Essay Items

  111.Explain and give an example of how language, social interaction, and culture interact in Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of development.

Use the following information for items 112-115.

A kindergarten teacher is working with her students on basic skills. She has written the following information on the board:

it _________ a wonderful p __ t _ filled with g ___d  t _ m _ s and good friends at thu  animal h __ se

She had the children turn to their partners, confer for a minute, and then called on individuals to offer corrections for parts of the sentence, such as capitalizing the first word, correctly spelling “the,” and putting a period at the end of the sentence.  She then called different children to the board to fill in the missing letters, so the sentence read as follows:

It was a wonderful party filled with good times and good friends at the animal house.

In the process she used questioning to help the students understand blends, such as ou in house, and other rules such as silent e in times. When the children struggled, she provided cues that helped them continue to make progress.

  112Identify two types of scaffolding in the example.

  113.Was the task in the children’s zones of proximal development? Explain why it was or was not.

  114.What evidence would be necessary to determine if internalization occurred?

  115.Explain how the activity illustrated the basic relationships between language, social interaction, and culture.

  116.Describe three guidelines teachers can use when attempting to apply Vygotsky’s work with their students.