Piaget vs. Vygotsky: Critical View. Name. College. Date

Transcription

1 1 Piaget vs. Vygotsky: Critical View Name College Date

2 2 In terms of the scientific variety of theories, there are different concepts over connections between human thought development and language development. The brightest theorists in the XX century, Piaget and Vygotsky, examined the linguistic phenomena from the perspective of cognitive psychology. Both theorists shared a common idea that with the development of language, children are involved in proper understanding of the world. Still, in my critical opinion, the theory of Vygotsky seems to be more reliable and plausible regarding the available facts and arguments of culture and adaptation effects. What is wrong with Piaget s concept? According to the views of Piaget, the language is a direct expression of thoughts under the cognitive processes, which means thoughts drive language development. By defining social and egocentric language, the theorist stated that language develops through cognitive stages from autism toward egocentric conversation and then to the full socialization (Comparing Piaget and Vygotsky, 2009). However, this concept implies that a child or an individual does not adjust to the language of others; language fulfills a simple accompanying function; meanwhile, the process of cognition comes from within. In a way, the theory of Piaget can be formally backed and supported by practical example of a child placed in the group of deaf-and-dumb kids or foreign peers. The theory explains that, even if a child would try to converse in such socially-obstructive environment, his/her universal verbal intentions are only the expression of social and intellectual position, and nothing more. Still, the theory and counter-arguments provided by Vygotsky indicate that children tend to adapt to the language of adults and assimilate new cognitive patterns of conversation. This common view explains that the language becomes the source of driving and producing thoughts, since children are active in establishing

3 3 feedback to adults (Comparing Piaget and Vygotsky, 2009). The egocentric speech of a child is only a passage from external to internal psychical functions which develops in accordance with social and cultural environment. In other words, it is quite strange to think that language is just a tool of cognitive expression (Piaget s view); instead, it serves as a beacon for intellectual orientation and awareness of a child. Therefore, cognitive development of language is hard to represent as a universal paradigm, but rather a circumstance depending on the child s continuous cultural experience. Evidently, the link with culture and environment is inevitable for development of the language patterns, which means that egocentric and socializing languages do not eradicate, but they rather evolve under the cultural setting. The series of experimental conditions can prove the plausibility and adequacy of Vygotsky s socio-cultural theory of adaptation. A preschooler may ask a question about why people kissing each other, as he has seen recently. His internal cognitive expectations and egocentric motives urge immediate and understandable answer from the parents. However, if a parent breaks the scheme of cognitive perception by asking a counter-question Why do you think about that?, a child would change his speaking strategy and express own thoughts by available terms. In a way, this experiment suits not only for child-parent interactions but for adult-adult relations. The external verbal factors provoke an individual toward changing oral functions and though development, which reflects on his/her adaptation to the new socio-cultural circumstances. Another experiment: we can ask a child to draw a picture using a red pencil, but then replace it by a blue pencil. In most cases, a child would talk aloud on how he can act further, how can adapt to the new circumstance. Notably, language development contributes not only to adaptation, but also to thought production (Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky, n.d.). Hence, language develops not as an accompaniment,

4 4 but as a powerful tool of planning and coordination of experience derived from outside.

5 5 References Comparing Piaget and Vygotsky. (2009). Educational Psychology, retrieved from otsky.htm Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky (n.d.). History of Psychology Achieves, retrieved from