Concept Develope

《Thinking and Speech》Chapter 5: An Experimental Study of Concept Development
袁之琦

01.
◎ Concept 研究最大的問題是 lack of experimental methods
◎ 研究「概念」的傳統方法，可以分為兩大類：
方法1: 以verbal definition的方法，研究fully developed and fully formed concepts. (定義法)
方法2: 避免 pure verbal definition 的不恰當處，改以focusing on the mental functions and process that underline the formation of concepts. 研究concrete experience 如何轉化為concept. (抽象研究法)
◎ 方法1的缺點有二：Isolating the word from the objective material
(1) This method deals with the results of the completed process of concept formation, with the ready-made product of that process. 即未看到思考與發展的歷程，僅看到結果。
(2) The method of definition depends almost exclusively on the word. 概念的形成不只是與sensual material 有關，且與word 的發展有關。
◎ 方法2的缺點：Isolating the objective material from the word
They replace a complex synthetic process with an elementary one that constitutes only one part of the whole. The role of the word or sign in the process of concept formation is ignored. The result is that the process of abstraction is radically oversimplified.
◎ Ach: Synthetic-genetic method 用 (1) artificial words, (2) artificial concepts 來研究概念形成
例如："gatsun" = big and heavy, "fal" = small and light.
◎ Rimat (1925): 12 years old is the transitional age -- independent formation of general objective representation.
◎ Dual Transition: (1) concept of thinking, (2) form of thinking.
◎ Ach & Rimat 皆反對association perspective on concept formation. 認為 connections between objects and the word is not sufficient for the emergence of the concept.
◎ Ach 認為兒童與成人的概念，不是量的差異，而是質的差異。
◎ Uznadze (1966), Ach 認為，具有溝通作用的sound 才會轉化為有意義的word & concept
◎ Vygotsky: Concept formation, this sign is the word. … Only the investigation of the functional use of the word and its development from one age to the next provides the key to the formation of concepts.
◎ Vygotsky 認為Ach 只設定goal-oriented activity 是不夠的。Ach & Rimat failed to offer a causal-dynamic explanation of concept formation.

02.
◎ Vygotsky 所用的方法叫做 "functional method of dual stimulation." 由Sahkarov (1930)所開發。(1) One set of stimuli fulfills the function of the object on which the subject's activity is directed. (2) The second function as signs that facilitate the organization of this activity.
◎ Figure 1: 受試者的作業是要將寫有相同字的積木挑選出來。以此觀察Subject概念形成的歷程。

03.
◎ Sakharov, Kotelova, Pashkovska 施測300位正常兒童，及許多位智力或語言障礙的兒童。
◎ In Genetic terms, the basic conclusion is: The development of the processes that eventually lead to the formation of concepts has its roots in the earliest stages of childhood. However, these processes mature only in the transitional age. It is only at this point that the intellectual functions which form the mental basis for the process of concept formation are constituted and developed.
◎ The formation of the concept and the acquisition of word meaning is the result of a complex activity.
◎ The process of concept formation cannot be reduced to the processes of association, attention, representation, judgment, or determining tendencies, though all of these functions are indispensable for the complex synthetic process involved in concept formation.
◎ The feature that can be viewed as the proximal cause of the maturation of concepts, is a specific way of using the word, specifically, the functional application of the sign as means for forming concepts.
◎ Vygotsky: The basic difference between these two qualitatively different kinds of intellectual activity consists in the transition from unmediated intellectual processes to operations that are mediated by signs.
◎ Thorndike: takes the position that selectivity, analysis, abstraction, generalization, and reasoning arise as a direct consequence of an increase in the quantity of connections in both the phylogenesis and ontogenesis of intellect.

04.
◎ Three basic stages of conceptual development:
1) Heap of objects: Unordered and unformed collection.
(1) formation of syncretic image coincides with the trial and error period in the child's thinking.
(2) it is the spatial distribution of the objects in the experiment that plays the decisive role.
(3) signifies its completion and the transition to the second stage of the process of concept formation.
2) Complexive thinking / Complex-Collection (uniting concrete objects): Includes several different types of what is a single mode of thinking. These types very functionally, structurally and genetically.
* the nature of the connections that are established among the objects in the group differs from that characteristic of concepts.
* as defined by the relationship of each object in the group to the group as a whole, the structure of the unified group differs profoundly in type and mode of activity from that based on conceptual thinking.
(1) Association Complex
(2) Complex collection
(3) Chained complex / unified complex: is constructed in accordance with the principle of a dynamic, temporal unification of isolated elements in a unified chain, and a transfer of meaning through the elements of that chain.
(4) Diffuse complex
3) Potential Concept
4) Genuine Concept

