Vigotsky and ZPD

Zone of proximal development

One essential tenet in Vygotsky's theory is the notion of the existence of what he called the "zone of proximal development". Zone of proximal development is the difference between the child's capacity to solve problems on his own, and his capacity to solve them with assistance. In other words, the actual developmental level refers to all the functions and activities that a child can perform on his own, independently without the help of anyone else. On the other hand, the zone of proximal development includes all the functions and activities that a child or a learner can perform only with the assistance of someone else. The person in this scaffolding process, providing non-intrusive intervention, could be an adult (parent, teacher, caretaker, language instructor) or another peer who has already mastered that particular function.

An interesting analogy comes to my mind when I think of zone of proximal development. In mechanics, when you adjust the timing of an engine, you set it slightly ahead of the highest compression moment in order to maximize power and performance.

Vygotsky's zone of proximal development has many implications for those in the educational milieu. One of them is the idea that human learning presupposes a specific social nature and is part of a process by which children grow into the intellectual life of those around them (Vygotsky, 1978). According to Vygotsky (1978), an essential feature of learning is that it awakens a variety of internal developmental processes that are able to operate only when the child is in the action of interacting with people in his environment and in cooperation with his peers.

Therefore, when it comes to language learning, the authenticity of the environment and the affinity between its participants are essential elements to make the learner feel part of this environment. These elements are rarely predominant in conventional classrooms.

This is a slice of I want to keep learning at college and in my life, I've already tried to make it real as a teacher, and it has been worked! I don't know why it has fascinated me so much, maybe it's because I could cope theory with practice, and that's amazing. His experience in knowledge is amazing, and amazes everybody who really wants to be a teacher or a professor, Thank You, Professor Daniela for this wonderful experience, and I see how you deal with us using this approach .