I mentioned Vygotsky in my post last week, but I wanted to
bring his ideas in again this week since we just read him, and since he is,
after all, Russian. I’ve been trying to think what he might say about language
learning and Rosetta Stone. First, I’m sure he would approve of their
consistent use of images in connection with words. The image, of an egg for
example, is the thing itself, or I think he would say it is the “external
stimuli,” whereas the word “egg/яйцо”,
whether written or spoken, is just a symbol of the object, and is an
“artificial stimuli.” In other words, we’re essentially labeling the things
around us, storing these labels/signs in our memory, and then using them to
communicate with others and ourselves when we do not have the actual stimuli in
front of us. This process helps with our development because we are not like
apes, only reacting to things in our immediate perception, which is the
“elementary function.” We instead store these signs in our memory and use them
to also act on or control our own behavior and the world around us, which is
the “higher function.” (This is still hard for me to understand, but I think we
are able to control ourselves because we can essentially talk to ourselves
about ourselves and the world around us, and can give order to it using our new
signs/language.)
 |
| One boy. One girl. One egg. But notice how "one" is different with all three. Three signs to memorize instead of one. Very inefficient. |
Now to make a connection back to Rosetta Stone and my
Russian learning. I think that by learning new signs, I can essentially use
those signs in a different social context, and will in that way be able to
exercise control in conjunction with other people. (The word “control,” by the
way, is the one Vygotsky uses on page 40. I’m not sure what other word to use.)
So when I’m in Russia at my in-laws house, giving directions in English to, for
example, make food, will do no good. But if I can do it in Russian, then I can
work with others to exercise control over our environment. Sounds very dictatorial and authoritarian, but you can get away with that stuff in Russia.
 |
| Now I can not only label people as walking, but I can tell then to walk. It's all about control. |
I’ve also been thinking more about the zone of proximal
development. Vygotsky talks specifically about how people help other people
move beyond their actual development to their potential development. But this
entire ITLS program is based on the idea that technology can also play a
significant role in learning and development. So even though, as I said last
week, my wife helps me to advance, does Rosetta Stone also help to do the same
thing, even though it is a non-human thing developed by humans? I would think
that Vygotsky would grant that technology can also help us reach our zone of
proximal development, even if not in the same way that humans can, because it is
still helping me learn something that I cannot learn on my own.
I was talking to a friend the other day who wants to learn
Spanish and I told him I was using Rosetta Stone for Russian. He asked me how
it was, and I basically said that it’s just another tool, although a helpful
one. In other words, Rosetta Stone or any other technology, is only just part
of the answer. I think the other part is, as I’ve said in previous posts,
consistent interaction with other people in specific contexts. And oh yeah,
let’s not forget the other things about effort, short- and long-term memory,
etc. There are many pieces to this puzzle.
Comments
Post a Comment