According to which theorist language plays a crucial role in the development of cognitive ability
Answers
Vygotsky described developmental changes in children’s thinking in terms of cultural tools; they use these to make sense of their world. Generally, they use technical tools to change objects or gain mastery over the environment. Moreover, they used psychological tools to organise behavior or thought. According to Vygotsky’s view, society shapes a child’s mind through the transmission of tools which are appropriate for their culture. Both the culture and the child’s experiences are necessary to understand children’s cognitive development (“Social Development Theory,” n.d.)
Vygotsky’s theory was an attempt to explain awareness the product of socialization. For example, in the learning of language or first words, peers or adults are noticing the first utterance and the purpose of communication but after they recognize that they become internalized and allow “inner speech” (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000).
Vygotsky believed that language was one of the most important psychological tools that effects children’s cognitive development. He identified that there are three different stages in the children’s use of language. Firstly, language is an essential factor for communication (social speech). Next, children begin to use egocentric or private speech to control their own thinking. The last stage is language development. Children use verbal thoughts to guide what they are thinking and their actions. (referance).
Vygotsky also believed that language and thought first become independent after them being interdependent. He suggested that attainment of a new word was the beginning of the development of a concept. This is supported by a classic study by Carmichael (1932) who gave participants one of two labels for certain drawings. A kidney shape was described either kidney bean or canoe. Following that participants were asked to draw the shape. If the drawing was different form their label according to which label they had been given. As a result of this words can help us to remember things.
On the other hand, Sinclair- de -Zward (1969) tried to teach children who could not use comparative terms that were not in their vocabulary. (p116). Such as, bigger or shorter, she found that there was very little improvement in their ability to conserve.
The major theme of Vygotsky’s theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. Vygotsky (1978) states: “Every function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals.” (p57).
Moreover, Vygotsky also identified three concepts in particular for cognitive development to proceed effectively. “The zone of proximal development is the distance between what children can do by themselves and the next learning that they can be helped to achieve with competent assistance” (Raymond, 2000, p.176). The scaffolding teaching strategy provides individualized support based on the learner’s ZPD (Chang, Sung, & Chen, 2002).
The first is the Zone of proximal development. This zone describes the range of difficult tasks or it is very hard for the learners complete this task alone. However, learners can complete this task with appropriate assistance or someone who is more knowledgeable. Thus according to Vygotsky, cognitive development will occur when a learner is confronted by a task that lies within the zone, if a task is easy to complete for task learners then no cognitive development will occur. Also if the task is too hard for a learner to complete the task alone or even with assistance then no cognitive development will occur. (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000)