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Key Concepts of Vygotsky's

Theory of Learning and
Development
a
Elene Bodrova Ph.D.
a
Metropolitan State College of Denver , Denver,
Colorado
Published online: 03 Aug 2006.

To cite this article: Elene Bodrova Ph.D. (1997) Key Concepts of Vygotsky's Theory
of Learning and Development, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 18:2,
16-22, DOI: 10.1080/1090102970180205

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 Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education
Proceedings Issue 1997, Volume 18, No. 2

Key Concepts of Vygotsky's Theory

of Learning and Development

Elene Bodrova, Ph.D.

Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver, Colorado

The growing interest in the Vygotskian ideas of learning and development has
brought up new questions about his approach. Can we consider Vygotsky a member
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of the constructivist movement? Are some of his ideas a tribute to the theory that
dominated psychology of his time - behaviorism? Is there any contemporary para-
digm in developmental or educational psychology that may claim Vygotsky to be
among its founding fathers? It is not possible to provide exhaustive answers to all
these questions in a single article, but a brief overview of the main concepts will
hopefully help readers to clarify the place that Vygotsky's theory holds in the larger
picture of theories and ideas.
The uniqueness of the Vygotskian approach is due to the fact that he never con-
sidered himself a "child-psychologist" or an "educational psychologist" only. His ideas
of learning and development are a part of a larger and more ambitious attempt to
create a new psychology - Cultural Historical theory. In creating this theory, Vygotsky
focused on the two aspects of history: history of the humankind and an individual his-
tory of a child. For Vygotsky, these two are intimately connected, so that no individual
development can be understood in isolation from its cultural context. Thus, each new
development in a child's life is not simply a result of biological maturation but is al-
ways affected by this child's acquisition of new forms of behavior previously selected
and shaped by all previous human history (Vygotsky, 1930-1935/1978).
Vygotsky attempted to transcend the old nature vs. nurture dichotomy not aligning
himself with either side of it. In the Vygotskian view, a child is neither shaped by his or
her environment into a social being, nor does the child unfold his or her innate poten-
tial adapting to this environment. From Vygotsky's perspective, the relationship be-
tween the child and the environment has a dynamic nature, different for different age
periods and for different cultural contexts. The child plays an active role in this rela-
tionship, interacting with her environment and modifying it with the help of internal-
ized mental tools. This position led Vygotskian scholars to define the Cultural Histori-
cal approach as "co-constructivist" camp (e.g., Valsiner, 1989).
The short life of Vygotsky (he died at the age of 38) did not allow him to complete
his mission of creating the new psychology. The best known and the most complete
part of his writings is the Vygotskian theory of learning and development. This is the
part of Vygotsky's heritage that was most extensively elaborated on by his col-
leagues and his students. This is also what has attracted the interest of numerous
psychologists and educators in the West who continue to discover Vygotsky and look
into the possibility of applying his ideas to educational practice. This article will focus
on the Vygotskian concepts that have direct relevance for educators: lower and high-
er mental functions, mental tools, and Zone of Proximal Development.

