Socio-cultural Theory of Leo Vygotsky

This article explores Vygotsky's socio-cultural theory of cognitive development, which emphasizes the role of social interaction in learning. It discusses the stages of cultural development and how teachers can apply this theory in their training and teaching practices. Additionally, it examines how the socio-cultural theory can be used to teach children with special needs and disabilities.

Running head: SOCIO-CULTURAL THEORY OF LEO VYGOTSKY
Socio-cultural Theory of Leo Vygotsky
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1SOCIO-CULTURAL THEORY OF LEO VYGOTSKY
1. Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory
Leo Vygotsky is one of the most famous psychologists who advocated the idea about
cognitive development among the children. He talked about the process of learning and teaching
and gave different opinions on how it influenced the working of the people (Lantolf, Thorne &
Poehner, 2015). According to Leo Vygotsky, the process of learning is considered to be a social
process and this aspect, it can be observed that human intelligence originated as a result of the
social activities of the human kind. In other words, the various interactions in the society led to
the development of the social cognition among the people (Sawyer, 2017). This forms the basis
of the socio-cultural theory and constitutes its principle.
One of the concept of Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory is that the cultural development
that occurs in a human being, happens during two stages of his or her life. The first occurs in the
social level where the concerned individual learns about the various existing phenomenon as a
result of social interaction with the other people of the society (Daniels, 2016). The second stage
of cultural development takes place at an individual level whereby the development depends
upon the voluntary actions of the concerned person (Lantolf, Thorne & Poehner, 2015). This
includes the development of the logical memory, memory retention capability and the voluntary
attention that is given to the people who impart important information and knowledge to them.
Thus, Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory talks about the development of the culture of the
people as a result of social interaction and other processes. This is significant to understand in
order to get an idea about the cognitive development of an individual.
2. The different aspects of socio cultural theory that can be linked to train teachers.

2SOCIO-CULTURAL THEORY OF LEO VYGOTSKY
Teachers perhaps play the most influential role in the lives of an individual. It is the
teaching activities of the teachers which leads to the cognitive development within a person. In
this context, Leo Vygotsky was of the opinion that the cultural development of a person depends
to a significant aspect to the way a teacher has been trained (Marginson & Dang, 2017). In this
respect, it can be seen that the main aspect of the socio-cultural theory that can be linked to the
training of the teachers is that of mentoring. The teachers should be given a training in how to
mentor the students in a proper manner as the future of such students are shaped by the teachers
who are responsible for them. Another important aspect of the socio-cultural theory that aids in
the training of the teachers is that of assisted performance. Often times it is observed that the
students are in need of some support in order to perform their tasks in an effective manner
(Marginson & Dang, 2017). This is provided in the form of assisted performance. The teacher
should be able to guide their children in a proper manner so that their cognition develop at a level
which allows them to fend for themselves.
3. The use of socio cultural theory in order to teach children with special needs and
disabilities.
The socio cultural theory as advocated by Leo Vygotsky can be used to teach children
who are lacking in certain ways due to their disabilities. There are many children on Earth who
are unable to effectively develop their learning abilities at the right time. Socio cultural theory
enables the teachers to understand the requirements of the children. Furthermore, the teachers are
also made aware of the fact that most of the development of the brain of a child is a result of the
societal activities and the learnings they get from their elders (Donato, 2016). In this manner, it
becomes imperative for the teachers to be able to carefully handle such children with special
needs. These children may not be able to understand the various societal demands in an effective

3SOCIO-CULTURAL THEORY OF LEO VYGOTSKY
manner. In this regard, it becomes important for the teachers to provide guidance and
understanding to the students. The teachers are already well aware of the level of cognitive
development among the children with disabilities as a result of the socio cultural theory
(Poehner, 2016). This would go a long way in aiding them to provide the needed support to the
special children. Their level of cognitive development is much different from the other children
of their age. Thus, special attention needs to be paid to them so that they can be at an equal level
as those other children.

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References:
Daniels, H. (2016). Vygotsky and pedagogy. Routledge.
Donato, R. (2016). Sociocultural theory and content-based foreign language instruction:
Theoretical insights on the challenge of integration. In Content-Based Foreign Language
Teaching (pp. 39-64). Routledge.
Lantolf, J. P., Thorne, S. L., & Poehner, M. E. (2015). Sociocultural theory and second language
development. Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction, 207-226.
Marginson, S., & Dang, T. K. A. (2017). Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory in the context of
globalization. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 37(1), 116-129.
Poehner, M. E. (2016). Sociocultural theory and the dialectical-materialist approach to L2
development: Introduction to the special issue. Language and Sociocultural Theory, 3(2),
133-152.
Sawyer, R. K. (2017). Unresolved tensions in sociocultural theory: Analogies with contemporary
sociological debates. In Introduction to Vygotsky (pp. 157-175). Routledge.