05.
◎ 第二階段 2) Complexive thinking / Complex-Collection (uniting concrete objects): Includes several different types of what is a single mode of thinking. These types very functionally, structurally and genetically.
(1) the nature of the connections that are established among the objects in the group differs from that characteristic of concepts.
(2) as defined by the relationship of each object in the group to the group as a whole, the structure of the unified group differs profoundly in type and mode of activity from that based on conceptual thinking.
◎ The first stage in the development of thinking is characterized by the construction of syncretic images that are the child's equivalent of adult concepts. Correspondingly, the second state is characterized by the construction of complexes which have the same functional significance.
◎ Stage 1: "unconnected connectedness"
Stage 2: "united homogeneous objects"
◎ The first type of complex as an associative complex because it is based on an associative connection between an object that is included in the complex and any of the features that the child notices in the object that acts as the complex's nucleus. However the complex is always based on concrete connections.

06.
◎ The second phase of the development of complexive thinking consists of the unification of objects and concrete images of things in groups that are reminiscent of what is commonly called a collection.
◎ The characteristic of the second stage in the development of thinking is the heterogeneous nature of the constituents, their reciprocal supplementation, and their unification on the basis of a collection.
◎ The complex-collection is a generalization of things based on their co-participation in a single practical operation, a generalization of things based on their functional collaboration.

07.
◎ In correspondence with the logic of experimental analysis, the phase of the complex-collection is followed by the chained complex. The chained complex is also an inevitable step in the child's movement toward the mastery of concepts.
◎ The chained complex is constructed in accordance with the principle of a dynamic, temporal unification of isolated elements in a unified chain, and a transfer of meaning through the elements of that chain.
◎ There may be no structural center in the chained complex.
◎ Here a remote, vague impression of some commonality between the objects, rather than any real similarity, may lie at the foundation of connection.

08.
◎ The diffuse complex constitutes the fourth phase in the development of complexive thinking.
◎ In this fourth type of complex, the feature that unifies the separate concrete elements in the complex is diffuse, undefined, and vague.
◎ 可謂已學會建構出prototype，例如：兩家族之照片，可分辨出是哪一家族。

09.
◎ Complex stage 為 pseudo-concept
◎ (1) Phenotypically, on the basis of its external appearance and external characteristics, the pseudo-concept corresponds completely to the concept. (2) However, genotypically, in accordance with its emergence, its development, and the causal-dynamic connections which underlie it, the pseudo-concept is clearly not a concept.
◎ pseudo-concept stage is the critical moment for child to develop a true thinking.

10.
◎ 三歲小孩可以和成人對話，並不表示小孩概念與大人一樣成熟，那只是達成「溝通之功能」。The problem is nearly inaccessible to a purely formal phenotypal analysis.
◎ This masking of complexive thinking that arises from the external similarity between pseudo-concepts and true concepts is serious obstacle for the genetic analysis of thinking.
◎ On the one hand, this contradiction presents a tremendous obstacle for the scientific investigation of the pseudo-concept. On the other, this contradiction is shy the pseudo-concept is of such extraordinary functional and genetic significance, why it is such a critical moment in the development of the child's thinking.
◎ This stage in the development of the child's thinking acquires a unique genetic significance. It serves as a link unifying complexive and conceptual thinking.
◎ The concept "in itself" and "for others" develops earlier in the child than the concept "for itself". The concept "in itself" and "for others" is already contained in the pseudo-concept.
◎ It is the bridge that lies between the child's concrete and abstract thinking.

11.
◎ Engels's well known definition, the logical method of investigation is itself an historical method.
◎ Applying this general methodological position to our own research, we can say that even the basic forms of concrete thinking that we have enumerated are the central features of development in their most mature stages, in their classical and true form taken to its logical limits.
◎ One contemporary psychologist has noted that in the absence of genetic analysis a morphological analysis of complex mental formations and manifestations will inevitably be incomplete.

