Correct Answer - Option 2 : its social context
Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist and a contemporary of Jean Piaget proposed a theory of cognitive development known as ‘Socio-Cultural Theory’. Vygotsky believes that social and cultural (language, customs, and practices, family, work, etc.) processes are important in the process of development. They say that children continuously learn in everyday engagements with peers and adults. And thinking and knowledge developed in this process of learning. This view of development is known as a socio-cultural perspective or social constructivism.
Vygotsky's Theory:
- The interdependence of the individual's internal processes and the external social processes in learning and development is the main focus of Vygotsky's theoretical framework.
- Child's social situations of development influence qualitatively their perception, experience, appropriation, internalization understanding, and memory of interaction in and with their environment.
- Vygotsky considered this interdependence "as a process that is characterized by a unity of material and mental aspects, a unity of the social and the personal".
- According to Vygotsky, learning cannot be separated from its social context.
- Vygotsky argued that "the child is a part of the social situation, and the relation of the child to the environment and the environment to the child occurs through the experience and activity of the child himself; the forces of the environment acquire a controlling significance because the child experiences them" (Vygotsky, 1998,p.294)
- Key Principles:
- Society and the culture of the children play a vital role in the development of their cognition.
- The sign system or the language of the society works as a tool in gaining knowledge.
- Inputs from others and especially from more knowledgeable people and adults have the capacity to affect the development of cognition.
From the above, we can say that according to Vygotsky, learning cannot be separated from its social context.
