Cognitive Theory of Vygotsky

The principle which is postulated by the Cognitive Development Theory (CDT) of Vygotsky could be understood as the fact that cognitive development is primarily premised upon the fundamentals of social interaction. The core constituents of this theory are the concepts of interdependence of thought, culture specific cognitive development tools and the contribution of language in cognitive development (Minick, 2017). Another significant theoretical construct of Vygotsky has been that of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Furthermore, the foundations of the constructivist approach have been partially developed upon the theoretical constructs of the CDT of Vygotsky. The restructuring of the formal educational framework has been contributed to greatly by this theory (Veraksa and Sheridan, 2018).

The application of the CDT in terms of human development has been oriented towards the projection of the arguments that human cognitive abilities are constructed and guided through social interactions. In this context, the existing cultural experiences serve as the mediators for the establishment and development of particular abilities including memory development, learning processes, problem solving abilities and the proficiency of concentration and attention. The development of thinking in children concerning the environment, to which they are exposed to, primarily stems from the application of predominant culture specific tools which could include multiple social artifacts (Poehner and Infante, 2017).

ZPD has been the most significant contribution of Vygotsky. ZPD suggests that particularity of task accomplishment could be almost independently performed by children who could be experiencing the ZPD states, however, the assistance from adults become the crucial enabling factor completion of their learning activities. This could be exemplified through the hypothetical scenario of a child requiring the assistance from adults to properly balance a bicycle so as to learn the methods of operating one. Under such a scenario, it could be acknowledged that the child would be within the ZPD, however, the child would require temporary support by adults to perform such critical tasks as balancing the bicycle. This process culminates in the organisation of newly acquired information, by the psychological framework of the child, into the existing cerebral schema so as to utilise such information as guidance points to learn to perform such tasks independently in the future. Thus, there are 2 significant tiers which could be identified by the analysis of ZPD in terms of management of learning experiences by children. These are the Upper Limit (where the addition to existing learning experiences could be accepted by the child through the assistance of an instructor, peer or teacher) and the Lower Limit (the problem solving level involving different tasks which could be achieved by the child in an independent manner) (Daniels, 2016). Vygotsky outlines such teachers, instructors or peers with the terminology as More Knowledgeable Other (MKO). Furthermore, the concept of Scaffolding comprises another significant theoretical construct of the CDT of Vygotsky. This is reflective of a particular aspect of ZPD where the indication entails the enabling factor of the MKO provided temporary assistance to child learners in terms of their progression towards autonomous performance of hitherto unprecedented learning (Galotti, 2015). Scaffolding also involves alterations of quantity and quality of support provided to the child learners through the teaching discourse as the MKO could adjust the guidance measures so as to better assist the learner as per the demonstrated learning performance level. The developmental level related learning criteria and, the necessity of focusing on learning, are the two most substantial contribution of Vygotsky in terms of explanation of psychological framework of learning. The approach propagated by Vygotsky has been effective in enabling teachers and tutors to outline the zones of learning, through the theoretical framework of ZPD, where the tutee or the child learner could become able to undertake tutor assisted performance of learning successfully (Poehner and Infante, 2017). This entails a scientific and positive approach in terms of impartation of learning experiences on the child learners by their tutors or teachers. Furthermore, the concept of Scaffolding could also enable the teachers or peers to better acknowledge the process through which a child could learn and understand about new relationships to which they had been oblivious of previously.

The most evident disadvantage of the CDT of Vygotsky is that it is not precisely specific about the changes which occur with the progress of children in terms of age. Furthermore, the pitfalls in the concept of assistance through Scaffolding are also numerous since this concept generalises the multimodal learning processes and does not specify the effects of role reversals between the learners and the peers.

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Reference List

Daniels, H., 2016. Vygotsky and dialogic pedagogy. Dialogic pedagogy: The importance of dialogue teaching and learning, pp.34-50.

Galotti, K.M., 2015. Cognitive development: Infancy through adolescence. Sage Publications.

Minick, N., 2017. The development of Vygotsky's thought: an introduction to Thinking and Speech. In Introduction to Vygotsky (pp. 35-58). Routledge.

Poehner, M.E. and Infante, P., 2017. Mediated development: A Vygotskian approach to transforming second language learner abilities. TESOL Quarterly, 51(2), pp.332-357.

Veraksa, N. and Sheridan, S. eds., 2018. Vygotsky’s Theory in Early Childhood Education and Research: Russian and Western Values. Routledge.