Lev Vygotsky’s Theory Essay

The growth or the growing-up attend of a fry has been considered as the most critical and crucial part of a psyches life. It is in this stage where most changes take place which determines the durability or weakness of the foundations of ones skills and capabilities as he or she grows up. Human ontogeny has in like manner been an interesting topic or research in the field of psychology over the years. Theories and concepts thrust been formulated and develop in order to create a wide understanding of the serve well of human culture as it plays a significant part in a persons foundation as an adult.The developmental process of a child includes several aspects like the physiological, emotional, and cognitive development. In this paper, the cerebrate sh every(prenominal) be on cognitive development and the process of speech acquisition, as proposed and theorized by Lev Vygotsky. What is Cognitive Development and dustup Acquisition? Cognitive development is a part of the o verall dynamic process of human maturity. In current media, a lot of products like milk, supplements, and health commodities for children fill been announce to contribute on improving the wellness of a childs cognitive development.This shows how the current society values this aspect of child development with special importance. Cognitive development pertains to how an psyche understands and grasps ideas through meditateed factors and genetic science as well. This developmental aspect is made up of five fields, namely, entropy processing, intelligence activity, reasoning, linguistic communication development, and memory (Wells, 2008). Understanding the whole cognitive development of a child may not be complete without understanding these meat fields. However, this paper shall focus on one area which is manner of speaking development.The translation of intelligence and cognitive development has also become a habitual debate among psychologists like Vygotsky and Piaget. Pia get defines intelligence as the ability of an individual to align to his or her environment through several adaptation models which include the concepts of absorption and accommodation, some(prenominal) of which place stronger emphasis on the individual (cited in Lloyd, 1995). On the former(a) hand, Vygotsky argues that cognitive development refers to the capacity of a person to hold through instruction with an emphasis on the environment.Moreover, Vygotsky saw the capability of individuals to learn through instruction as the basic feature of human intelligence (cited in Lloyd, 1995). In medical terms, dustup development can be identified as the process wherein the complexity of symbols, sounds, and meanings combined is being grow steadily. This process shall depend on how a person interprets, understands, and perceives objects and symbols as influenced by his or her environment and learning process (Biology Online, 2005).Among children, especially those of 1 to 2 years of age , the early developments in address can be very well observed in their constant cooing, imitation of adult sounds and words, babbling, and utilize of shortened words and sentences (Biology Online, 2005). Lev Vygotskys Views on the Roots of Though and Language Lev Semenovich Vygotsky is a German psychologist who explained and expounded on the genetic approach to the early developments of thoughts and concepts in human development.He connected the changes and transitions occurring in this process from childhood to maturity through a series of human developmental stages (Marxist Internet Archive, 1990). Although his theories have been rejected in the United States during the earlier part of the political bout between the U. S. and Soviet Union, his works still became popular as the mothy War ended up to present date. His works basi diagnosey rotate around the grow of thought and language. It will be easier to understand Vygotskys theories in psychology by understanding the main arguments from which his theories are root from.His main arguments slightly intelligence and cognitions state that, (1) thinking is understood developmentally in terms of its roots and succeeding growth at the individual and cultural levels of analysis (2) thinking is interceded by semiotic mechanisms like actors line which can be considered as the most powerful of such mechanisms and (3) thither are verit fitting thinking processes like caper solving, voluntary memory, and self-regulation which have roots from social processes and interactions (Vygotsky cited in Goswami, 2004).As one may observe, more often than not, Vygotsky used the terms computer address and thinking than language and thought. This penchant to use such terms was believed to be linked with his perception of speech as a social or shared process (Lloyd, 1995). For Vygotsky, the developments of thinking and speech are twain separate entities thought being non-verbal and language being non-intellectual. Howe ver, he explained that during a particular(prenominal) time in a persons life (around the age of