Nquisition and criticality in higher education: from vygotsky into classroom practice

Abstract

Providing quality-education for adults has been a primary pillar of higher education. English Language Teaching (ELT) has similar concerns. ELT departments in universities aim to improve language skills of learners as well as improve learners’ critical thinking skills. Universities provide space for widening our knowledge base with theoretical and practical insights. For such an environment, we need curious minds ready to attain knowledge, question the given information and seek out alternative positions. Empirical experience in higher education as an adult educator and language practitioner showed that there are few such inquisitive learners as we hope to find in the regular university classrooms. This paper utilizes Vygotsky’s principles of zone of proximal development (ZPD) and scaffolding in Sociocultural Learning Theory (SCT). These concepts are utilized in order to instill critical thinking skills and stretch language proficiency of learners to higher levels of performance. Social approach to education assumes the mediating role of language in our everyday interactions with others. According to Sociocultural Theory (SCT) ‘‘human mental functioning is fundamentally a mediated process that is organized by cultural artifacts, activities, and concepts’’ (Ratner, 2002 cited in Lantolf & Thorne, 2006, p.197). Vygotsky’s key concepts such as Scaffolding, Zone of Actual Development (ZAP) and Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) are utilized in this paper as an experimental study in order to stretch learners’ actual capacity to a higher level of performance.