Vygotsky

This is a picture of Lev Vygotsky, because of whom the evolution of this blog came to be.
In my quest as a teacher to make a difference, many of the lessons I have been doing of late have been a result of the theories of Vygotsky.
In the past, a teacher largely of the PPP methodology and yet unsure of why we taught this way, began an MA course through the University of Birmingham. After a year of the course and about halfway completed, my dissertation has been decided. I have decided to use the Vygotsky's concept of ZPD and social interaction to tie in a link to TBL. The current TBL concept is more of a communication based focus, but under my research I have decided to to a revision of the TBL methodology to make it fit with the concept of social interaction, scaffolding and ZPD. A recently submitted paper as part of my studies proposed a new type of task, called a V-Task, which the students in their efforts to acquire language need to access it first. But the accessing of the language would need to come from a type of task that motivated students to become autonomous learners, and realize that the best way to learn is through social interaction within the classroom. The teacher, also playing an autonomous role, is not the only resource in the classroom to get information from, but other students, books and dictionaries etc, are also available. The V-task, based around this concept differs from a procedural or a process type syllabus, where the task can still be centered around a certain target or theme, yet in order to complete the task, the students need to access language and the completion of the task is a by-product of language access.

Teachers, providing scaffolding, and also providing the means for students to understand how to learn the language rather than just learning the language, play a much different role in the classroom rather than the traditional one which we are so used to.

So the link between Vygotsky and this new type of task V-task, is a type of lesson which I will be focussing much more on in the future, already having many classes work with this type of task. The results are amazing and the students are putting more and more energy into their lessons.

If anyone wants to comment on the V-task, or would like to discuss it further, I would be more than happy to share or exchange ideas.

Mark