10. Learning a new languageZone of Proximal Development
Linguistic Intelligence
Social learning
approach
Editor's Notes
The story of a learning experience that I would like to share, is Sally’s first week at high school.
This is Sally.
Sally was a brand new year eight student, holidays had just finished and she was ready to embrace everything that High School would throw at her.
Sally had mixed feelings about the transition from primary to high school, she felt a little worried and nervous, but most of all, she was excited and was ready to move on to the bigger and better things that High School was all about.
Sally knew that there were going to be a lot of opportunities to work with her strengths, but to also to tackle and improve some of her weaker skills, even if she was a little worried about stepping outside of her comfort zone, she was ready to give it a go.
Home group was first, where Sally sat in a room with other students who looked just as eager to begin the journey. This made Sally feel comfortable, and these people sitting around her would soon become some of her closet friends.
Sally was surprised to find out that she didn’t have the same classroom for the whole day and that she also had more than one teacher. She had one for Math, English, French, Sport and the list went on.
This presented Sally with the chance to learn from many different teachers who specialised in the subject that they taught which placed her into Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal development, as the teacher was the one who facilitated the learning experience and guided her toward an understanding of the subject (Kearns, 2010).
Sally was excited to begin her day and find her way around the school, and discovered that a girl named Lucy also had the same subject next period, so they could explore the school together.
Sally was now a part of the High School crowd who changed class when the bell rang. When the bell rang, she and Lucy moved to the next stop on their adventure. Changing class when the bell rings highlights the importance of Pavlov’s ‘classical conditioning’ (BullyingNewsVideos, 2008) in everyday schooling life. In this case the school bell was the stimulii which produced the desired behavioral response, the response being Sally and Lucy’s change of class (BullyingNewsVideos, 2008).
After a while Sally figured out that she would receive a good mark should she do her homework every night, as well as study hard and do well on tests. This is a classic example of Skinner’s ‘operant conditioning’ (Paulo Francisco Slomp, 2006).
Sally’s school was a very social space, she noticed that there were always people communicating with one another. Sally had a smile on her face the whole first week, she felt at home in this new arena because in Primary School she yearned to utilize her social skills. This social space required her to develop socially as well as ‘reconstruct…’ herself ‘…as a social being (Edwards, 2002), which the Montessori Method values within this age range.
In her first week Sally was given many opportunities to work within groups, working again in the ‘Zone of Proximal Development’ (Vygotsky’s Developmental Theory, 2009). She worked with students who were older and more experienced in high school life than her, like when she joined the Student Representative Council. This also happened when she worked her class mates with different interests and experiences, like when she worked in small groups in Drama, she had the chance to ‘learn from a more learned advisor’ (Interactive Timeline, Lev Vygotsky, n.d).
These interactions allowed Sally to build upon one of her weakness’ that she knew she would need to tackle, her ‘interpersonal intelligence’ (MsHMcKnight, 2009) and because of her active participation in group work she eventually developed her ‘interpersonal intelligence’ (MsHMcKnight, 2009) to a level that would enable her to be a successful life long learner as well as a productive member of her future working space.
Two other area’s in which Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences were evident in Sally’s first week, was through the development of her ‘bodily kinesthetic intelligence’ (MsHMcKnight, 2009), which happened when Sally took part in Drama as well as Physical Education. She enjoyed moving her body while learning and also enjoyed pretending to be someone or something else. In drama, she was able to draw on her life experiences to portray emotions and this helped her make sense of the character in which she was playing.
At other times in Sally’s first week, especially during maths class, she was required to sit still in a chair and receive information from the teacher, as if her mind was empty and was being filled with the knowledge that the teacher presented. This shows the Behaviourist theory in which Locke described the child’s mind as a ‘tabula rasa’ (CollegeBinary, 2009). The sat still, listened to the teacher and did bookwork over and over, this showing the Behaviourist theory in action (Mrjohnson30, 2009).
Sally especially enjoyed learning another language in French Class, because she was told that it was the language of love. Lucy was also in this class so Sally was able to work with her to practice conversations. As it turned out Lucy was fluent in French, which helped Sally’s learning and understanding of the language, through interactions with Lucy she was put into the Zone of Proximal Development and developing her ‘linguistic intelligence’ (MsHMcKnight, 2009).
Sally enjoyed her time learning French, she was in her element because she was allowed to take the social learning approach that she craved in Primary School, similar to Bandura’s theory. Lucy helped Sally to develop her language through allowing Sally to imitate the sounds that made up the correct word. The class was built around encouraging social situations, eventually sounds become a habitual or reinforced way of pronouncing the desired word (Thomas, 2005).
That was Sally’s story.
BullyingNewsVideos. (2008, September 13). Classical Conditioning – Ivan Pavlov [Video file]. Video posted to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpxuzI
CollegeBinary. (2009, September 30). Three Minute Philosophy - John Locke [Video file]. Video posted to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-buzVjYQvY
Edwards, C. P. (2002). Three approaches from Europe: Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 4(1).
Interactive Timeline, Lev Vygotsky (n.d). Online Learning Materials, Week 2. Retrieved March 11, 2015, from
http://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline/latest/embed/index.html?source=0AgPktjz9YCD3dEhpeU1Na1pHeFdScFUyV3Z5SlBQa1E&font=Bevan-PotanoSans&maptype=TERRAIN&lang=en&height=650
Kearns, K. (2010). Theories of language development. In Frameworks for learning and development (ed. 2nd , pp. 174-179). Sydney: Pearson.
Mrjohnson30. (2009, November 10). Learning Theories Video [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uhB9mALl1I
MsHMcKnight. (2009, November 14). Multiple Intelligences [Video file]. Video posted to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf6lqfNTmaM
Paulo Francisco Slomp. (2006, September 22). B.F Skinner – Modelagem [Video file]. Video posted to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm5FGrQEyBY
Thomas, R. M. (2005). Comparing Theories of Child Development (6th ed.): Cengage Learning.
Vygotsky's Developmental theory. (2009). Vygotsky and the Zone of Proximal Development [Video file]. Video posted to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx84h-i3w8U&feature=youtu.be
