The first time I saw CHAT being used was on this network by either
Mike Cole or Yrjo Engestrom, or perhaps both. Everybody calls
Vygotsky's theory different things, and it can get confusing, and
this to me seems like a really good compromise that hits all the
bases...but it does signify that you see a theoretical line betwee
Vygotsky and Leontiev, which a number of people (including Kozulin)
would argue with (and I mean really argue with). The trouble with
cultural history in Vygotsky's thinking is that it signifies only
one (but the richest) of the three levels of history that he wanted
to use in his approach. The other two are evolutionary history and
ontogenetic history. The Activity Theory, named after vygotsky, but
presaged by Vygotsky tends to focus on the cultural historical time
frame, although I think it is very important to keep the other
two time frames in focus as part of the theoretical paradigm (another
thing that you will get arguments over). So to me CHAT connects a
theoretical line, and focuses on the most important aspects of
that theoretical line. Perhaps other people, including the originators,
have other views of this.
Michael
Michael Glassman
University of Houston