Chapter 5. General conclusion
3.6 Theoretical framework
38 3.5.3 Reliability
In simple terms, research reliability is the degree to which a research method produces stable and consistent results (Dudovsky, 2018). The purpose of reliability testing is to ensure that the instruments in question were robust and not sensitive to changes by the researcher, the respondents or the research condition.
The qualitative method was tested to measure the objectivity and consistency of the information.
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other. Social constructivists also favour cooperative learning where individuals share ideas in a group.
Duffy (2006:11) defines social constructivism as a theory of knowledge that argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from an interaction between their experiences.
It maintains that individuals create or construct their own new understanding or knowledge through the interaction and establish how learners and teachers teach.
3.6.2 Social constructivism according to Vygotsky
Social constructivism is a learning theory propounded by Lev Vygotsky in 1968. The theory states that the language and culture are the frameworks through which humans experience, communicate and understand reality. According to Vygotsky language and culture play essential roles both in human and intellectual development and in how humans perceive the world. This is to say that learning concepts are transmitted by means of language, interpreted and understood by experience and interaction within the cultural setting. In his theory Vygotsky believes that each and every function in a child’s development appears in two ways namely:
• Intra-psychological development
• Inter-psychological development
Intra-psychological development is made inside the child’s mind, which encourages the child to work independently and discover the world on his or her own.
Inter-psychological development occurs when a child learns with the help of parents or the guidance of a teacher to combine phonemes to construct a world.
Vygotsky’s theory shares ideas with Piagets (1977) assumption on how the learners learn and emphasises that learning takes place in a social context. Both scholars also emphasise that culture and social context give learners the cognitive tool for constructing and broadening knowledge. Piaget sees children as active and adaptable to the environment, while Vygotsky, on the other hand, proposes child-centeredness in teaching
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and learning. He also posits that language is an important tool for interaction similar to Piaget.
Vygotsky sees a child as an active citizen who interacts through speaking, reading and expressing him/herself. Vygotsky also focuses on the language use or word meaning.
He explains that a word does not relate to a single object but to an entire group or class of objects. Every word is a concealed generalisation from a psychological perspective. It is not difficult to see that generalisation as a verbal act of thought is a reflection of reality radically different from that of immediate sensation or perception.
There are also fundamental differences between Piaget and Vygotsky. Piaget believed the individual is primary in the learning process while Vygotsky believed that social life is primary in the learning process. Piaget grounded his developmental learning theory in the individual learner and positioned children as active, intelligent, creative constructors of their own knowledge structures. In contrast, Vygotsky’s main construct of the zone of proximal development depends upon outside social forces as much as inner resources.
Vygotsky believed that if students are not improving academically, their instruction is inappropriate. This belief contradicts Piaget’s reasoning that students may have no change in a specific development stage.
In this conceptualisation of language and its role in mental development Vygotsky acknowledges immediate sensations and perceptions. His investigation of speech units with meanings reflects an awareness of the living holistic feature of human beings as social beings. Vygotsky stated that the child’s mind is inherently social in nature and so speech moves from social communication to inner speech resources (egocentric).
Therefore, since the development of thought follows the development of speech, Vygotsky claims that thought develops from society to the individual.
The researcher believes that both intra- and inter-psychological development in this study wish to create motivating conditions for learners who are unable to read and write which can be rectified by the contribution of social networks through faster acquisition of prior knowledge in the process of learning. However social constructivism theory seems to be the right approach in that it encourages learner centeredness in the classroom.
41 3.7 Conclusion
The explanation and detailed discussion of the research design and, research methodology were the focus of this chapter. A qualitative method was found to be the most suitable approach to investigate the research problem. Qualitative methods allow the researcher to explore and better understand the complexity of a phenomenon. The study described the qualitative research design and summarised the technique used to conduct studies for research approaches. Purposive sampling was employed to select educators, and parents to participate by completing’ survey questionnaires. Individual interviews were conducted using interview schedules. The methods of data collection were addressed.
In this study social constructivism assisted the researcher to determine how the learners learn in the classroom. Vygotsky sees learning as a continual movement from the current intellectual level to a higher level which more closely approximates the learner’s potential.
Furthermore, Vygotsky sees a child as an active citizen needing mediation from parents and teachers.
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CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION