the teacher and assigns new responsibilities to her. Within this context the teacher is
seen as a more competent interlocutor who helps children develop by creating zones
of proximal development for them. Wood makes a strong case for ‘contingent
teaching’ which he defines as involving
‘…pacing the amount of help children are given on the basis of their
moment-to-moment understanding. If they do not understand an
instruction given at one level, then more help is forthcoming. When they
do understand, the teacher steps back and gives the child more room for
initiative’. (Wood, 1988: 81)
However, as according to Vygotsky (1978: 86) children of the same age can
have different zones of proximal development, in order for the teacher to be effective
she needs to abandon whole-class teaching approaches in favour of more
individualized ones. Moreover, taking also into consideration the view of the learner
as an active constructor of knowledge, Maybin (1994: 132) suggests a move away
from the transmission model of communication in favour of what Wells (1992) calls
the ‘dialogic model’. According to this model, understanding is jointly constructed
through dialogue and is influenced by the social and cultural context of the
interaction. Finally Fisher (1993), noting that it is difficult for traditional, large classes
to offer the teacher possibilities for individualized instruction, suggests the
organization of classrooms in such a way that collaboration between students is
encouraged. This is in accordance with the theories of Vygotsky and Bruner referred
to above as, according to Dyson (1987: 220), children can scaffold each other in a
similar way as adults do to children. Donato (1996: 46) refers to group work as
capable of providing ‘collective scaffolding’ which allows interlocutors be ‘…at the
same time individually novices and collectively experts, sources of new orientations
for each other, and guides through this complex linguistic problem solving.’.
Moreover, as Ellis (1994: 187) emphasizes, learners working in groups can benefit
from opportunities for a more equal discourse, as this gives them the chance to
nominate topics and compete for turns. Finally, according to Fisher (1993:164), such
interactions release students from the control of the teacher and allow them to use
language as a genuine attempt to solve problems rather than a means to demonstrate
their learning.
This chapter discussed some of the most influential theories which have
attempted to explain how children think and learn, and how they learn languages. The
discussion indicated that no theory can provide a full explanation of the phenomena it
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