Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

What and why?

'Zone of proximal development' is a term invented by the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky to describe the next stage in a student's learning. The concept is now extremely important in all field of educational thinking. Vygotsky emphasized that social forces were as important as any internal 'genetic' forces in bringing about learning. He stressed that other people (adults and more able children) have an important role in supporting a child to develop. The job of a tutor is try to identify the right level of support at the right time - to provide the right mix of challenge and guidance. Different children will move through different ZPDs, at different times. This makes it unlikely that 'lock-step' teaching - that is, teaching everybody in a class the same things in the same way at the same time - will be effective. The best way for a learner to develop, he suggested, is for the learner to work with an adult or more competent peer at a level just above his/her present level. The concept of ZPD explains why it is important to provide variety of approach in language learning.

Practical ideas

• The concept of ZPD underlines the need to provide variety and choice in language learning activities (See DECIDE... EXERCISES).
• ZPD also helps us see what we should do when a learner is apparently 'stuck' at any stage in their learning. One solution is to set tasks which are just slightly above the learner's present level of ability.
• Students may also get 'stuck' if the level and kind of support they are getting is not appropriate. Involving these students in evaluation of the way they are learning may help them to find a more effective approach. The 'Help yourself to learn' section in the Workbook may also be useful here.
• In groupwork, more competent students can work with other students, and so help to provide the right level of explanation and support.
• Continuous feedback between teachers and students is important in moving students on to their next ZPD.
• In classes where there are students with very mixed abilities, different levels of support need to be provided to different students. The grey tinted panels in the teaching notes for most units give ideas about how the level of challenge can be reduced or increased for all of the 'key' tasks in a unit.
• Sometimes, it is worth asking older/more competent students how they would explain something to younger/less competent students (e.g. a grammatical structure). Their explanations can help you to see what they found difficult and so help you to give the right kind of guidance students at a lower level.