Better Together
The ZPD and 'Perezhivanie'. A Conceptual Framework for Creative Second Language Learning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.24467Keywords:
perezhivanie, zone of proximal development, music, imagination, creativity, play, teaching and learningAbstract
This conceptual article argues for the importance of placing creativity at the center of second language (L2) learning and takes music as an illustration of the potential benefits to teachers and learners. The value of music as a resource for L2 education derives from our primary experiences of music as both physical and emotional, thus creating embodied understandings of patterns, rhythms, and words that engage us cognitively and emotionally. Throughout human history, the combination of melody, rhythm, tempo, and structure of each culture’s music has served as a memory tool, a celebration of shared meaning, a space for culturally determined emotional arousal, and a mediator of cooperative physical activity. Following Kozulin’s (1998) analysis of psychological tools as cultural constructions (e.g., numbers, graphic organizers, maps, language, etc.) that allow us to organize our mental functions, music is identified as a unique psychological tool in that it prioritizes and regulates emotive factors along with cognitive factors of development. In this way, music offers possibilities for creating Zones of Proximal Development (ZPD) through activity that advances cognitive goals, such as L2 teaching and learning, and that simultaneously provokes emotional responses and engagement. The paper discusses key features of Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory, including psychological tools (Kozulin, 1998; Lantolf and Thorne, 2006), the ZPD (Vygotsky, 1978), and perezhivanie (Mok, 2015; Vygotsky, 1934/1998), considering how together they lead to a way of approaching L2 teaching and learning that favors creativity and playfulness over grammar rules and that can be advanced through the integration of music into classroom activity.
References
Aljaafreh, A. and Lantolf, J. P. (1994). Negative feedback as regulation and second language learning in the Zone of Proximal Development. Modern Language Journal 78(4): 465–483. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1994.tb02064.x
Blais-Rochette, C. and Miranda, D. (2016). Music-evoked autobiographical memories, emotion regulation, time perspective, and mental health. Musicae Scientiae 20(1): 26–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/102986491562696
Chaiklin, S. (2003). The zone of proximal development in Vygotsky’s analysis of learning and instruction. In A. Kozulin, B. Gindis, V. S. Ageyev, and S. M. Miller (eds.) Vygotsky’s Educational Theory in Cultural Context, 39–64. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Connery, M. C., John-Steiner, V. and Marjanovic-Shane, A. (eds.). (2010). Vygotsky and Creativity: A Cultural-Historical Approach to Play, Meaning Making, and the Arts. New York: Peter Lang.
Davis, S. and Dolan, K. (2016). Contagious learning: Drama, experience, and perezhivanie. International Research in Early Childhood Education 7(1): 50–67.
DeNora, T. (2000). Music in Everyday Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fonseca-Mora, M. C. and Herrero Machancoses, F. (2016). Music and language learning: Emotions and engaging memory pathways. In P. D. MacIntyre, T. Gregersen, and S. Mercer (eds.) Positive Psychology in SLA 97, 359–373. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Gonzales Rey, F. (2016). Vygotsky’s concept of perezhivanie in The Psychology of Art and at the final moment of his work: Advancing his legacy. Mind, Culture, and Activity 23(4): 305–314. https://doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2016.1186196
Holzman, L. (1995). Creating developmental learning environments: A Vygotskian practice. School Psychology International 16: 199–212. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034395162009
Holzman, L. (2009). Vygotsky at Work and Play. New York: Routledge.
Holzman, L. (2018). The zone of proximal development: Mundane and magical. In J. P. Lantolf, M. E. Poehner, and M. Swain (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Development, 40–55. London: Routledge.
Jänke, L. (2008). Music, memory, and emotion. Journal of Biology 7(21). https://doi.org/10.1186/jbiol82
John-Steiner, V. (1985). Notebooks of the Mind. Explorations in Thinking. New York: Harper & Row.
John-Steiner, V. and Mahn, H. (1996). Sociocultural approaches to learning and development: A Vygotskian framework. Educational Psychologist 31(3/4): 191–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.1996.9653266
Johnson, K. E. and Golombek, P. R. (2016). Mindful L2 Teacher Education: A Sociocultural Perspective on Cultivating Teachers’ Professional Development. New York: Routledge.
Kellogg, D. (2017). D is for development: Beyond pedagogical interpretation of Vygotsky’s ZPD. Applied Linguistics 47: 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx006
Kozulin, A. (1998). Psychological Tools. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Kozulin, A. (2016). The mystery of perezhivanie. Mind, Culture, and Activity 23(4): 356–357. https://doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2016.1230134
Lantolf, J. P. and Poehner, M. E. (2014). Sociocultural Theory and the Pedagogical Imperative. New York: Routledge.
Lantolf, J. P. and Thorne, S. L. (2006). Sociocultural Theory and the Genesis of Second Language Development. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mok, N. (2015). Toward an understanding of perezhivanie for sociocultural SLA research. Language and Sociocultural Theory 2(2): 139–159. https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.v2i2.26248
Ollman, B. (2003). Dance of the Dialectic: Steps in Marx’s Method. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Poehner, M. (2008). Dynamic Assessment. A Vygotskian Approach to Understanding and Promoting L2 Development. Berlin: Springer.
Poehner, M. and Swain, M. (2017). L2 development as cognitive-emotive process. Language and Sociocultural Theory 3(2): 219–241. https://doi.org/10.1558/lst.v3i2.32922
Stetsenko, A. (2008). Collaboration and cogenerativity: On bridging the gaps separating theory-practice and cognition-emotion. Cultural Study of Science Education 3: 521–533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-008-9123-z
Sullivan, P. (2000). Playfulness as mediation. In J. P. Lantolf (ed.) Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning, 115–131. New York: Oxford University Press.
Veresov, N. N. (2017). ZBR and ZPD. Is there a difference? Cultural-Historical Psychology 13(1): 23–36. https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2017130102
Vygotsky, L. S. (1934/1976). Play and its role in the mental development of the child. Psychology and Marxism Internet Archive. www.marxists.org
Vygotsky, L. S. (1934/1998). The Problem of Age. Psychology and Marxism Internet Archive. www.marxists.org
Vygotsky, L. S. (1934/2012). Thought and Language, 2nd edition. A. Kozulin, Trans. and editor. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1938/1994). The problem of the environment. In R. van de Veer and J. Valsiner (eds.) The Vygotsky Reader, 338–354. Oxford: Blackwell.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1971). The Psychology of Art. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). The Collected Works of L.S. Vygotsky. New York: Plenum Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (2004). Imagination and creativity in childhood. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology 42(1): 7–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/10610405.2004.11059210
Wertsch, J. (1985). Vygotsky and the Social Formation of Mind. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Zaretskii, V. K. (2009). The zone of proximal development: What Vygotsky did not have time to write. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology 47(6): 70–93. https://doi.org/10.2753/RPO1061-0405470604