16
 Elene Bodrova

The Concept of Lower and Higher Mental Functions

Vygotsky conceives development as a progression of qualitative changes marking
the transitions from one age period to another. These qualitative changes result in
the emergence of new mental functions and in restructuring of the mind as a whole.
Vygotsky agrees with the view held by many psychologists of his time that the human
mind is not homogeneous but is rather composed of two kinds of mental functions:
the lower ones and the higher ones (Vygotsky, 1983). Lower mental functions are cul-
ture-free and have not changed significantly over the course of human history. In
contrast, higher mental functions are culture-specific and can vary from one society
to another.
Lower mental functions, such as sensations, reactive attention, associate memory,
or sensory motor thinking, are part of our biological heritage and are already present
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at the moment of birth. The development of lower mental functions occurs through
maturation and through accumulation of the individual experience following the same
path for humans and for higher animals. Both humans and animals are not aware of
the existence of their lower mental functions and cannot control them.
Learning based on the lower mental functions only has serious limitations. For ex-
ample, for reactive attention to be engaged, a stimulus must "stand out" - be ex-
tremely loud, bright, or unusual. It may take many repetitions for a new association to
be formed - and all dog owners will attest to this. Sensory motor thinking cannot be
applied to the problems that existed in the past or will exist in the future. Vygotsky
notes that as long as humans possess the lower mental functions only, they remain
"slaves to the environment" completely dependent on the stimulation that comes from
the outside. The learner stays relatively passive, and the outcomes of learning are
determined by the nature of stimuli. Thus, learning based on lower mental functions
is time consuming and not very efficient.
If we look at how young children learn in their preschool years, we see that their
behavior is strongly influenced by their environment - it takes many repetitions for
them to learn anything - from their own address to a new finger play. Imagine a group
of typical 4-year-olds in a circle time when they have to look at their teacher, listen to
what she says, repeat rhymes or songs after her, and answer her questions. The chil-
dren's behavior is completely controlled by the environment - the teacher's behavior,
sights, and sounds - and disintegrates as soon as the environment no longer pro-
vides the necessary support for their attention, memory, and thinking. If a teacher
wants preschoolers to attend, she has to keep activities fast paced, rapidly changing
one activity for another in a variety of formats. Not being capable of exercising any
deliberate behavior for a long time, a typical preschooler will follow a teacher's plan
only as long as it matches his own desires.
Although infants and young children have to rely primarily on their lower mental
functions for learning, early childhood is also a sensitive period for the formation of
higher mental functions. Unlike lower mental functions, higher mental functions con-
tinue to be formed throughout our lifetime as a result of mastering specific cultural
tools in cooperation with other humans. The higher mental functions include focused
attention, deliberate memory, and logical thinking - the processes not observed in
any other species but humans. All higher mental functions are deliberate and involve
the use of language. According to Vygotsky, higher mental functions are shaped by a
specific culture and, therefore, may vary among individuals.
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 Key Concepts of Vygotsky's Theory of
Learning and Development

For Vygotsky, acquisition of higher mental functions liberates individuals from rely-
ing exclusively on their environment and turns them into "masters of their own behav-
ior." For example, focused attention makes it possible for a student to block out dis-
tractions and to attend deliberately to any stimulus no matter what the intensity is.
This student would be able to concentrate on a certain paragraph in the text even if it
does not appear different from the rest of the page. Deliberate memory - another one
of the higher mental functions - will also enable this student to memorize larger
amounts of information by applying various strategies. Thus, learning based on high-
er mental functions becomes more efficient.
Looking into the forces driving child development, Vygotsky has formulated what
he called the Law of the Development of the Higher Mental Functions (Vygotsky,
1983). It states that each higher mental function appears twice in the course of child
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development - first as intersubjective and later as intrasubjective (Vygotsky, 1983;

Vygotsky & Luria, 1930/2993). What it means is that each higher mental function
goes through a stage when it does not yet belong to a single individual (intra-) but is
"shared" among several persons (inter-). This is radically different from the view of
the mind in Western psychology where mental processes are usually considered in-
dividual at any given time. Compared to Vygotsky's days, now it has become more
common for Western psychologists to talk about "distributed" or "collective" cognition
(e.g., Resnick et al., 1991). Even these approaches primarily emphasize sharing of
the contents of thinking (such as facts, ideas, and beliefs and not the mental process-
es per se. In contrast, for Vygotsky, the very fabric of the mind - the mental process-
es - may exist initially outside an individual in a "shared mental space."
For example, before a child learns to remember on purpose, there will be quite
some time when she will be able to remember only with the substantial support of her
parents, prompting her with various memory strategies. During this period of time
(usually taking up all of the preschool and kindergarten years), the very process of
deliberate memory can be considered shared between this child and the adults.
Without the adult's help, preschoolers cannot yet control their memory, so whether or
not the child finds her lost toy or remembers to bring her project for the show-and-tell
will depend on mere chance - some association that happens to trigger the memory
at the right time. After some time of "sharing" a mental function with other partners,
the child will eventually internalize this new process and it will now become a part of
her own mental repertoire.
There are many ways in which a developing skill or concept can be shared be-
tween two or more people. A child may use the strategy or concept with the support
of a teacher. Two children may work together to solve a problem. One peer may tutor
another one. A group of children may support each other's learning of self-control
playing "Simon says" together. All these interactions may result in the child's master-
ing of a new concept or skill. Thus, social context becomes one of the sources of de-
velopment, giving a new meaning to the idea of "co-construction." Vygotsky views not
only ideas but also the mental processes themselves to be the product of co-con-
struction.

