Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
10. INTERNATIONAL EURASIAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH CONGRESS, Ankara, Türkiye, 8 - 11 Haziran 2023, ss.574-575
Problem Durumu
Vygotsky is one of the theorists who is known for his studies on the cognitive development of children with his "Sociocultural" theory. Although
Vygotsky gave a central role to social history in his work, he also included a genetic background (Wertsch, 1990). In other words, Vygotsky's
Socio-cultural theory is composed of different factors such as genetic factors and biological growth. According to Vygotsky (1978), "Vygotskian
psychology …stated that the human mind is constructed through a subject's interactions with the world and is an attribute of the relationship
between subject and object” (as cited in Verenikina, 2010, p. 17). Therefore, it can be said that society and history are important components
of Socio-cultural theory. The socio-cultural theory of Vygotsky focuses on children's learning process and explains important aspects of their
learning. In addition to understanding children's learning with socio-cultural theory, it can also be used to develop children's learning process.
Edwards (2003) stated that "the sociocultural explanation of learning as a true alternative to the criticisms raised against the more traditional
cognitive developmental explanations employed as an informant to the early childhood curriculum in the past" (p. 263). In other words,
Vygotsky's sociocultural theory is being applied in education because there is a need for it in supporting the early childhood curriculum in the
context of criticisms of Piaget's theory. As a result, this can show us one aspect of why applying Vygotsky’s theory of sociocultural learning is
necessary. There are studies indicating how teachers perceive the theory of Vygotsky. As Steele (2001) stated, “even though Mrs. Clark did
not know she was using sociocultural theory in her teaching, she clearly demonstrated this theory during her teaching and in her explanations
about why she emphasized communication (p. 414). That is, as Mrs. Clark is the teacher in the study, we can conclude that the teacher can
use sociocultural theory without initially knowing that they use its concepts in their teaching experiences. In this case, Mrs. Clark gave
importance to communication, like in Vygotsky’s Theory. On the contrary, implementing the sociocultural theory of Vygotsky with knowing its
implications and benefits can be more effective and practical in children’s development and learning in early childhood settings. Thus, the aim
of the current study was to investigate early childhood teachers’ views, knowledge, and self-reported practices of Vygotsky's sociocultural
theory. The study seeks to answer the following research questions.
● What are the views and knowledge of early childhood teachers on Vygotsky’s Sociocultural theory?
● What are the self-reported practices of early childhood teachers on Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory?
● How are early childhood teachers’ views and knowledge of Vygotsky reflected in their self-reported practices?
Concluding this information in the Turkish context, our aim in this study is to identify how early childhood teachers understand Vygotsky's
theory and how they use it in their practice. Furthermore, given the uniqueness of Vygotsky's theory, its benefits on children's development
and learning, and its' place in education is critical. Consequently, we believe that if there is a misunderstanding of the theory or lack of
information about its practicability, we need to support the early childhood teachers with practical educations or conferences about the
Sociocultural Theory. In sum, by identifying clues about what early childhood teachers’ beliefs are about the applicability of Vygotsky's
Sociocultural Theory, the results of this study will help teacher educators and policy makers to make informed decisions about supporting
teachers' practical use of Vygotsky's theory. Ultimately, we hope to better understand teachers' perspectives on socio-cultural theory and
contribute to the use of socio-cultural theory in early childhood education settings, as we believe the theory will have a great impact on the
minds of young children.
Yöntem
This is a qualitative study which is designed as a phenomenological study. The sample of the research are early childhood teachers who work
in private schools in the Ankara region in Türkiye. The researchers conducted convenience sampling in this study, which saves time and effort
due to access and geographical proximity (Creswell, 2007). Seven female and one male early childhood teachers participated in the current
study. The data for this study was collected in December 2022. As a data collection instrument, a semi-structured interview protocol was used.
The interview questions were developed by the two researchers following a review of the related literature and updated after expert opinion.
In the semi-structured interview, there were four main parts. The first parts included the questions aimed to gain demographic information
about the participant. The second part of the questions was designed to reach the participants' views about socio-cultural theory. In the third
part, questions related to the participant’s knowledge about socio-cultural theory were asked. In the last part, a question about participant’s
self-reported practice was arranged to reach the practice of the teachers in regard to socio-cultural theory. Within the scope of this study,
interviews were conducted with early childhood teachers depending on their available time and opportunities. The interview with the participant
lasted approximately 15-20 minutes. The first two researchers of the study, two graduate students from the Elementary and Early Childhood
Education Department and doing their Master’s in the Middle East Technical University, Department of Early Childhood Education, analyzed
all interviews separately. Intercoder agreement was conducted. According to Creswell (2007), “… reliability here will be on the intercoder
agreement based on the use of multiple coders to analyze to transcript data” (p. 210). In this process, the answers of the participants coded
based on the certain concepts that are expressed in socio-cultural theory and literature. In the analysis process, the steps suggested by
Creswell (2007) were used. Firstly, the researchers read the transcripts of the answers independently for several times, and they coded.
Secondly, they met and examined their codes, which led them to develop major codes. After that, they again independently coded the
transcripts. Then, they get together to compare the codes and finalize the codes. The final version of the codes was used to create categories
and evaluate the results (Creswell, 2007). Based on the existing categories, the intercoder agreement reliability was calculated as .91. As
575
Miles and Huberman (1994) claims, to provide intercoder reliability, the intercoder agreement should be closer to 80 % and can approach 90
% based on the size and range of the coding scheme.
Beklenen/Geçici Sonuçlar
The current study found that although teachers were carrying out some applications of Socio-cultural theory, most of them lacked explicit
knowledge about the content of the applications, especially scaffolding and peer learning. First, the study reported that teachers lacked
knowledge about scaffolding in both theory and practice. It was also concluded that teachers used peer learning in their teaching practice but
lacked a deep understanding of peer learning from Vygotsky's perspective. In terms of teachers' knowledge and use of cognitive and language
development integrated activities, most of the teachers reported having sufficient knowledge and teaching practices. Based on the results,
although peer learning and scaffolding are important terms in early childhood education, the result shows that the teacher does not fulfill them
appropriately. Consequently, more support can be offered to teachers on peer learning and scaffolding.