From ZPD to ZMD: a little something to think about

when pairing students.

By Edward Charles Alden

Ever had a mixed-ability group? Better still: even had one that
wasn’t? Considering you teach somewhere in this solar system , the
answer for the last question will most likely be ‘no’, which means you
share with me that eternal dilemma: should I pair a ‘weak’ student with a
‘strong’ one, in an attempt to level the former up, to the expense of the
latter’s growth and motivation, or should I put students with a similar
level together and make the gap even bigger?
A teacher trainer I had once said that there were very few things
you could not do in EFL, as long as you knew why you were doing it and
believed in that. Well, bearing that in mind, I dare say I may have, not
the definitive solution for that dilemma (I doubt such thing exists in such
a tricky issue), but at least a light to guide future pairings.
Out starting point is Vygotsky’s ZPD theory. He claimed that there
are a number of things that a person could not learn on his own, but
could do so with proper assistance, which could be from a teacher or a
‘more capable peer’, in a formal learning environment, or from a parent
or anybody else, outside the classroom. This was coined by Vygotsky
as the ‘Zone of Proximal Development’, or ZPD, and can be
represented as follows:

Y Z
X
Here, X represents the learner’s current stage of development, Y
his ZPD and Z an unattainable learning at this stage.
Ever since the early 60s, when Vygotsky’s work was published, it
has influenced several fields, including EFL, both inside and outside the
classroom, such as in the development of syllabi and the design of
material. After all, in theory, all that the teacher had to do was to grade
the task (either up or down) to fit it into the student’s ZPD (see diagram
below), lend a helping hand and voila: learning takes place!

Y Z
X Task
 Now let’s just see how the ZPD theory can be related to grouping
techniques in a classroom. Imagine two different pair work situations:

Situation 1

Student A

Y Z
X

Student B

Y Z
X
In Situation 1, Student A is way ahead of B. As their ZPDs don’t
overlap, neither of them can gain much from working together.
Wherever the task is placed along the line, there cannot be mutual
cooperation towards its accomplishment. If, for instance, the task is
within student A’s ZPD, he can’t learn because he won’t be receiving
assistance from student B (who will definitely feel over challenged and
possibly very demotivated). If it’s within B’s ZPD, he most likely won’t
have the chance to work it out, because, being the task so easy for A,
the latter will dominate the activity and accomplish it before B ‘s learning
takes place. Even if the task lies somewhere in the middle, it will still be,
at the same time, too difficult for B and too easy for A.

Situation 2

Student A

Y Z
X

Student B

Y Z
X
In Situation 2, we will consider two students between whom, even
them being of different levels, there is not such a gap. In other words,
their ZPDs overlap, allowing them to cooperate mutually in
accomplishing any task within that zone, which can be called Zone of
Mutual Development, or ZMD. Student B will have his more capable
peer to guide him towards learning and A will have a genuine
opportunity to test his linguistic theories in a non-threatening situation.
Therefore the ZMD is mutual in a sense that it is an intersectional
zone which comprises language which neither would be capable of
learning alone, but both can learn by assisting each other.
We, as teachers, do something very similar in the classroom
everyday. By asking questions (or throwing back students’), raising
doubts or anything that aims at leading the student to reflect on the
language, the so-called scaffolding, we are simply pretending to share a
ZMD with students. Otherwise, our ZPD being so much ahead of theirs,
we would just provide the answer and hope they would somehow
absorb our wisdom (current practice not long ago!).
All right, I realise all this is too theoretical and not easily
applicable. There are two major challenges ahead of you: first, you have
to pair student whose ZPDs overlap, forming a ZMD, and then you have
to come up with a task that fits in this ZMD which, of course, wouldn’t be
the same for each pair. Do you want a suggestion? Experiment.
First of all, choose a specific group that is specially mixed. Try
writing their names in a vertical list, from the ‘most capable’ to the ‘least
capable’, and use it for your pairing/grouping for some classes.
Although the most logical pairing would be 1+2, 3+4, and so on, you will
strike a deadly blow on your class variety if you keep repeating that
formation on and on again, apart from the fact that 2 is most likely not
the only student that shares a ZMD with 1. Try 1+3, 2+4,…, or 1+4,….,
not forgetting groups of three, four, etc, where the ZMD theory is also
applicable. And once you’ve got a good idea of each student’s ZPD and
with which peers they overlap, try grading the activities up or down to
suit each pair/group.
It’s definitely a mighty task. It will involve an awful lot of extra
planning, observing in the class and reflecting afterwards. But I’m sure
the results will be highly rewarding, both for your professional
development and your students’ growth and motivation. As for our
second mighty task, grading the activities to fit into each pair’s/group’s
ZMD, well, as the Americans say, that’s a whole new ball game, so let’s
leave that for another opportunity.

Contact Details:
Rua 25, 11
Vila Santo Antonio, Rio Verde-GO, Brazil
(64) 3623 1000
eddiealden@yahoo.co.uk