. The findings are discussed in relation to the ESL learner’s first-language proficiency level and distance between first language and English. Comparisons are drawn between ESL learners’ and English monolinguals’ spelling development and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Stretching performances in education: the impact of gay parenting and activism on identity and school change

This paper features one gay parent activist in the complex social milieu of his child’s school and his community, his actions meeting both resistance and concurrence as a larger movement operated locally and nationally to make schooling more accepting of and acceptable to gays and lesbians. The paper traces this man’s parenting processes and their effect on the schooling of many children, not only his own, and then contrasts his voice with the reluctant, often denying, and finally acquiescent voices of school people. The narrative captures the essence of cultural and identity change as well as individual and institutional processes. Turning to theory, I use postmodern dilemmas to define the episodic movements of the groups and the multipositionality of the individuals involved. Agency, social roles, and collaborative and individual activity illuminate the agenda of social groups effectively working with and through this parent to meet political goals for students.     

The Role of Students’ Personality Characteristics, Self-Perceived Competence and Learning Conceptions in the Acquisition and Development of Social Communicative Competence: A Longitudinal Study

An important purpose of higher social work education is to guide students to acquire and develop social-communicative competencies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role students’ personality characteristics, self-perceived communicative competence and learning conceptions play in the acquisition and development of social-communicative competencies. We designed and tested a hypothetical model on the student-related variables – self-perceived communicative competence, learning conceptions and reported learning activities regarding communication – in relation to performance scores. We were interested in developmental trends in the above mentioned variables. We also wanted to gain insight into the relationships among the variables. The study was set up according to a longitudinal, within-subjects design in order to study intra-individual changes. One-hundred and twenty-three first-year social-work students participated in this study. Many changes were found in students characteristics, reported deployed learning activities and study results during their first academic year. Except for confidence in “showing sympathy”, which was already relatively high at the beginning of the study, all scores on aspects of students’ self-perceived social-communicative competence increased. Assessment scores on comparable communication tests also increased significantly. Extraversion and emotional stability were the only two personality characteristics, which seemed rather stable. Agreeableness decreased while autonomy increased continuously during the first academic year. It seemed to be possible to set up a model, which may serve as a starting point for further research into the development of social-communicative competence.     

Bridging Pedagogies: Drama,Multiliteracies, and the Zone of Proximal Development

This article examines how one educator embraced Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) while using drama to scaffold learning about Dr. Seuss's The Lorax for first-grade students. This learning event is interpreted with reference to the ZPD and the New London Group's pedagogy of -multiliteracies. The author asserts the importance of considering both old and new pedagogical -theories when approaching present practice.     

The effect of dynamic assessment based instruction on Children’s Learning

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that dynamic assessment based instruction increases children’s learning by using a quasi-experimental research design in Korea. In this study, dynamic assessment is defined as a measurement method of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) as well as the qualitative and quantitative diagnostic information for individual children. In addition, dynamic assessment based instruction is defined as a teaching method using the diagnostic information types in order to increase children’s learning. In this study, 59 children between the ages of 4 and 5 participated. Three types of number concept achievement tests (pre-test, parallel test, and post-test) for each age group were developed and the content validity, face validity, and split-half reliability were examined. After conducting the pre-test, the children of each age group were divided into an experimental group and a control group. Dynamic assessment based instruction regarding number concepts was undertaken only with the experimental group for 4 weeks. Both groups took a post-test after completing the 4 weeks of classes. The ANCOVA technique wa ls used for data analysis. The result of this study shows that dynamic assessment based instruction has a significant effect on children’s learning of number concepts (in the case of 4-year-old children, F = 12.34, p<0.01; 5-year-old children, F = 20.03, P<0.01). Therefore, dynamic assessment based instruction should be used widely for children’s cognitive learning.     

A longitudinal analysis of English language learners’ word decoding and reading comprehension

This longitudinal investigation examined word decoding and reading comprehension measures from first grade through sixth grade for a sample of Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs). The sample included 261 children (average age of 7.2 years; 120 boys; 141 girls) at the initial data collection in first grade. The ELLs’ word decoding and reading comprehension scores showed quadratic growth over the course of the study. The sample’s reading comprehension, but not their word decoding, began to fall behind the normative sample starting in the third grade. Phonological awareness, rapid automatic naming (RAN), and oral language measures were used as predictors and correlated with growth rates in a manner consistent with past research.     

