Blog One, Theorist: Vygotsky

Vygotsyky
Theorist Vygotsky put forward a theory based on a social constructivist view. Vygotsky believed that private speech is an intergral part of a childs development of thinking. This development he classified in four stages:

1. Nonverbal thought and conceptual speech - At this stage there is no link between thought and speech

2. Beginning of a merging between thinking and speech - Connecting thoughts with speech develops – can label common objects, remember their name and converse with other

3. Egocentric speech (overt) - Speech starts to direct thinking and behaviour, the child will announce what they are going to do before they do it e.g. “I am going to play with my toys”

4. Egocentric speech (covert) - Private speech develops, children start to use abbreviated speech about their actions (Marsh, 2004 pp. 24 - 27)

This theory is called the ‘Zone of Proximal Development’. It distinguishes what children can do on their own and what they can do with others (Krause et.al. 2003). http://web.syr.edu/~hcavino/cognitive_theory.htm#vygotsky Through this link you can see a concept map of Vygotsky’s Theory.

In my teaching I will definitely try and incorporate elements of this theory.

The use of reflective thought has been proven to be very beneficial to learning. Ways I may use this are a ‘quiet time’ at the closure of the lesson to get the students to think about what they have learnt or even at the beginning of the lesson before set group work so the students feel they have used some individual input towards the task.