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Proximal Development (proximal + development)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Psychology57%

Selected Abstracts

Adult Sensitivity to Children's Learning in the Zone of Proximal Development

JOURNAL FOR THE THEORY OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, Issue 4 2001
Amy Chak
Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development (zpd) has brought wide attention to the role of adults in children's learning and development. The author proposes that beyond understanding its mechanism, its use is influenced by various factors which the adult needs to be sensitive to. Through integrating related literature on the zpd and on adult-child interactions, this paper aims to shed light on the nature of adult sensitivity in actualizing the zpd. The concept is first analyzed theoretically. Two types of sensitivity will then be discussed: adults' self-awareness and their awareness of children as active players in the interaction process. Sigel's concept of distancing is suggested as a means of enhancing one's sensitivity. [source]

Gesture and Creating Zones of Proximal Development for Second Language Learning

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2002
Steven G. McCafferty
This study investigated the role of gesture in and of itself and in conjunction with speech in creating zones of proximal development (ZPD) for second language learning and teaching. A university student of English, newly arrived in the United States, was videorecorded once a week in conversational interaction with an American graduate student, an ESL/EFL teacher, over two different periods lasting 15 weeks altogether. The view taken in the study of Vygotsky's concept of the ZPD follows that of Newman and Holtzman (1993), who argued that it primarily concerns revolutionary activity, that learning and teaching transforms as a consequence of interacting in the ZPD, and that this affects all participants. Findings indicate the important role that gesture played both in promoting language learning and in facilitating positive interaction between the two participants, helping to create a sense of shared social, symbolic, physical, and mental space. [source]

Adult Sensitivity to Children's Learning in the Zone of Proximal Development

JOURNAL FOR THE THEORY OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, Issue 4 2001
Amy Chak
Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development (zpd) has brought wide attention to the role of adults in children's learning and development. The author proposes that beyond understanding its mechanism, its use is influenced by various factors which the adult needs to be sensitive to. Through integrating related literature on the zpd and on adult-child interactions, this paper aims to shed light on the nature of adult sensitivity in actualizing the zpd. The concept is first analyzed theoretically. Two types of sensitivity will then be discussed: adults' self-awareness and their awareness of children as active players in the interaction process. Sigel's concept of distancing is suggested as a means of enhancing one's sensitivity. [source]

The interplay between learning and the use of ICT in Rwandan student teachers' everyday practice

JOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 6 2009
E. Mukama
Abstract The paper describes a study conducted in Rwanda involving 12 participants selected from a larger cohort of 24 final-year university students who were part of a group-based training programme. The programme was about how to search, retrieve, and use web-based literature. Empirical data were collected through interviews and focus group discussions. The purpose was to explore ways of using information and communication technology (ICT) in student teachers' everyday learning practice. The study draws from a sociocultural perspective and emphasis is put on a literature review involving ICT in teacher education. The findings reveal that utilization of ICT pertains to three major types of variation among student teachers who use ICT: passive, reluctant, and active users. The active ICT users demonstrated a capacity to cross group boundaries and play a central role as agents of change in learning practice. The point is that more experienced student teachers can assist their colleagues in the zone of proximal development and, therefore, enhance the integration of the new technology in teacher education. This implies that having access to ICT together with some instruction is not sufficient to prompt students to start using this technology as a pedagogical tool. Moreover, confrontation of different experiences regarding the use of ICT can spearhead change in student teachers' learning practice through critical reflection. [source]

Gesture and Creating Zones of Proximal Development for Second Language Learning

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2002
Steven G. McCafferty
This study investigated the role of gesture in and of itself and in conjunction with speech in creating zones of proximal development (ZPD) for second language learning and teaching. A university student of English, newly arrived in the United States, was videorecorded once a week in conversational interaction with an American graduate student, an ESL/EFL teacher, over two different periods lasting 15 weeks altogether. The view taken in the study of Vygotsky's concept of the ZPD follows that of Newman and Holtzman (1993), who argued that it primarily concerns revolutionary activity, that learning and teaching transforms as a consequence of interacting in the ZPD, and that this affects all participants. Findings indicate the important role that gesture played both in promoting language learning and in facilitating positive interaction between the two participants, helping to create a sense of shared social, symbolic, physical, and mental space. [source]

Mothers' Use of Cognitive State Verbs in Picture-Book Reading and the Development of Children's Understanding of Mind: A Longitudinal Study

CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2007
Juan E. Adrián
Mothers read stories to their children (N = 41) aged between 3.3 years and 5.11 years old, and children then completed two false-belief tasks. One year later, mothers read a story to 37 of those children who were also given four tasks to assess their advanced understanding of mental states. Mothers' early use of cognitive verbs in picture-book reading correlated with their children's later understanding of mental states. Some pragmatic aspects of maternal input correlated with children's later outcomes. Two different factors in mothers' cognitive discourse were identified, suggesting a zone of proximal development in children's understanding of mental states. [source]

Cognitive analytic therapy: a sympathetic critique

PSYCHOTHERAPY AND POLITICS INTERNATIONAL, Issue 2 2010
Babak Fozooni
Abstract Cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) is an increasingly popular form of time-limited therapeutic intervention in the UK, which claims success with a variety of psychological problems such as depression, trauma, eating disorders, anxiety related disorders, borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder. This paper begins by outlining the theoretical origins of CAT as well as its main conceptual tools. Cognitive analytic therapy has its roots in the synthesis of cognitive psychology, personal construct theory and psychoanalytic object relations. However, I would suggest what is most promising in CAT is the (relatively) recent import of Vygotskian and Bakhtinian ideas such as the ,zone of proximal development' (ZPD) and ,dialogic interaction'. Further ideas from critical psychology/psychotherapy are used to interrogate some of the limitations of CAT. I will be asking if CAT is a genuine gain for the contemporary worker who has to deal with greater psychic tension than before under a crisis-ridden capitalist regime. The paper ends with an assessment of CAT's future influence and the two principle trajectories available to it: ,therapy as an expert system' or ,therapy as social critique' (Totton, 2005, 86). Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]