Phil
this is very interesting.
it would be fine if you could write more about this book.
this will help my work with my students at the university, and I think also
many other professors.
thank you
maria
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Chappell" <phil_chappell@access.inet.co.th>
To: <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2003 10:03 AM
Subject: Cultural biases in understanding Vygotsky
> I just received a copy of "Vygotsky's Educational Theory in Cultural
> Context" (Ed's Kozulin, Gindis, Ageyev and Miller) Cambridge 2003, and
> while flicking through the volume, I was drawn to the final chapter by
> Vladimir Ageyev, entitled, "Vygotsky in the Mirror of Cultural
> Interpretations". Ageyev has taught courses on LSV's work both in
> Russia and the US, and his aim in the chapter is to outline some of the
> cultural biases that he has noticed in the US context of students'
> understandings of Vygotsky's ideas. Ageyev begins by claiming that
> LSV's ideas underwent a strong Americanisation through filtering out
> most "poetic, philosophical and historical images", especially from the
> first edition of "Thought and Language" (1962)....I do recall this was
> a point of discussion during the xmca on-line course earlier this year.
>
> Several students I have worked with recently, in the context of
> learning theory for developing abilities in using another language,
> have posed questions such as "How do we know when a learner is in the
> zpd?", How can we measure progress through the zpd?" and "When learners
> are interacting, whose zpd is it?". Similar questions from US students
> are outlined by Ageyev. I have always had difficulties myself in
> answering these questions, and have replied with vacuous statements
> such as, "Think of the zpd metaphorically", etc. Ageyev provides some
> good fodder to think over, notably for me...
>
> 1. Doing some critical self-reflection on how I myself interpret LSV's
> work, as he claims that 100 years of positivism and behavioursim can't
> be shrugged off too readily, especially considering my own
> socio-historical background as a privileged middle class, white male
> from Australia (although Ageyev is referring to US contexts)
> 2. Revisiting the relationship between LSV's work and Marxism. LSV's
> work is usually held by new students in a positive light, and Marx is
> usually associated with "negatives", such as communism. Some of the
> more powerful metaphors that Marx created and which were appropriated
> by LSV (e.g. tools) could do with a critical historical overview.
> 3. Gain a better understanding of the context within which LSV was
> working, and which was shaping his ideas and "experiments". As Ageyev
> notes, we need to move beyond good linguistic translations of LSV's
> works (he seems to assume that we have these available - I can't make a
> comment there) to better cultural interpretations of his ideas. This
> final point rings loudly to me, as the zpd becomes a popularised
> metaphor for successful transmission or acquisition of knowledge and
> skills. I can't help thinking of homogenised fat-free milk!!!
>
> Just some thoughts on a chapter that I skimmed.
>
> Phil
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jan 01 2004 - 01:00:09 PST