基于最近发展区理论的幼儿园教学有效性思考

幼儿园教学有效性标准是评价我国学前教育质量的重要参考指标。最近发展区(ZPD)虽然为儿童"潜在发展水平"提供一个宽度信息,但对这一区域具体如何识别和测量却并未给出解决方案。为解决这一困境,本文引入"强的最近发展区"这一新的概念作为评价有效教学的关键指标,并为其赋予新的内涵。这一内涵主要体现在:在整个教学活动中,儿童要经过持续的努力和多次的尝试;儿童在解决问题的时候需要一定的支持;儿童要完成或部分完成任务。     

最近发展区视角下的大学英语教学

大学英语教学的目的并非单纯地向学生传授语言基本知识,还要重视培养其独立思考与创新能力的发展。根据这一教学目标,本文试分析最近发展区理论内涵,并在此基础上通过对教学模式和教学内容的分析,来探讨最近发展区理论对大学英语教学的影响。     

Growing and developing as a university researcher

While there is a substantial body of literature on academics’ development as teachers, investigation of their development as researchers post-PhD is rare. This study undertook an investigation of academics’ ways of understanding their own growth and development as a university researcher. Four qualitatively different ways of understanding research development emerged: (1) Becoming confident as a researcher; (2) Becoming recognised as a researcher; (3) Becoming more productive as a researcher; and (4) Becoming more sophisticated as a researcher. The first category of development was seen as most relevant to the early stages of an academic career, when doing a PhD or during one’s first academic appointment, but may also re-occur at later stages of a career during changes in research direction, etc. The last three categories are seen as relevant to all career stages, including more advanced stages as well as the early stages of a research career. Comparisons between academics’ ways of understanding their growth and development as a university researcher and as a university teacher are also presented.     

Factors Affecting the Implementation of Argument in the Elementary Science Classroom. A Longitudinal Case Study

This longitudinal case study describes the factors that affect an experienced teacher’s attempt to shift her pedagogical practices in order to implement embedded elements of argument into her science classroom. Research data was accumulated over 2 years through video recordings of science classes. The Reformed Teacher Observation Protocol (RTOP) is an instrument designed to quantify changes in classroom environments as related to reform as defined by the National Research Council (National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1996b) and the National Research Council (Fulfilling the promise: Biology education in the nation’s schools, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1990) and was used to analyze videotaped science lessons. Analysis of the data shows that there was a significant shift in the areas of teacher questioning, and student voice. Several levels of subsequent analysis were completed related to teacher questioning and student voice. The data suggests a relationship between these areas and the implementation of scientific argument. Results indicate that the teacher moved from a traditional, teacher-centered, didactic teaching style to instructional practices that allowed the focus and direction of the lesson to be affected by student voice. This was accomplished by a change in teacher questioning that included a shift from factual recall to more divergent questioning patterns allowing for increased student voice. As student voice increased, students began to investigate ideas, make statements or claims and to support these claims with strong evidence. Finally, students were observed refuting claims in the form of rebuttals. This study informs professional development related to experienced teachers in that it highlights pedagogical issues involved in implementing embedded elements of argument in the elementary classroom.     

The structural relationships of social support, mother’s psychological status, and maternal sensitivity to attachment security in children with disabilities

The purpose of this study was to explore how social support, mother’s psychological status, and maternal sensitivity affected attachment security in children with disabilities by using the structural equation model (SEM). Subjects were 141 pairs of children with disabilities and theirs mothers. Empirical data was obtained through a series of questionnaires such as marital satisfaction, support from people around, maternal depression, and parenting stress. In addition, maternal sensitivity and attachment security were obtained through a Maternal Behavior Q-set and an Attachment Behavior Q-set. The results were as follows: first, mother’s psychological status was fully mediated by social support and maternal sensitivity. Secondly, mother’s psychological status had a negative effect on maternal sensitivity, while her maternal sensitivity, in turn, had a positive effect on the child’s attachment security. However, maternal sensitivity did not fully mediate between a mother’s psychological status and the child’s attachment security. These structural relationships were not different between children with pervasive developmental disorders and mental retardation. There were also no significant differences in the structural paths according to children’s developmental age.