12.
◎ 研究方法：If the child's complex differs from the concept, the activity of thinking in complexes will unfold differently than the activity of thinking in concepts.
◎ The fact that the child uses the word "before" to designate the temporal relationships "before" and "after", or uses the word "tomorrow" to designate both "tomorrow" and "yesterday", in analogous to the fact that two contradictory meanings are often united in a single word in ancient languages.
◎ 又例：小孩會有over-expansion language "vau-vau" 指所有會叫的四隻腳寵物

13.
◎ Child 與 primitive people 之language development 相似

14.
◎ Peterson: It is important to make the distinction between word meaning and object relatedness.
◎ Historical speech study: 俄語月亮有兩個字，一代表「無常」的意思，另一代表「測時工具」，故知語言與概念並非有絕對的聯結關係。The name is never conceptual in origin. 我們不過是透過語言來研究思考而已。
◎ Essential to this kind of transfer of names is the fact that the word is not fulfilling a semasiological function or a function involving the attribution of meaning. It this context, the word's function is nominative or indicative.

15.
◎ Deaf and mute children provide a particularly interesting example of complexive thinking because they lack that which underlies the formation of children's pseudo-concepts.
◎ We find in our living speech are not concepts in the true sense of the word. They are actually general representations of things. There is no doubt, however, that these representations are a transitional stage between complexes or pseudo-concepts and true concepts.

16.
◎ The child's complexive thinking constitutes only the first of two roots underlying the development of concepts. The second root constitutes a third stage in the development of the child's thinking. Like the second, it consists of a series of separate phases. Thus, the pseudo-concept constitutes a transitional stage between complexive thinking and this second root or source of the development of the child's concepts.
◎ Goethe: analysis and synthesis presupposed on another, just as inspiration and expiration presupposed one another. This is true in the construction of the individual concept and in conceptual thinking generally.
◎ 第三階段的出現未必一定在第二階段之後
◎ Kulpe's school called positive and negative abstraction have emerged.
◎ 此第三階段稱為"process of abstraction" (3-1)

17.
◎ During stage of "potential concepts",(3-2) the child operating under experimental conditions usually isolates a group of objects that are unified in accordance with a single common feature.
◎ However the potential concept and the pseudo-concept are fundamentally different.
◎ Groos: The potential concept can be nothing other than a habitual action. Our initial potential concepts are pre-intellectual.
◎ Child's first words are potential, first, because of their practical relatedness to a certain circle of objects and, second, because of the isolating abstractions that underlie them. They have the potential for being concepts, but this potential has not been realized.
◎ Buhler: Child 與 ape 相似
◎ Kohler: 猴子原先知道木棍，其後知道木棍可以銜接起來(有硬度)
◎ 小孩說："Intelligence is when I am thirsty but do not drink from a dirty pond." 仍然只屬於 potential concept.
◎ Potential concepts often remain at this stage of development, not making the transition to true concepts. Nonetheless, they play an extremely important role in the development of the child's concepts.
◎ The word is a sign and a sign can be used in various ways.

18.
◎ The most important conclusion is that it is only in the transitional age that the child completes the third stage in the development of his intellect, that he reaches the point where he is thinking in concepts.
◎ The transitional age, then is not one of completion but one of crisis and maturation.
◎ Psychological law of genuine thinking: (1) We should note the profound divergence manifested in the experiment between the concept's formation and its very definition. (2) The existence of a concept does not coincide with consciousness of that concept either in the moment of its appearance or in its mode of functioning.
◎ The adolescent uses the word as a concept, but defines it as a complex. This type of oscillation between thinking in complexes and thinking in concepts is characteristic of the transitional age.
◎ Buhler's theory on the formation of concepts: (1) the unification of the child's representations in isolated groups and the merging of these groups in complex associative connections that are formed among the groups of representations and among the elements constituting each group. (2) The function of judgment.
◎ Vygotsky: The concept does indeed develop along two different channels. (1) We have tried to show how the function of combining or connecting a series of separate objects through a common family name is basic to the child's complexive thinking. (2) We have also tried to show how potential concepts, concepts which are based on the isolation of several common features, develop in parallel with complexes and constitute the second channel. These two forms constitute the dual roots of concept formation.
◎ 指出Buhler 四項錯誤：
(1) Ignoring the role of the word in the complexive unifications that precede concepts, that of attempting to derive the concept from a purely natural form of the development of impressions.
(2) Same mistake as first in his analysis of the second root of concepts, that which lay in the processes of judgment and thinking.
(3) Ignoring the differences between forms of thinking. In particular, he is ignoring the differences between biological and historical, natural and cultural, lower and higher, and nonverbal and verbal forms of thinking.
(4) Forgets what is central to concept formation.
◎ Vygotsky 主要貢獻：
1) Show how the use of the word acts as a means of forming the concept.
2) Four concepts: (1) Syncretic images and connections,
(2) Complexive thinking
(3) Potential concepts
(4) Unique signifying structure that we may call a concept in the true sense of the word.
◎ 下一章：scientific concepts

Concept Development

Chapt. 5 Experimental Study of Concept Development

Dr. Elina Lampert-Shepel

Mercy College, New York, USA

April 16, 2010

Introduction

Vygotskianism is a way of life ( Jacques Carpey). Practicing cultural-historical psychology leads to the crises of your own development.