The Concept of a Mental Tool

To develop their higher mental functions, children must acquire mental tools. Usu-
ally these tools are passed on to the children by the more knowledgeable members
18
 Elene Bodrova

of the society such as teachers, parents, or older siblings (Bodrova & Leong, 1996).
Whenever some instruction takes place - in a formal or informal setting - there is an
opportunity for an expert to introduce a tool, to model how to use it, and to monitor its
use by a novice. For Vygotsky, the teaching and learning of existing mental tools and
the generating of new ones eventually replaces the process of biological adaptation
as the major mechanism responsible for the evolution of humankind (Vygotsky,
1930-1935/1978; Vygotsky & Luria, 1930/1993).
What is a mental tool? Vygotsky draws an analogy between a mechanical tool and
a mental tool (Vygotsky & Luria, 1984/1994). The function of a mechanical tool is to
extend the physical capacities of individuals beyond the limits set by their biological
endowment. It is believed that the use of mechanical tools enabled humans to com-
pete with stronger and faster animal species. Humans lack a built-in navigation de-
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vice similar to what some of the birds have but can still find their way using compass-
es and maps. Similarly, the use of mental tools allows humans to function beyond the
limits of their mental capacities. Even in preliterate societies, people are able to sig-
nificantly increase the capacity of their memory by using simple marks such as pic-
tograms or special kinds of knots (Vygotsky & Luria, 1984/1994). A good example
close to modern times would be cutting down on the number of repetitions necessary
to remember a phone number by simply writing the number down. All devices used
to improve mental functioning fall into the category of mental tools - from an arrow on
a tree to sophisticated systems of notation, such as the one used in mathematics.
Mental tools vary in their format and their complexity. The most primitive tools can
be applied to the isolated tasks only and can facilitate only one mental function. A
string around one's finger will help this person to remember just one thing and will
work only for a short period of time. On the other hand, the most complex tools, such
as language, can be applied for a variety of tasks and to more than one mental func-
tion. For example, written words may be used to trigger our memory at the right time
(when we make a shopping list) or to organize our thinking (when we write down
notes for a future paper). Mental tools cannot only expand our cognitive abilities but
also help in controlling our emotional and social behaviors. Vygotsky describes vari-
ous devices adopted by different cultures to assist in solving arguments - coins to
toss, straws to pull, and dice to roll.
Vygotsky and his colleagues found that for young children, even primitive material-
ized tools can mean the difference between depending on the environment and con-
trolling this environment, between being reactive and being deliberate (Vygotsky,
1984). For example, in one study, single color cards helped first-graders to remem-
ber the rules of a game (Leont'ev, 1932/1994) and, in another study, specially creat-
ed boxes facilitated kindergartners' ability to separate phonemes in a word (Elkonin,
1959/1963). Vygotsky's students who have elaborated on his idea of mental tools
were able to identify many categories of tools that could be introduced to young chil-
dren to significantly expand their cognitive abilities (see Davydov, 1986/1988;
Venger, 1986).
For the older children, written speech becomes one of the most powerful tools (Vy-
gotsky, 1934/1962). Learning to read and write means for Vygotsky more than just
acquiring one more skill. It actually restructures the child's mind, enabling this child to
function at a much higher level of symbolic abstraction. It also completes the process
of the development of higher mental functions, helping children to become more de-
19
 Key Concepts of Vygotsky's Theory of
Learning and Development

liberate not only in their actions but in their thinking as well. Having acquired mental
tools, students become responsible for their own learning and require less and less
of the teacher's assistance.
The concept of mental tools makes it clear why Vygotsky sees learning as leading
a child's development rather than following it. Mental tools are not developed by chil-
dren spontaneously as an outcome of their development. Instead, they are passed
on to the children and acquired by them through the processes of teaching and learn-
ing. When the transmission and the acquisition of mental tools occurs during an ap-
propriate window of instruction, the development itself may take a substantial leap,
bringing a child to a qualitatively different level.
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The Concept of Zone of Proximal Development

