1. Focus on the Learner Chapter 3

2. Psychosexual Stages of Development

3. Erik Erickson
* Psycho-social Stages of Development

5. * Stages of Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget
* Stages of Cognitive Development

9. Zone of Proximal Development
Lev Vygotsky
On Language
Zone of Proximal Development

10. Lev Vygotsky's Theory of Language Development in Children
Primitive Stage
As babies, we goo and gah and cry and babble. These are examples of the primitive stage of language development.
The sounds produced serve no real purpose except to produce the sound and experiment with our new capability. Just as a baby laid on his belly may make crawling motions yet not crawl, the baby may also make sounds without producing speech.
As the baby does not produce speech, there is also not verbal thought, or internal monologue. This does not mean the baby does not think, it only means that the child has not yet internalized his speech. The verbalization performed at this stage serve no purpose except to practice sound. There is no reason for the child to internalize during this stage.

11. Lev Vygotsky's Theory of Language Development in Children
Naive Stage
As the child begins to speak, he learns how to say words far before he learns their meaning and function. An example of this manifestation is “ball”. To the child this one word can mean a variety of things (“where is my ball”, “give me the ball”, etc.). To an adult with an established knowledge of language, this word refers to a child’s toy, to a child though it can have various meanings.
As the child develops and gains understanding of new words, he begins to produce naïve sentences like “where ball” and “where is the ball.” The child uses these structures without any understanding of how to put a sentence together or why the words must go in that order.

12. Lev Vygotsky's Theory of Language Development in Children
External Stage
During the external stage the child begins to use external objects to represent words. This can be characterized by the child using flash cards, objects, or fingers when counting. Another example would be the use of his name to remember letters and the sounds they make.
Rhyming is also used during this stage to improve memory and sound recognition. Another interesting event is the beginning of egocentric speech. The child will talk to himself when there is no one else around and also during play with others. This is the child’s verbalization of thought.

13. Lev Vygotsky's Theory of Language Development in Children
Ingrowth Stage
As the child’s egocentric speech turns inward, he enters the final stage. He uses the skills he has acquired to perform logical tasks internally.
Rather than counting aloud, he will count “in his head” using part of his short term memory. This much faster than verbalizing each thought and just as his initial speech developed with practice, the more internalized thought and logic is used, the better the child can perform.

15. ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT

18. Bronfenbrenner conceptualized four ecological systems that an individual interacted with, each nested within the others. Listed from closest to the person to furthest:
1. Microsystem — The prefix “micro” comes from the Greek for “small,” and is the first and most immediate layer of the nested systems. It encompasses an individual’s human relationships, interpersonal interactions and immediate surroundings. An example of this system would be the relationship between an individual and his or her parents, siblings, or school environment.

19. 2. Mesosystem — The second layer from the individual, surrounding the microsystem and encompassing the different interactions between the characters of the microsystem. For example, the relationship between the individual’s family and their school teachers or administrators. In order for an interaction to be considered part of the mesosystem, it has to be a direct interaction between two aspects of the microsystem that influences the development of the individual.

20. 3. Exosystem — The exosystem is the third layer, and contains elements of the microsystem which do not affect the individual directly, but may do so indirectly. For example, if a parent were to lose their job or have their hours cut back, this would affect their child in an indirect way such as financial strain or increased parental stress.

21. 4. Macrosystem — The prefix “macro” comes from the Greek for “large,” and is used because this system was thought to be all-encompassing. The fourth and outermost layer of the bioecological model, it encompasses cultural and societal beliefs and programming that influence an individual’s development. Examples of this would include gender norms or religious influence.

22. Bronfenbrenner’s early model of the bioecological system has sometimes been criticized for not emphasizing the active role of the individual in his or her own development. As such, sometimes the individual’s own biological and identifying characteristics, such as age, health, sex or gender are considered the unofficial first layer of the nested systems.

23. In later iterations, a fifth stage is considered part of the bioecological model, called the chronosystem.
5. Chronosystem - This system focuses on the interaction between the various systems and how they affect one another over time. One instance of this would be parents scolding a child for disobedience, which is an instance of microsystem-macrosystem interaction. While the parents are members of the microsystem, they are reinforcing a cultural belief that children should always listen to their parents. The assumption is that over time, the child would grow up to be obedient.