To learn cultural-historical psychology of L.S. Vygotsky means to become capable of asking critical questions to its foundations.

Learning Task

Ask your own question(s) to Chapter 5.

Write it down on a separate piece of paper.

Philosophical traditions applied to the analysis of concept development in Ch. 5

Dialectics of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: (1) analysis-synthesis; (2) mediation; (3) history

Karl Marx :(2)understanding of abstract-concrete relationship; (3) ascending from abstract to concrete ( Hegel-Marx)

Vygotskian idea of human development as self-transformation, mastery of your own behavior. Human freedom as grounded on the ability of humans to transform the given . How? – With the power of human spirit, ability of human consciousness to self –regulate, master one’s own behavior. This is only possible if humans develop conceptual thinking able to reveal the essential, concealed nature of reality.

So, how does conceptual thinking develop?

Methods for studying conceptual thinking. Vygotskian critique of previously used experimental methods.

Traditional methods for studying concepts:

Method of definition. “This method deals with the results of the completed method process of concept formation, with the ready-made product of this process.” ( p.121)

Method of definition

Flaws:

“…in studying definition of developed concepts, we are frequently dealing less with the child’s thinking than with his reproduction of fully formed knowledge and definitions.” ( Ibid.)

Relies on the word, ignores child’s reliance on sensual material, “…the perception and transformation of which gives rise to the concept itself.” ( p.121)

The most important , essential to the concept connection with reality remains unexplored. Verbal definition does not reveal child’s concepts and the process of their formation.

Method of exploring elementary mental functions that underlie the concept

Children’s task is to isolate and generalize

some general feature from several concrete

impressions

Flaws:

A complex synthetic process is replaced with an elementary one;

The role of word/sign is ignored;

The process of abstraction is oversimplified

Synthetic-genetic method of N.Ach (1871-1946)

Vygotsky argued that Ach’s method allowed to examine the process of concept formation rather than studying the fully developed concept, to study the process “through which the initially meaningless word acquires meaning( i.e. concept’s formation” (p.122).

Ach conducted experiments not only with adults but also with children.

His method of studying concepts, the so-called search method

[Suchmethode], was based on the following theoretical postulates, the formulation of which was doubtless one of Ach’s merits:

One cannot be limited to the study of ready made concepts; the process of formation of new concepts is important.

The method of experimental investigation should be genetic-synthetic; during the course of the experiment, the subject must gradually arrive at the construction of a new concept – hence the need to create experimental concepts with an artificial grouping of attributes that belong to them.

It is necessary to study the process by which words acquire significance, the process of transformation of a word into a symbol and a representation of an object or of a group of similar objects – hence the necessity of using artificial experimental words that are initially nonsense to the subject, but acquire meaning for him during the course of the experiment.

Concepts cannot be regarded as closed, self-sufficient structures, and they cannot be abstracted from the function they serve in the sequence of mental processes. The processes of the objective conditions, i.e. a set of objects possessing common properties, is not sufficient for concept formation.

A human being cannot be visualized as a passive photographic plate on which images of objects fall, reinforcing one another in their similar parts and forming a concept, like Galton’s collective photograph. Concept formation also has subjective preconditions and requires the presence of a definite (psychological) need, which it is the function of the concept to satisfy.

In thought and action, the development of a concept plays the role of an instrument for achieving certain ends. This functional aspect must be taken into account in an investigatory procedure; a concept must be studied in its functional context.

Similarly, in an experiment, the subject must be confronted with tasks that can be accomplished only if the subject develops certain concepts. The development of those concepts will require the use of a series of nonsense verbal signs to solve the problem, and as a result those signs will acquire a specific sense for the subject.

Experimental method of concept formation

Task:

Develop such an experimental method of concept formation that would reveal the genetic process of concept formation in all its complexity , not simply establish the presence or absence of this process. (p.126);

Such method should explain the use of sign as a means of directing and mastering conceptual thinking (Ibid.);

Such method should “offer a causal-dynamic explanation of concept formation.” ( p.127)

The Functional Method of Dual Stimulation Sakharov-Vygotsky

On a game board divided up into fields, about 20-30 wooden figures resembling are placed in one field. These figures are differentiated as follows:

(1) by color (yellow, red, green, black, white),

(2) by shape (triangle, pyramid, rectangle, parallelepiped, cylinder),

(3) by height (short and tall),

(4) by planar dimensions (small and large).

