Rethinking of The Zone of Proximal Development: The Role of Parental Engagement in Children's Language Learning Skills

The present research investigated the efficacy of parent engagement in children's learning and achievement in the English language. It is emphasized that adult guidance in foreign language learning cannot necessarily play an influential role in children's zone of proximal development (ZPD). It seems that parents or adults should enjoy relative linguistic skills, while in Vygotsky's theory, there is ambiguity over some concepts such as adult guidance characteristics.The statistical society consisted of sixty Iranian children ranging from 9 to 10, divided randomly into three groups of experimental 1, experimental 2, and control. Children received face-to-face education while Telegram was used for their parents. The research results showed significantly more learning, skill training, parent involvement, and shared activities between children and parents in the experimental1 and experimental 2 groups compared to the control group. Moreover, a positive correlation is found between parent involvement and children's achievement in all three groups. The results also showed that parents' involvement and teaching involvement, and language skills had the most influence on parents' involvement. Furthermore, teaching engagement to parents had the most significant influence on children's activities. In addition, children's activities and language skill training had the most influence on their learning.

Applying Constructivism in Neurodiverse Classrooms

Cognitive development theories differ on how young students can meaningfully process new information and retain that information for future knowledge-building through scaffolding within their zone of proximal development. More traditional theories like the cognitive load theory adhere to the rote memorization approach by categorizing students as passive learners and the teachers as initiators who provide information in a structured, often rigid format, to be stored and retrieved for future application using their working memory. In contrast, the more progressive theories, like constructivism, are premised on the belief that students should proactively initiate their own learning while teachers act more as facilitators. The current trend in government policy under ESSA is to embrace the latter approach in the classroom, which is also more inclusive of all types of students, especially neurodiverse students. Moreover, teachers can utilize the wider range of assistive technology tools to accommodate and support their students’ unique learning styles.

KEMAMPUAN MEMBUKTIKAN PERNYATAAN DENGAN STRATEGI SCAFFOLDING BERBASIS KOMPUTER

Artikel ini mengkaji tentang teori kemampuan membuktikan pernyataan dengan strategi scaffolding berbasis komputer. Kajian yang tertulis dalam artikel mempunyai tujuan untuk memberikan penjelasan bagaimana kemampuan membuktikan pernyataan dengan strategi scaffolding berbasis komputer. Strategi scaffolding dapat membantu mahasiswa dalam memahami bagaimana cara menyelesaikan permasalahan dengan bertahap yang cocok dengan zone of proximal development mahasiswa. Melalui kegiatan komputer mahasiswa bisa memandang konsep-konsep matematika yang abstrak dari sisi kongkrit sehingga bisa meningkatkan nilai tes retensi serta memecahkan sebuah masalah. Dengan memanfaatkan komputer, pembelajaran dapat efektif dan efisien sehingga sangat cocok jika scaffolding yang diberikan dalam pembelajaran mendayagunakan teknologi komputer. Bentuk scaffolding yang diberikan dengan memanfaatkan penggunaan komputer dalam membuktikan sebuah pernyataan bisa berbentuk video, gambar dan animasi. Dengan demikian aktivitas komputer bisa menjadikan matematika jadi lebih bermakna dan meningkatkan motivasi mahasiswa dalam membuktikan pernyataan. Teori yang telah dirangkum oleh penulis dalam artikel ini terdiri dari berbagai sumber dan teori, serta artikel yang telah ditulis penulis sebelumnya yang dapat dijadikan sebagai acuan dalam menguatkan sebuah pendapat.

A theoretical exploration: Zone of Proximal Development as an ethical zone for teaching mathematics

For decades, Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) has been utilized as an important theoretical framework for exploring and analysing the concept of learning, but its implications for teachers remain much less explored. In this article, I conceptualise some of the roots of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of learning and, on this basis, I explore the ZPD as an ethical and powerful zone for teaching. Together with providing a thorough description of some key aspects of Vygotsky’s theoretical concepts, the major question stated, What are the ethical responsibilities of teachers to guide students do mathematics that is beyond their independent ability? intends to open up an original line of inquiry. I first give an overview of this learning theory, as it stemmed from Marxism, my means of supporting examples from mathematics education research literature. It follows a discussion on the issue of ethics and responsibility to more explicitly highlight the ethical responsibilities and power of teachers that are implicit in the concept of ZPD.

Cognitive Development by Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Aim/Thesis: The aim of this research is to promote the use of the three concepts-- the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), the Gettier Problem, and Corpus Linguistics (Contextual Learning)--to increase the academic performance of early undergraduate engineering students. Concept/Methods: 30 Engineering students completed one untimed Mensa IQ Test of 10 questions and one Simon-Binet IQ Test of 50 random IQ questions with a 12 minute time limit. These 30 students were chosen from two different college sections: 15 students from each section. Before the second Simon-Binet Test, one group, G(a), was given ZPD scaffolding in three major topics — Working Memory, Fluid Reasoning and Spatial Reasoning —as they had answered questions based on these concepts incorrectly in their first Mensa IQ test. The second group, G(b), was not given the ZPD scaffolding. A statistical t-test that was later performed indicated that G(a), with scaffolding, outperformed G(b), without the scaffolding, in the second IQ test. Results and conclusion: Using the t-test, it is seen that the hypothesis of this research that ZPD, Gettier Problem and Corpus Linguistics can enhance the performance of the students in a short time period is correct. After the first Mensa IQ test, the level of both the groups G(a) and G(b) of engineering students was almost the same, indicated by a very similar mean results. However, after supporting G(a) utilizing ZPD, Gettier Problem and Corpus Linguistics for their three problem areas - Working Memory, Fluid Reasoning and Spatial Reasoning - identified after their first IQ test where the students needed scaffolding, the performance of this group improved more in comparison to G(b), as indicated by the results of the second online Simon-Binet Test. Research restrictions: It was not possible to provide all the random questions of the online Simon-Binet test given to all 30 students because the total number of questions would be 30*50=1500. Only the first ten questions of the Mensa IQ test are included in this research paper. Further, the third and fourth year engineering students are not included in this research as it is assumed that they have had already developed expertise and the effect of the investigated tools would not be clearly visible. Practical application: ZPD scaffolding was applied to the students when the students’ major problem areas were identified as requiring contextual learning and support. The Gettier Problem-- an epistemological concept-- was also used to keep their mind open at all the times during the learning process and Linguistics Corpus gave the contextual support as ZPD proposes the social-contextual mode of learning. Originality/Cognitive value: The paper presents empirical research on engineering students demonstrating the practical utility of ZPD, Gettier Problem and Corpus Linguistics in the process of learning, potentially irrespective of any discipline.