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Applying Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development into Practice
Of the many learning and developmental theories we have studied, one theory that is
particularly applicable to my personal teaching practice is Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of
cognitive development. This theory centres on social constructivism, which outlines that an
individual’s learning is constructed and built upon earlier groundwork (Elliott, 2000) and that
learning is mediated through socially organized instruction when more skillful peers and
adults interact with the learner (McInerney & Putwain, 2017). From this perspective, learning
is an active process. This approach to learning could become a basis for how teachers make
decisions as they consider how students learn, and subsequently move towards thinking about
teaching (Shively, 2015). One way this approach could be applied is that the teachers seek
and value the viewpoints of students and then build learning activities that challenge the
students’ beliefs, constructing lessons around these primary concepts (Shively, 2015).
Vygotsky’s theory identifies that learning should take place within the zone of
proximal development, where the teacher sets a challenging yet not too difficult task for the
student and guides him by scaffolding instruction (McInerney & Putwain, 2017). The
teacher’s main role is to create an environment for problem-solving where students could
become active learners. Scaffolding is an important part for effective teaching and teachers
could set a challenging task within the student’s zone of proximal development by presenting
questions, tasks and ideas to progress the student to a new and higher level of competence
(Newman & Newman, 2018). Copple and Bredekamp (2009) also mentioned that scaffolding
can include “giving the child a hint, adding a cue, modeling the skill, or adapting the
materials and activities” (p. 19).
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When connecting Vygotsky’s theory to my personal teaching practices, the most
meaningful aspect would be how Vygotsky viewed play as a zone of proximal development
and how play is seen as a ‘window’ into a learning task that the student is attempting to
master by getting help from a more-skilled play companion (Newman & Newman, 2018).
The student benefits in both social and academic aspects when they interact in playful
learning activities with one or a few partners, such as when they are playing together.
Additionally, Jellison et al. (2017) noted that students who teach one another have a higher
likelihood to transfer their learning to new situations. This is why music learning in the
classroom nowadays employs group learning and group play activities to facilitate play as a
zone of proximal development, such as partner clapping games when teaching rhythm, where
the more skilful partner could help in guiding the weaker partner. Furthermore, according to
