Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is Vygotsky’s concept that a child’s intellectual abilities can be developed only through an interactional involvement where support and guidance are offered within the child’s ZPD (Mercer & Littleton, 2007). Vygotsky’s theory of ZPD is used as a tool for interpretation of a student’s cognitive ability that is achieved over a period of time through support from an adult or a more capable peer targeting cognitive development (Mercer & Littleton, 2007; Mercer, 2008; Martin, 2009). Based on the idea of ZPD, teaching should be set within the child’s ZPD and focus on the development of the child’s abilities and potential for learning rather than focusing on what the child can already do (Martin, 2009). Vygotsky (1978) suggested that learning should be equivalent to the child’s developmental level and that children of the same age do not necessarily have the same developmental age. Thus, Vygotsky (1978) defined ZPD as

“the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in

Vygotsky’s definition argued that ZPD is the difference of what a person can achieve individually and what the same person can achieve with the support from someone else or from cultural tools (Lantolf, 2000). Lantolf defined ZPD as the context where social forms of mediation are developed (Lantolf, 2000, p. 16). The metaphor of the ZPD for teaching and learning is perhaps one of the most fundamental ideas of Vygotsky trying to show the process through which educational learning influences intelligence. ZPD is not a situated physical phenomenon but a metaphor for a concept that is used for understanding the way meditational tools are appropriated and internalised (Lantolf, 2000). Students, when learning, do not to copy exactly teachers’ capabilities but they usually reform what the expert is introducing to them and thus appropriate it by either imitating or collaborating in the ZPD (Vygotsky, 1987). Here, it must be noted that imitation in ZPD is an activity where the student is not considered as a repeater but as a communicative being. A repeater offers an exact copy of what the teacher says without recognising the goal directed action. This way repeating is not considered as effective or communicative (Vygotsky, 1987).

4.4 ‘Scaffolding’

Vygotsky’s idea was that learning is a collaborative procedure which engages dialogue between a child and an adult where the child can acquire knowledge through “scaffolding”, that is, offering gradual support to a learner from an important other such as the teacher (Martin, 2009; Mercer, 1996). The idea of scaffolding was first introduced by Wood et al. (1976) and it is related to concepts such as “guided participation”, “the guided construction of knowledge” and dialogic teaching” (Mercer,

Development (ZPD) to explain the way a child’s thought is transformed into deeper understanding through dialogue or “scaffolding” (Mercer, 2008, Martin, 2009, Cole et al. 1978).

Researchers highlight that sociocultural theory underlines the important role of a teacher in assisting students to construct knowledge and develop ways of describing and understanding experience. Martin (2009) stated that the acquisition of knowledge can be achieved through communication and dialogue. Bruner (1990) argued that children’s individual development is formed by their dialogues and conversations with adults as well as by the support from a “more competent learner” which can offer “scaffolding” to a student. As Vygotsky stated, the “intramental” (learning within individual) social actions will enhance and promote “intermental” (learning between individuals) cognitive development (Mercer, 2004, Vygotsky, 1978). Vygotsky (1978) argued that:

“An interpersonal process is transformed into an intrapersonal one. Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first between people (interpsycholgical) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory and to the formation of concepts. All the higher actions originate as actual relations between human individuals” (p.57).

Sociocultural researchers found that the development of cognitive abilities are related to the “intramental” and the “intermental” mediated by language (Mercer et al. 1999). Moreover, Mercer’s et al. (2004) findings support the idea that the introduction of children into educational language practices affects their use of language as a cognitive tool. Hence, their findings supported the statement that a sociocultural view can be the most appropriate theoretical foundation for the development of educational practice

(Mercer, 1995). Mercer (2008) introduced the concept of Intermental Development Zone (IDZ) where the teacher and the learner constantly negotiate knowledge and understanding through an activity they are both involved in. The idea of IDZ follows the Vygotsky’s primary concept of the ZPD and still focuses on the way the learner develops his/her thinking after support in an activity but considers the potential contributions of both the teacher and the learner. Mercer (2008) added to Vygotksy’s claim that suitable guidance can affect learning development by showing that learning can be a result of interthinking if the teacher’s efforts are considered as determining what a learner is achieving and that this progress is jointly created.

Moreover, language is considered as an important tool for ensuring understanding. Talk allows individuals to be involved in a collaborative effort to acquire meaning or negotiate new understandings (Mercer, 2000). Language is created not just for transferring views but also for permitting the combination of thoughts and intelligence in a collective way which enhances people’s understandings of the world (Mercer, 2000). Mercer (2000) stated that effective communication for children is a product of comprehending how language is used in their home community. Thus, greater conceptualisations of how individuals are related to their societies can be achieved through the study of collective ways of acquiring knowledge. Language equips individuals with a means of “thinking together” for the collective creation of knowledge and understanding (Mercer, 2000). Researchers in this field have provided evidence into how language, thought and social practices are interconnected; this is also what this study will try to prove in further chapters.