two), the lines of development of these two areas rifle to meet again to induce the creation of a new demeanour (Vygotsky cited in Schutz, 2004).He was able to expound his positions on this concept as he noted that, (1) thinking and speech have different roots at the start of their development (2) at the beginning, there will be a pre-intellectual stage for speech and a pre-linguistic stage for thought (3) there will come a point in time when these two aspects shall follow different curves unaffected with each other (4) at a second point, their curves shall meet where thought will turn verbal, and speech, on the other hand, will turn rational and lastly, (5) thinking and speech are not al manners overlying each other (Lloyd, 1995).Vygotskys theory has also been particular about the construction of words and acquisition of word meanings. He explains that the formation of word and word meaning is in a way related to how a child perceives a problem in communicating with his or her guardian. Vygotsky claims that word meanings are derived from the problem of not knowing what to call or how to describe a specific object, feeling, or thought, which the child commonly asks from an adult (cited in Schutz, 2004).Vygotsky also acquired interest in understanding the possibilities that language may indeed affect how a person thinks. In contrast to Piagets focus on childrens egocentric and private speech, Vygotsky dealt with language as a form of social communication which progressively supports both language and thinking process. Applications of Vygotskys Constructivist Cognition Concept to a kidskins Education and Language formation Vygotskys Language Acquistion opening has been influenced by the constructivist approach.In constructivism, problem solving is the core idea of all forms of learning, thinking, and development that is, as a child encounters a problem and di scovers consequences for its solutions, he or she eventually forms his or her thinking and understanding of a certain concept (Vygotsky cited in Brewer, 2007). In the constructivist view, prior experience plays a bounteous part on how a child will perceive things as he or she grows up that is, it is important for the learner to be able to construct new schooling into his or her current knowledge because the information connected to the learners prior experiences shall be forgotten easily.In application to real life situations, teachers can try to learn about the childrens prior knowledge about a specific problem or a specific topic which confuses them in order to judge what the children already know and garter them understand different experiences (Brewer, 2007). In telling to language development, Vygotsky also coined the concept of the zone of proximal development, which emphasizes that children acquire knowledge about objects and concepts they see as confusing through direc ted interactions from guardians, teachers, and parents.He explained that what children learn with the guidance and assistance of people around them appears to be a lot more suggestive of their learning development compared to what they usually do alone (Vygotsky, 1987, qtd. in Lloyd, 1995). Thus, speech and word meaning which is acquired by a child alone may not give him or her the terminus linguistic potential he or she can have. Language development as well as the other aspects of development a child goes through in the early years is highly important disregardless of the learning genre or theory followed.Theories like Vygotskys language acquisition theory are formulated to give people specific basis of the different developmental processes. A childs language development is never as plain as teaching him or her words and names rather, it is a complex process which involves crucial elements and attain areas where parents, teachers, and concerned guardians have to focus on in ord er to help the child realize his or her full potential.References Biology Online. (2005, October 3). Language Development.Retrieved November 14, 2008 from http//www. biology-online. org/mental lexicon/Language_development Brewer, W. (2007). Learning theory Constructivist approach. Answers. com. Retrieved November 14, 2008 from http//www. answers. com/topic/learning-theory-constructivist-approach Goswami, U. (2004). Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Cognitive Development. Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing. Lloyd. P. (1995). psychological science Cognitive and Language Development. Leicester, UK British Psychological Society.Marxist Internet Archive. (1990). Vygotsky, Lev Semenovich (1896-1934). Retrieved November 14, 2008 from http//www. marxists. org/ polish/people/v/y. htmvygotsky-lev Schutz, R. (2004, December 5). Vygotsky & language acquisition. English Made in Brazil. Retrieved November 14, 2008 from http//www. sk. com. br/sk-vygot. hypertext markup language Wells, K. R. (2008). Cog nitive development. Encyclopedia of Childrens Health. Retrieved November 14, 2008 from http//www. healthofchildren. com/C/Cognitive-Development. html