Six Major Assumptions Of Vygotsky's Theory

There is six major assumption of Vygotsky’s theory. The first assumption of the theory is that through both formal and informal conversations adults convey to children the way their culture interprets and responds to the world. When adults interact with children, they show the meanings they attach to objects, events and even experiences. For example, the mother is now reading to her daughter a book about transportations. The book describes the different modes of transportation that is use in our society today. The book shows the little girl how our society characterizes modes of transportation. The second assumption of the theory is that language and thought becomes increasingly independent in the first few years of life. The third assumption explains that complex mental processes begin as …show more content…
Vygotsky also introduces the idea that children can perform more challenging tasks when assisted by more competent and advanced people. He clarifies two levels of development: actual development, which is the upper limit of tasks a child can perform individually, and level of potential development, which is the upper limit of tasks a child can perform with the assistance of a more competent individual. In order to get a true assessment of a child's actual and potential development, we should assess capabilities both when the child is performing the activity alone and with a more competent individual. For example, a young child exhibited that her actual development was that she knew the blocks belonged in the holes, but she couldn't quite determine how to actually put them in. Her level of potential development was being able to put the blocks in with the help of her mother, an advanced individual. We would not expect the child to then be able to sort the blocks into colors and shapes, or to do anything beyond these skills that she exhibited with the assistance of her mother at this