19. Who are the two early influential players in the development of interactionist perspective?

Two very early influential players in the development of an interactionist perspective on learning, including children’s acquisition of their L1, were Jean Piaget (1896–1980), a Swiss psychologist, and the Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934). The work of these two illustrates somewhat different positions on the nature–nurture interface.

Piaget’s perspective on learning was that cognitive development emerges from children’s in-built predisposition to adapt themselves to new experiences, and that children learn through active self-discovery. Hence, children take an active role in the learning process. As children interact with their environment, they construct their own understandings of the world, and their developing language reflects the growth of their logical thinking and reasoning skills (see, e.g., Piaget, 1926).

Vygotsky’s observations of children relating to other children and adults led him to the conclusion that language develops primarily from interactions with others. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of human learning (see, e.g., Vygotsky, 1978) thus attributes learning to a social process, and communal collaboration plays a fundamental role in the development of knowledge and understanding. From Vygotsky’s perspective, children need help and social interaction to fully develop their knowledge. A parent or other more experienced adult is able to provide the child with scaffolding to support the child’s evolving language development.

In essence, and with regard to L1 development, Piaget appeared to place more emphasis on children’s internal processing ability, whereas Vygotsky appeared to be more concerned with the influence of the environment on language acquisition.

References: 

East, M. (2021). Foundational principles of task-based language teaching (p. 214). Taylor & Francis.

Piaget, J. (1926). The language and thought of the child. Harcourt, Brace, & Co.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press