Constructivism
Constructivism is a theory that suggests language and knowledge are constructed by individuals through their experiences and interactions with the world. In linguistics, this perspective emphasizes the role of social and cultural factors in shaping language acquisition and use. It highlights the active role of learners in creating meaning and understanding language.
5 Key excerpts on "Constructivism"
- Kenneth G. Tobin(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Language is a tool that facilitates communication between participants in a society. When a learner thinks in terms of language, the thinking is a social process even though it is occurring within the mind of a single individual. Each person constructs her own environment, which includes those with whom she interacts. Thus, individuals construct speakers and listeners and assign roles to those with whom they interact. When we think of knowledge, it is convenient to think in terms of both the individual and the social components. Just as it is sometimes useful to think of an electron as a particle and at other times a wave, so it is sometimes useful to think of knowledge as an individual construct and at other times as a social construct. But at all times knowledge is both social and individual, a dialectical relationship existing between the individual’s contribution to knowledge and the social contribution. To those who want to give greater emphasis to one than the other this may seem a paradox; however, to those who are comfortable with multiple ways of representing reality it is acceptable for knowledge to be thought of in complementary ways. The recognition that knowledge has both individual and social components that cannot be meaningfully separated enables us to construct science learning environments where multiple ways of knowing (i.e., women’s ways of knowing, indigenous people’s ways of knowing) are sought and valued.Evidence of scholars emphasizing the social aspects of Constructivism is clearly evident in the work of Cobb and Saxe (e.g.,Cobb 1990;Saxe 1992). As Cobb and his colleagues pointed out, it is not helpful to think of the personal and social emphases as an either/or dichotomy...
eBook - ePub- Frank Adams(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Constructivism DOI: 10.4324/9781315054261-66 Vygotsky’s Four Basic Concepts of Constructivism Children CONSTRUCT knowledge. Learning can LEAD development. Development cannot be separated from its SOCIAL CONTEXT. Language plays a central role in MENTAL DEVELOPMENT. Definition of Constructivism Constructivism is defined in the Dictionary of Psychology (Reber, 1995) as A general theoretical position that characterizes perception and perceptual experience as being constructed from, in Gregory’s words, “fleeting fragmentary scraps of data signaled by the senses and drawn from the brain’s memory banks.” The essence of all constructivist theories is that perceptual experience is viewed as more than a direct response to stimulation. It is viewed as an elaboration or “construction” based on hypothesized cognitive and affective operation. Types of Constructivism There are three types of Constructivism (Woolfolk, 1999, pp. 277–278): Exogenous Constructivism: “Focuses on the ways that individuals reconstruct outside reality by building accurate mental representations (e.g., propositional networks, schemas, and condition-action production rules).” Learning is building accurate mental structures that reflect the way things really are in the world. Many aspects of information processing are consistent with exogenous Constructivism. Endogenous Constructivism: “Assumes that new knowledge is abstracted from old knowledge and is not shaped by accurately mapping the outside world. Knowledge develops as old cognitive structures are transformed to become more coordinated and useful.” Piaget’s stage theory of cognitive development is an example of endogenous Constructivism. Dialectical Constructivism: “Suggests that knowledge grows through the interactions of internal (cognitive) and external (environmental and social) factors.” Vygotsky’s description of cognitive development through the internalization and use of cultural tools such as language is an example of dialectical Constructivism....
