IBplicatiODS / 179
Interactive event Into а йоге general learning experience, as instruction
in the ZPD
puts in motloħ an entire series of internal processes of
development. These processes are at the time possible only in the
sphere of interaction with those surrounding the child and in
collaboration with companions, but in the internal course of
development they eventually become the internal property of the
child (Vygotsky,1956, a text in Russian quoted in Vertsch
1985b:71).
Teachers do the same at school as they also provide instruction in the
ZPD and in doing so they act upon the process of internalization of
experience. The difference with the home resides in the different nature
of the activity predominant in the Classrooom (see page 46 and
Leont'ev,1981). Vork activity and Instructional activity are quite
different:
- in work activity the younger is the apprentice, and the more
experienced participant has the efficient execution of the goal-
directed action as his highest priority. The product is more
important than the process and error is what prevents completion of
the task; the message is more important than the medium.
- in instructional activity the younger is the learner, and the more
experienced participant, the teacher, has the understanding of semiotic
means (scientific concepts, see page 49) as his highest priority. The
process is more important than the product and error is what may give
more insights; medium and message are not separable.
Activities are not simply determined by physical contexts or tasks, but
by the relationship between the participants, and so they can occur in
school, home or workshop; the hierarchy of what is to be maximized,
however, is different, and the aim of school is predominantly that of
promoting instructional activities. The case of learning an. and in the L2
in the first grades of school, however, presents specific issues:
- in the development of fluency the pupil is more an 'apprentice' than a
'learner', and the teacher should try to reproduce at school the
conditions under which he developed his LI. The teacher or other 'more
capable peers' (Vygotsky,1978:86) should take the role of the adult at
home, the activity should have communication or communication-