Dear Peter, Steve, Mike, David, Andy, Martin, Jay, and all!
Steve, yes, you clued into my thinking with the Zinchenko article, going back to A. A. Ukhtomsky. Thank you for taking the time to write out the quotations. And, we are all very aware now that we must try and send actual articles for all to read. Unfortunately, I do not have a scanner for this one by Zinchenko (From Classical to Organic Psychology: In Commemoration of the Centennial of Lev Vygotsky’s Birth, pp. 3-26. In Voices within Vygotsky’s Non-Classical Psychology, Past, Present, Future. Editors, Stetsenko and Robbins. Nova Science, 2002). If anyone could scan the article and post it, it would be great. It is a tremendous article. Zinchenko delivered the talk at the 1996 Centennial Celebration of the birth of Vygotsky, in Moscow. It has been translated into English by someone else (I don’t remember), and it appears again in the Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 2001. That article is attached. They all have different
translations.
Now, I am thrilled that Peter sent his article, and I am hoping that Peter has started a new discussion for xmca….so many of us are frustrated that there is so little emphasis on Vygotskian linguistics (there, I said itJ), in terms of bringing it forward. There is no younger Russian, well-known follower of A. A. Leontiev
I know of, and even in his last year of life, there were hardly 20 students in his psycholinguistic lectures. I don’t know of any detailed courses on Vygotskian language theories at any of the three basic “Vygotskian” universities in Moscow (perhaps Sasha could help clarify that). I do know that the new book dedicated to A. A. Leontiev in Moscow does not bring his theories forward, in a way that I would hope…..Just my observations. And, the one-day conference dedicated to A. A. Leontiev this past summer was more historical than future-oriented…..(my opinion only!) In terms of Vygotsky’s language theories, truly, I seldom hear anything on that anywhere, in terms of pure theory.
Yes, it would be great to have the xmca messages on Internalization receive new captions….and, it would be incredible to start an xmca course on Elluminate that would focus on language theories-linguistics-semiotics-more, more, more. My point was not clear I think: In general, we need to start with a “system” when reviewing such deep concepts…I would think we would need to study language history in context: Humboldt, Potebnya, Spet, Bühler, so many thinkers (Luria, etc)….to then proceed to Halliday, Harris, and so many others. Having a set of principled understandings would be a great starting point……of course, once we know we have a solid historical basis, then move forward to today and the future….Just my ideas….
And, one point of true importance: Applied Linguistics within Sociocultural Theory was not discussed…Jim Lantolf is responsible for bringing Vygotsky to Applied Linguistics in the West (and he is totally responsible for the fact that he pushed me to read Vygotsky…..I was a student of Paulo Freire, not Vygotsky.)….Jim and his team have done more for SLA than words could ever express. Now, we have Jim and many of his colleagues/students carrying on Vygotsky’s language theories, within a much newer framework on gestures and dynamic assessment (our own Emily is an important voice in so many ways). And, to Peter…..I have been lucky to have you as a friend for so many years….I give you so much credit for continuing to push all of us to start to discuss issues of language within the Vygotskian framework….Hopefully, as we have learned in politics in the USA this week, this will be a “teachable” moment for many of us. Steve, thanks for
getting to Zinchenko…..that is a great help for understanding “internalization.”
Warmly,
Dot
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Zinchenko!.pdf
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