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A publicação desta obra contou com o patrocínio da Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul
939a Autonomy in Language Learning/
edited by Vilson J. Leffa -- Porto Alegre: Ed. Universidade/
UFRGS, 1994
1. Teaching - Linguistics - English 1. Leffa, Vilson J. Title.
CDU 374:802.0
Catalogue in Publication by Mônica Ballejo Canto - CRB 10/1023
ISBN 85-7025-305-2
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Vygotsky, second language acquisition and learner autonomy: some preliminary considerations
Maria
da Graça Gomes Paiva Sílvia W. Dias de Freitas
(...) learning does not imply development; however, learning, if appropriately organized will turn into mental development and set into motion various development processes which, otherwise, would be impossible to occur.
(Vygotsky, 1987 - our translation)
INTRODUCTION
Having the acquisition of new knowledge as their present major goal, the active participation of the authors of the present article in the Seminar entitled
"Cognitive Development and the Socio-Educational Process", lectured by Prof.
Juan José Mouriño Mosquera, Ph.D.1, has given rise to a wide range of reflective thoughts about the very outstanding work of Liev S. Vuigotsky (Vygotsky), one of the landmarks in the fields of soviet psychology and sciences. Vygotsky's passion for human mental processes as well as his concerns about proposing "a psychology of man" (Vygotsky, 1987), has triggered off the authors to the extent of searching for convergent and divergent features between his methods of investigation and some current theories of second language acquisition (the latter based on Ellis, 1986 and Klein, 1990), aiming at evaluating issues related to human cognitive development particularly, the role of language in the structuring of thought and of the learning processes.
The goal of the present paper is reporting, through a comparative study between two different fields of knowledge, preliminary considerations about their similarities and/or differences and their relationship with the question of autonomy. Pedagogical implications will be referred to towards the end of the
Maria da Graça Gomes Paiva and Sílvia W. Dias de Freitas teach at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
1 The Seminar was held during the first semester of 1992, as part of Graduate Program on Teacher Education at the Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS).
37 paper, followed by some suggestions and/or personal conclusions about the topic under discussion.
VYGOTSKY'S MAJOR ASSUMPTIONS
One of Vygotsky's (1896-1934) main contribution to Contemporary Psychology was his "Theory of Higher Mental Functions", also called "The Theory of Cultural Development", described in his famous piece of work "La Historia del desarrollo de las funciones psicológicas superiores", written between 1930-31, and which only became known in the literature around 1960. On the other hand, most of his work dates back to the period of the breaking out of the Soviet Revolution, where the academic environment was dominated by the work of figures as Hegel, Marx and Engels and by the theories of evolution from the Natural Sciences. Thanks to his creativity, despite its common origin with the Natural Sciences, his ever-growing personal contribution to Science made him stand out as an international intellectual figure.
Man, for Vygotsky, was conceived as both a biological and social being.
The human brain was considered as "conscious matter", which, in turn, became
"humanized" due to the interaction of man and nature both belonging to a particular socio-historical context. Knowledge, on the other hand, would consist of a biological basis to be developed and reinforced by means of human interaction with the social millieu, fulfilling, in this way, the so-called double dimension: the historical and the social one. Such interaction between human matter and cultural environment was carried out through the mediation of tools and symbols. Tools should be understood here as ranging from axes made of stone and widely used by the primitive man to more sophisticated equipment from contemporary technology. Symbols, on the other hand, are closely related to different possibilities and dimensions of language use.
In Bruner's words:
The main issue about Vygotsky's work was that man was subjected to the dialectical game between nature and history, between his skills as a biological human being and as a product of human culture. (1988, p. 81 our translation)
Consequently, when a child is born, he or she is surrounded by products of his or her own cultural context, which he/she begins to perceive as real objects, assigning them sense and meaning through language. These first stimuli will then determine the child's lower mental functions due to his/her straightforward relationship with the former ones.
