The Zone of Proximal Development is a concept that was introduced by Lev Vygotsky and is still one of the foundations for educational development together with Piagetian theory. I’m personally a big fan of the Zone of Proximal Development and it’s little brother, scaffolding. Whether this is teacher-initiated or self-guided scaffolding it doesn’t matter… finding your own zone or the zone for your students is integral.

Much as Krashen’s Input Hypotheses focuses on comprehensible input, the Zone of Proximal Development has this same notion at it’s core. As an approximation, if you can understand 90-95% of something, you are in your ideal zone. And even though Vygotsky’s idea is typically aimed at the education field globally, it’s pretty ideal for the language setting. There is a focus on language and understanding… which is fundamentally what language is about right? …understanding? …Vygotsky’s biggest critics point at his stress of language in relation to understanding, but how do we understand without language?

(even observing actions is language right? …body language… and you still need to understand it to learn…)

So take the Zone of Proximal Development and apply it to your setting… You are likely to already do it even if you aren’t aware of it. If you’re a teacher, you typically tailor your language usage to your students – aiming for comprehensible input… If you’re a student, you typically select material that challenges you but isn’t beyond your ability or too easy. I would hazard a guess that without actually being aware of the theory, you are selecting things that are somewhere approaching the 90% mark… maybe 85%?

I find that as a motivated language learner, people are capable of pushing the boundaries of the Zone of Proximal Development. They will gain benefit from materials that are below their proximal zone by Vygotsky’s definition. Not because it’s ideal, but because they have concrete goals that they are aware of. Material which you have 85% comprehension of is going to improve your language ability… but will it improve your ability as much as material you have 90% comprehension of? This is an interesting question…

In my opinion, I do think that Vygotsky’s boundaries can be stretched a little further in the language learning setting; mainly because the aim is language and not a secondary topic through language. In the language classroom it may be worth considering that if you do select materials that your students have a 90-95% understanding of, they may in fact become bored becase they consider it too easy… it’s a fine balancing act. And at the end of the day, experiment… you will find the level that certain classes prefer in relation to prior knowledge and to what level of scaffolding may be required to bridge the gaps.

Trial and error – as always – is the answer…

Materials that emulate the Zone of Proximal Development: graded readers, parallel texts, the run-of-the-mill language textbook, graded audioblogs and podcasts, L1 materials for school-aged children… look around, you’re bound to find something!

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• Input Hypotheses
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