Social Interactionist Theory

The social interactionist theory was contributed to greatly by Lev Vygotsky (1896 – 1934), who was a Soviet psychologist. His work took him to various educational, clinical and research institutions where he worked primarily with cognitive development.

The social interactionist theory states that the environment plays a vital role in language and cognitive development. Vygotsky’s work taught us how to view students working in collaboration with each other. More specifically, this theory demonstrates the meaningful interactions between adults and children can affect the cognitive and language development of these children. Vygotsky models this theory with his social constructivism theory, which states that social interaction plays a huge role in the process of learning with a child. Also, Vygotsky writes about something called the zone of proximal development (ZPD), which is where child create a language based on the social interactions they receive through adults (parents, other relatives, teachers, youth group leaders, people walking by them in a public place, etc.).

Vygotsky’s research suggests that educators should consider the social contexts of learning. What does this mean? This means that students are constantly picking things up, as mentioned above, even from strangers walking down the road. A child’s mind is an overly dry sponge that is soaking everything up. Teachers should take advantage of this and use methods of learning that are different than setting the students up with a textbook and some paper. Instead, use different medium of learning, such as videos, internet scavenger hunts (on school computers or computers that are safely monitored from harmful internet threats).

Other learning techniques that fit this model are modeling, guided practice and observation. Modeling is typically done in a classroom that requires the student to exert some physical effort, such as physical fitness, weight training, even a music class. This is not to say that modeling is limited to these classrooms, as you can definitely model how to solve a mathematical equation or demonstrate a science experiment. Guided practice comes in handy, as it allows the teacher to slowly introduce the students to new material by applying prior knowledge and leading that to the new material. For instance, in elementary math, once you know your students have the concept of addition fully understood and grades are consistently showing comprehension, then you could slowly introduce how to add double numbers (i.e., 4+4 and then 44+44). Observation is something that teachers are least aware of. I say this because not only are students watching teachers when they are in front of a class, they are also watching them while they walk to lunch, afterschool when the teacher is leaving campus, before school on a cigarette break, etc. This is where the beginning part of this article ties in. Students basically imitate everything they see and experience from other people. This might prove to be a silly example, but I have seen it myself: if a teacher has a swagger, almost half of the students by the end of the first week will have developed this swagger.

Upon application of the social interactionist theory, the classroom environment should be child-centered and offers an authentic and engaging curriculum.