Later on, such inherent relationships between external and internal activities will constitute the basis for the higher mental functions (voluntary memory, voluntary attention and thinking). This means beginning with social
38
phenomena as external activities the so called "signs" which are outlined according to the individual's biological and social development. The "signs"
referred to excerpt an influence on the individual. In spite of their differences in origin Vygotsky provides an example about the nature and the function of "signs", as follows:
The new concepts of the higher mental functions alter, in turn, the meaning of those of the lower mental functions. The adolescent who is aware of algebraic concepts has reached a rather privileged position in his understanding of mathematical concepts, in a broader sense...
...All higher mental functions are, in fact, internalized relationships, of social nature, as well as the basis for the social structuring of human personality. (our translation).
Thought, language and volition, therefore, are the main constituents of what Vygotsky called the higher mental functions.
A question necessarily demands to be answered from what and how are the higher mental functions developed?
The first evidence was that between the primitive and the contemporary man no striking differences have been detected - concerning biological features
that could naturally justify the remarkable differences found dealing with behavior patterns; biologically speaking, both the primitive and the contemporary man have identical features. But how to explain the differences concerning behavior patterns? Vygotsky provides the following answer:
...higher mental functions cannot be clearly understood without carrying out sociological studies; in other words, they are the product not from biological development but mainly from the development of social behavior patterns.
(1987, p. 38 our translation)
Vygotsky also stresses the relevance of culture as promoter of new thinking patterns as well as transformer of the kind of activity developed by the higher mental functions. What is being under discussion here is, in essence, quality and structure changes.
In addition, Vygotsky goes on to compare the primitive and the contemporary child for further findings about the influence of culture upon the whole human development process.
As disfunction is the negative pole of talent, primitiveness is the counterpart of culture. The primitive child is the one who has not gone through the route of cultural development, or, to be more precise, who is experiencing lower levels of cultural development. (1987, p. 48 our translation)
Such Vygotskian views on mental human development processes have strong implications for the field of education since it is assumed that whoever
39 child that is set aside the evolution of society like the one belonging to low
income social groups he/she will remain, but closer to animal or sub-human social conditions. However, the biological contemporary man, despite his living conditions, is gifted with internal natural mechanisms that allow him to grow up as much as he wishes to, the same not being the case within the animal world. It is as if the animal world is well-structured already but just to grow, biologically speaking.
For Alvares & Del Rio:
Man exerts influence upon his siblings through language. Consequently, we can assume that human creatures qualitatively change and/or transform themselves into children of our culture, because they were not born in the world of silence.
Instead, they develop interpersonal relationships with their partners who are, in fact, the ones who hold the keys for unlocking their internal framework of signs.
(1985, p. 76 our translation)
The chart below summarizes the main assumptions presented so far.
Process of Cultural Development
3 sources
1 2 3
Relationship between mental processes and social interactive processes.
Linguistic Mediation between the two processes stated in (1)
Language and its multiple functions
______
Between language and action there is some continuity both internal and external which is revealed through different functions and structures. (The dynamic view of language).
...according to Vygotsky, it is not due to genetic heritage or to human 'birth conditions' that human phenomena are made real. Instead, it is due to the origin of man - the changes from the anthropoid ape into humankind, as well as, from a child into an adult are, in fact, due to a "joint activity" that is guaranteed and perpetuated by means of educational social processes, in a broader sense, rather than according to the current parameters of school education currently described in historic educational accounts. (Our translation)
Learning and biological development
For those experts that lived at the same time as Vygotsky, practical intelligence (the one closely related to the use of tools) and language development (the use of signs) were viewed as separate entities. However, although the two systems may be considered separately in early childhood at least in some
40
particular cases the essence of the complexity of human behavior patterns is the very outcome of the dialectical interaction between the two.
Any child begins to learn about his/her surroundings through language use, at the same time that he/she is engaged in new relationships and, by extension, in modeling his/her behavior patterns.
Therefore, it may be pointed out that the main role of language is that of being an effective tool for social contacts, quoting Angel Rivière.
Based on these preliminary considerations, we are now ready to introduce some Vygotskyan assumptions about learning and development:
During the time he was carrying out his researches on human mental processes, three different trends prevailed concerning learning and development, namely:
• the one that described development as an "a priori" requirement for learning, rather than as the outcome of learning (Piaget, Binet);
• the one that viewed learning and development as two simultaneous processes (Thorndike);
• the one that matched both, learning and development as interactive phenomena (Kofka, Gestalt).
