“What are factors of learning in a socio-cultural perspective?”

Profoundly implied to education, the socio-cultural perspective, as the word shows, embraces two aspects of learning: “social”, and “cultural”. The meaning the “World Definition Dictionary” attributes to “social” is : “relating to, or characteristic of the experience, behaviour, and interaction of persons forming groups or having communal activities.” As for “culture”, Taylor (1874), defines it as a “ complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (p.1; cited in Cole, 2005).
Carignan, Feza, and Pourdavood’s view complete this explanation. To them, culture is conceived as the concept that “permits to determine a way of learning, acting, reacting, interacting, and integrating the permitted or prohibited behavior in an environment” (Carignan, 2008). Now, we can perceive the diversity of the factors involved in a socio-cultural approach of learning. known as Vygotskian approach, this perspective explains the strong effects of social interaction in children’s development. According to this theory, social interaction creates “ongoing changes in child’s thought and behavior” (Gallager). Another factor that contributes to children’s development is the culture (or the cultural tools). In Carignan’s opinion, this factor favors not only children’s learning, but also, the construction of children’s identity. Language, cooperative learning, and scaffolding are other key factors that are mentioned in this theory. Although I strongly believe the importance of the language in human mental development, I’m definitely convinced that cooperative learning and scaffolding occupy a prominent and definitive place in children’s development. By helping children (students) to solve the problems they face, and by assisting them to find their way to the development, teachers won’t reduce their expectation of a “risky child/ student”, on the contrary, they will encourage progressively the child / student to face and solve more substantial problems.

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