Judith,
I'd love to write more on the book, but it really only appeared
yesterday! As others read it, I hope that there might be some more
discussions of what a predominantly Russian group of scholars have to
say about Vygotsky's work in relation to educational theory. Someone, I
guess, should review it for MCA!
Phil
On Dec 18, 2003, at 7:52 PM, maria judith wrote:
> 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
>>
>>
>
>
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