Vygotsky takes, as the starting point, the assumption that there are two levels of development, as follows:
1. the real level of development that is, the child's capacity for independent problem solving. Such level is connected to the child's development of mental functions achieved at some period of his/her life.
This level can be measured and assessed through aptitude tests.
2. the potential level of development that is, the child's ability to solve problems but "under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Wertch, 1988).
In other words, two children may reveal similar development levels even though the learning conditions are radically different. That is to say then that the real level is concerned about development already achieved, whereas the proximal level refers to its future potential development.
Such possibility, though, embodies some constraints. Vygotsky emphasizes that a child is capable of solving problems that are beyond his/her real level of development, as long as he/she has the guidance of a teacher; however, as the level of complexity faced becomes higher, the child will reach a stage in which his mental development will have improved considerably.
The dynamics of the zone of proximal development in fact reinforces the social nature of the learning process which is "a universal but necessary feature
41 of the typically human and culturally organized development process of the psychological functions." (Vygotsky, 1987, p. 139 our translation)
From this viewpoint, Vygotsky understands learning as prior to biological development and, as such, it should be guided towards those evolutionary steps that are closer to those already achieved by the human being, taking into account the connections between internal development and learning.
AN OVERVIEW OF THEORIES OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Although research on Second Language Acquisition only dates back to three decades ago, both Ellis (1986) and Klein (1990) agree that there is already significant variety of "theories, models, laws, approaches and principles" about
"the learner's system of rules". According to Ellis, however, in spite of the wide range of proposals, they share a common feature concerning the form, in which the linguistic system is described in the current literature. In other words, there is a tendency among specialists to make either a description of the steps followed in the acquisition of linguistic forms (i.e. "description of the nature of linguistic categories that make up for the learner's interlanguage at any level of his development" (Ellis, 1986, p. 249 Russian translation), or to give explanations about what, how and why the learner learns new linguistic systems.
The author puts great emphasis on and critically describes seven (07) theories of second language acquisition, namely: a) the acculturation model (and, by extension the nativization model); b) the theory of accommodation; c) the theory of discourse; d) the monitor model (Krashen); e) the variable competence model; f) the universal hypothesis and g) the neurofunctional theory. All of them, the author goes on to affirm, incorporate to a certain extent or another the basic principles required of any theory of second language acquisition, as displayed in the chart below:
situational factors
___________________
↓ ↓
INPUT →
← learner process
__________ variable L2 output ↑
learner differences
___________________↑
(Ellis, 1986, p. 276)
Our reading of the summarized chart of the seven theories of Second Language Acquisition (Ellis, 1986, p. 227) points out towards convergent features
42
found between them which corroborates with Ellis assumptions about their sharing of common similarities:
• strong emphasis on the linguistic form rather than on linguistic function (only two theories stress the communicative function of language: the Monitor Model and the Variable Competence Model); the major goal tends to be on hypothesis generation and hypothesis testing, focusing on how the learner develops internal grammar mechanisms rather than on how he competently applies such knowledge in real- life communication.
• when attempting to find answers for the development process of morpho-syntactic linguistic structures, the authors of the theories try to set up regular patterns of linguistic aptitude, but always from the point of view of form. The link between form and function, for Ellis, is still to be made, as long as new fields of knowledge are incorporated as basic components of any linguistic theories, such as: the lexicon and some typical pragmatic skills related to the use of the target language in real communicative situations that is, the social function of language.
• there is a tendency to describe the acquisition of grammar forms in isolation, conveying to both teacher and learner the idea that every learner develops his internal grammar by means of individual structures, not related to or integrated with one another.
• usually, the different theories of second language acquisition focus on the internal learner's mechanisms (even when the input is external) to acquire language, describing them in either linear or longitudinal form rather than following a dynamic and dialectical approach (the latter widely referred to in the works of Vygotsky).
Summing it up, it is worth mentioning here that neither theories of second language acquisition provides a sound explanation for the relationship between learner's biological development and learner's learning process.
