Literature / 49
the relationship to an object is mediated from the start by some
other concepts. Thus the very notion of scientific concept Implies
a certain position in relation to other concepts.i.e. a place within
a system of concepts. (Vygotsky,1962:93).
The system referred to is the semantic system of language (Vertsch,1983):
The schooling's emphasis on using language to talk about language
as opposed to talking about non-IinguIstic reality is an important
force in the emergence of scientific concepts. (Kohlberg and
Vertsch ,1981:44 ).
The significance of schooling lies not just in the acquisition of
new knowledge but in the creation of new motives and formal modes
of discourslve and logical thinking divorced from immediate
practical experience. (Luria,1976:133).
These ideas were later developed by Bruner (1975), Cole (1980), Donaldson
(1978) and Snow (1984). They have also been Inappropriately used in
support of positions emphasising the existence of and need for
,decontextualized language' In the acquisition of literacy (see 2.2.3).
But the development of scientific concepts is something different from
the learning of an 'essay-text form of literacy' which passes for literacy
in many schools: in fact it is just the opposite. The image of children
learning mostly by manipulating materials, extracting information from
b∞ks and producing essays is typical of the Anglo-American pedagogy;
social relations between adults and children in the learning process are
stressed in the Soviet tradition to the point that dialogue is considered
the critical tie between all language activities, including reading and
writing (external dialogue is internalized as inner speech and this is
then externalized as writing - Volosinov,1973). The Vygotsklan school
also 'attributes great importance to reflection in the instructional
process' (Zebroεki,1982^1) encouraging metalinguistic awareness of oral
and written discourse.
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