The concept of Zone of Proximal Development (or ZPD) helps us to understand
how to identify this perfect window of instruction so that teaching will have the optimal
effect on the development of a child.
The idea of Zone of Proximal Development is also a logical extension of the Law of
the Development of the Higher Mental Functions (Vygotsky, 1984). The Zone of
Proximal Development contains the processes that do not yet exist but will be fully
developed in the nearest future. The lower level of ZPD is defined by the child's inde-
pendent performance and its upper level is defined by the most the child can do with
assistance. As long as a mental process exists in a "shared" state only, it lies within
the Zone. Vygotsky described these processes as the ones "on the edge of emer-
gency" (Vygotsky, 1930-1935/1978). After the development of the mental process is
completed, it becomes the property of an individual child and it may be detected in
this child's individual performance.
The concept of Zone of Proximal Development is the most well known of all Vygot-
skian concepts, but even so, its full meaning and its implications for education are not
always interpreted correctly. Part of the problem is that many other parts of Vygot-
sky's writings critical for its understanding have not been available for Western audi-
ences until recently. Another reason for misconceptions is due to the contradiction
between what is defined as the higher level of a child's ZPD - this child's assisted
performance - and what was usually considered the highest accomplishment for
Western educators - independent performance. This misconception could be easi-
ly avoided when we determine how the levels of performance are compared. Vygot-
sky used the difficulty of a task as a criterion, assuming that the harder the task, the
more assistance is needed to complete it. Thus, the easiest tasks would always be
the ones a child can complete independently, while for the more complex ones some
assistance can be required. But if we look at a succession of several ZPDs over time,
it will become clear that an assisted performance of today would be replaced tomor-
row by an independent performance on the same task.
This idea has completely revolutionized the philosophy of assessment - instead
of just testing the child in isolation, one must now also look at this child's ability to
take in instructional support provided by another person. Most traditional assess-
ment practices of the past did not allow anybody to assist a child struggling with a
problem. These approaches considered any trace of adult's help to be a serious dan-
ger to the validity of the assessment. In contrast, for Vygotsky, assessing the child's
performance on both levels - independent and assisted - provides more precise
20
 Elene Bodrova

information about the child's current status. It also helps to predict possible future de-
velopments in this child's mental functioning. The current theories and practices of
assessment - such as dynamic assessment (McAfee & Leong, 1997) and assess-
ment of learning potential (Feuerstein et al, 1986) - have proved the validity of this
approach when applied to different areas of development.
To implement Vygotsky's view of assessment into classroom practice, a teacher
should assess children in different contexts - working individually, with the help of an-
other person, and working with a group of peers. Quite often children may demon-
strate higher levels of performance in the contexts rarely used for traditional assess-
ment. For example, a five-year-old may seem easily distracted and incapable of
staying on task in a small group or even when interacting with a teacher one-on-one.
The same child, though, may be extremely self-directed and focused in a dramatic
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play area where he can follow and rules and stay within the same role for a long time.
Vygotsky views play as an activity that gives young children an opportunity to per-
form at the highest level of their ZPD (Berk & Winsler, 1995; Vygotsky, 1966/1977).
The concept of ZPD is at the very core of Vygotsky's theory of learning and devel-
opment. It indicates a different approach to the relationship between learning and de-
velopment from the approaches advocated by Piaget or by behaviorists (Vygotsky,
1930-1935/1978). If a new concept or skill introduced to a child lies within this child's
ZPD, learning of this concept or skill may affect this child's development taking it to a
new level. When it happens, one step in learning may actually mean "one hundred
steps in a development" or, paraphrasing Vygotsky, "a penny spent on learning may
be worth a dollar in development". When children are taught the skills they are al-
ready practicing on their own, there is no new development to be expected. At the
same time, if children are exposed to the concepts outside of their ZPD, no develop-
ment occurs either. So, ZPD can be described as the optimal window of instruction
offering the best opportunities for a child to learn and to develop.
The three concepts covered in this paper are so interrelated that it makes it difficult
to discuss any one of them without constantly referring to the other two. Together
they can help a reader to build a bridge from Vygotsky's philosophy to a co-construc-
tivist practice.

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