eBook - ePub- Vivien Burr(Author)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...As pointed out in chapter 1, a key feature of social constructionism is a recognition of the fact that different constructions of the world sustain different kinds of social action. To the extent that our constructions of the world are founded upon language, as has been argued throughout this chapter, then language underpins the forms of action that it is possible for us to take. This seems to be a conclusion compatible with both deconstruction and discursive psychology. Deconstruction typically focuses upon language as a system of signs and symbols existing at the level of society or culture. Within this view, our culturally shared representations of the world often have far-reaching implications for how we treat people. For example, as noted in Chapters 1 and 2, as a society we often describe people who hear voices as mentally ill and refer them to psychiatrists and psychologists who then have power over many aspects of their lives. If we constructed them as seers or prophets, we might instead visit them for advice about the future. Discursive psychologists’ focus upon situated language use brings different kinds of examples to the fore, like the fictional car journey described above. To the extent that the man in this scenario succeeds in building an account of himself as helpful, the woman will feel less able to challenge his behaviour or legitimately ask him to change how he behaves when in the car with her. Summary The main thrust of this chapter has been to suggest that, rather than view language and thought as two separate phenomena which can affect each other, they are inseparable and that language provides the basis for all our thought. It provides us with a system of categories for dividing up our experience and giving it meaning, so that our very selves become the products of language. Language produces and constructs our experience of each other and ourselves...
eBook - ePub- Gill Robins(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Chapter 5 Constructivism – the perspective It has been suggested that Constructivism as a learning philosophy can be traced back to the work of the Italian philosopher, Giambattista Vico (1668–1744). He was a Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Naples who believed that people formed new knowledge from what they already knew, which in itself was based on individual beliefs. The formalisation of the constructivist epistemology is usually attributed to Jean Piaget, who is defined as a cognitive constructivist. It postulates that learning is the construction and reconstruction of knowledge by each individual from their own ideas and previous experiences. The point of this theory of learning is humorously made in Leo Lionni’s 2005 picture book, Fish is Fish, which tells the story of a minnow and a tadpole. When the tadpole grows into a frog, he hops out of the pond, occasionally returning to tell his friend the fish about the wonders of the world. He describes a bird as having wings, two legs and many, many colours. But while he visualises a bird which he has actually seen, the fish, interpreting this information through the filters of his limited experience and knowledge, visualises coloured flying fish with fins as wings and two frog-like legs. Descriptions of cows and humans are similarly interpreted. This story demonstrates the core belief of constructivist theory: that people create new knowledge from existing knowledge. Meaning is made within the context of prior experiences and the possibilities for misconception are manifold. In this chapter, a perspective on the constructivist paradigm will be given by outlining the work of its principal exponents: John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Jerome Bruner and Carl Rogers...
eBook - ePub(Re)defining Success in Language Learning
Positioning, Participation and Young Emergent Bilinguals at School
- Katie A. Bernstein(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Multilingual Matters(Publisher)
...In this view of context, what holds the threads together? Cole suggests both activity theory, which draws on the work of Lev Vygotsky, and practice theory, originating in the work of Pierre Bourdieu, as approaches to studying human interaction that are compatible with this view of context. Both help to frame this project. Figure 2.2 The construction of a rope Learning as Social Activity: A Sociocultural View of Language Acquisition While interaction plays a role in nearly all theories of second language acquisition, the view that interaction is both a place for language learning as well as for the construction of social relationships and structures is a broadly sociocultural one. Vygotskian sociocultural theory, which was brought to the field of Second Language Acquisition through the work of Rick Donato, Jim Lantolf, Merrill Swain and Steve Thorne, among others, theorizes that learning is a process of internalization and appropriation. Any new skill appears first on the social plane, through participation in interaction with others, and then, later, on the individual plane (Vygotsky, 1978). Through interaction, children learn to use artifacts, or cultural tools – more concrete ones, like spoons or markers, to more abstract ones, such as language and gesture – to mediate their goal-driven activity. For second language researchers who draw on Vygotskian sociocultural theory, interaction is at the core of language learning, which takes place through participation in ‘cultural, linguistic, and historically formed settings such as family life and peer group interaction’ (Lantolf & Thorne, 2007: 197). Far from simply providing input, interaction is the location of learning itself. Specifically, Lantolf (2000, 2013; Lantolf & Thorne, 2006, 2007) described interaction as mediating L2 learning in two important ways. First, it provides opportunities to understand and appropriate others’ intentional ways of using language to participate in activity...