VYGOTSKY AND THE THEORIES OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: BUILDING UP SOME CONNECTIONS
Cognitive development, for Vygotsky, means the process of acquiring one's own culture, in which both individual and social features are constituents of a unique interactive system. Consequently, language and thought are synonymous;
due to their inherent dynamism thought is, also viewed as action, since as Vygotsky points out "human consciousness has a social feature; in fact, it is social consciousness that is built up as people communicate with each other".
43 From this standpoint, the link between form and function seems to be more predominant in Vygotsky's proposal of a "psychology of man" rather than on the theories of second language acquisition referred to by Ellis and Klein.
Another claim to be made is about Vygotsky's significant contribution on the relevance of cultural interchanges for the learner's cognitive development outside the context of formal instruction.
The third and last positive Vygotskian contribution refers to the role of the zone of proximal development in the whole process of teaching and learning, and the pedagogical implications concerning the role of the teacher not a model to be imitated but, instead, the promoter of changes in a "partnership enterprise" towards learner cognitive development. "Teaching" is now defined as
"something beyond the mere offering of models for spontaneous responses".
PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS a) On the question of autonomy.
Among four definitions of autonomy (Thavenius 1989; Derk &
Weightman, 1989; Dam, 1986 and Caride, 1984). Caride's was elected as the one that actually shares more features in common with Vygotskian conceptions about biological development and learning. Autonomy, for Caride, is defined as
"autonomous and integral development". In his words it is:
(...) la liberación de los indivíduos para hacer de ellos agentes activos, responsables críticos en la edificación de su propia cultura y de su propia sociedad.
A few lines below, Carides adds up that it is:
(...) es ayudar a los hombres a pensar, decidir y ejecutar por sí mismos. (Caride, 1984, p. 100)
Consequently, it is our understanding that experts and/or educators in the field of second language acquisition should review or improve their assumptions about what it means to learn another language based on Vygostky's contributions previously described in the present article.
b) On curriculum design and the context of classroom learning
Paraphrasing some of the ideas presented formerly particularly those related to the Vygotskian concept that "learning is not synonymous of biological development", it is suggested that current 3rd level curricula should be urgently reviewed for the purpose of transforming them into more flexible means for the promotion of learning. For instance, by incorporating more features of extra mural activities into the process of learning a second language.
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In addition, special attention should be taken whenever discussions are brought about dealing with students' real motives for learning a second language.
The truly social function underlining the whole process should be emphasized in the first place; in other words, students should be made aware of the relevance of learning a second language as a means of broadening up their views of the world they live in, since it improves their cognitive potential skills.
It should also be pointed out that there is the need for applying methods and techniques in the language classroom as well as for the design of instructional materials that would be more suitable for the variety of students' difficulties of learning as an attempt to overcome standardized views about students' learning patterns and behavior as identical. Learning differences should be both respected and promoted in the classroom since "everyone learns at his/her own pace and in a different way" as Vygotsky points out (our translation). Such assumption is still to be incorporated in the daily classroom routines, though.
Aware of the hard enterprise undertaken, concerning the interdisciplinary approach we have tried to follow i.e. the attempt to find similar/different features between Vygotskian psychology and some current theories of second language acquisition it should be stressed here that the present study is still at an embrionary stage. Other alternatives/issues certainly deserve to be analyzed and criticized towards the actual building up of a more effective interdisciplinary work.
Therefore, it is hoped that other further studies and considerations will be carried out on the topic particularly concerning about the role of language as well as the knowledge of other languages in both biological and learning development of the learner, aiming at making him into a better social being, capable of effectively interact with his own history and his own culture.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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CARIDE Gomes, J. A. Educación y animación sociocultural: la pedagogía social como modelo de intervención. In: QUINTANA Cabanas, J. M. (Org.) Fundamentos de animação sócio-cultural.
Madrid: Narcea, 1986.
DAM, Leni. Developing learner autonomy in a school context. Copenhagen : Denmark, 1986.
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THAVENIUS, Cecília. Learner autonomy and foreign language learning. 1985.
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