A test word is written on the bottom of each figure. There are four different test words: ‘bat’ written on all the figures small and short, regardless of their color and shape; ‘dek’, small and tall; ‘rots’, large and short; ‘mup’, large and tall.

The figures are arranged in random order. The number of figures of each color, shape and of each of the other attributes varies.

The experimenter turns over one figure – a red, small, short parallelepiped – and asks the child to read the word ‘bat’ written on its exposed underside. Then the figure is placed in a special field on the board.

The experimenter tells the child that he has before him toys that belong to children from some foreign country. Some toys are called ‘bat’ in the language of this people, for example, the upturned figure; others have a different name. There are other toys on the board that are also called ‘bat’. If the child guesses after thinking carefully where there are other toys called ‘bat’ and picks them up and places them on a special field of the board, he receives the prize lying on this field. The prize may be a sweet, a pencil, etc. The toys cannot be turned upside down to read what is written on them.

Description of the Experiment

The child must work without hurrying, as well as possible, so as not to pick up any toy that has another name and so as not to leave any toy in place that should be taken away.

The child rehearses the conditions of the game and removes a group of figures.

The time and the order in which the child removes the figures are recorded.

The most varied types of responses are observed: test reactions without any reasons, choice on the basis of a set (e.g. forming a collection), choices on the basis of maximum similarity, on the basis of similarity with regard to one attribute, etc.

The experimenter asks why the child picks up these toys and what toys were called ‘bat’ in the language of the foreign people. Then he has the child turn over one of the figures not removed and finds that ‘bat’ is written on it. ‘Here, you see, you made a mistake; the prize isn’t yours yet’. For example, if the child picks up all the parallelepipeds regardless of their color and size on the basis of the fact that the model is a parallelepiped, the experimenter has him expose the unresolved small short red circle ‘bat’ similar to the model in color.

The overturned figure is placed with the inscription up alongside the recumbent model, the figures removed by the child are taken back, and he is asked again to try to win the prize by picking all the ‘bat’ toys on the basis of the two toys known to him. One child will remove all red figures; another, all parallelepipeds and cylinders; a third will select a collection of figures of different shapes; still others will repeat their preceding response; a fifth will make a completely arbitrary choice of figures, etc. The game continues until the child picks up all the figures correctly and gives a correct definition of the concept ‘bat’.

Thus, the basic principle of our procedure is that the series of objects is given in complete form at the very beginning of the game, but the verbal series is gradually augmented; all the new items of this series gradually enter into the game one by one. After each change in the verbal series, i.e. after each change in the nature of the double stimulation, the child gives us his free reaction, on the basis of which we can evaluate the degree of functional utilization of the items in the verbal series and the child’s psychological reactions to the series of objects. (Sakharov, L. S. 1930: On the methods of investigating concepts. Psychological, 3, this translation first published in Soviet Psychology, July/August 1990. )

Comparison Ach/Vygotsky-Sakharov experiment

Ach’s experiment

—Begins with a learning period ( no task assigned to the subject).

—The means ( words) are given in a direct associative connection with stimulus objects

—“…impossible to explain …why there are such profound differences in the forms of thinking which the child approaches these tasks at various stages of development” ( p.127)

Vygotsky-Sakharov experiment

The task is presented fully at the very beginning. The task is constant and the means is a variable.

The means ( words) are introduced gradually

Possible to study how subject uses the sign to direct his intellectual operations, i.e. how the process of concept formation proceeds and develops.

Explained causal-dynamic and genetic relationships of the process of concept formation;

Provided data to understand concept formation as a function of socio-cultural development;

Provided data to conceptualize process of concept formation as the sign-mediated activity, “…the individual mastery of one’s [ELS for his] own mental [psychological in Russian – ELS] processes through the functional use of the word or sign.” (p.132)

Findings

In genetic terms, the basic conclusion of our research can be formulated in the following way: The development of the processes that eventually lead to the formation of concept has it roots in early childhood. However, these processes mature only in the transitional age. It is only at this point that the intellectual functions which form the mental basis for the process of concept formation are constituted and developed.

Vygotsky ( 1982), p.130

“…fundamental and necessary part of the process [of concept formation – E.L.S.] is the functional use of words or other signs as means of actively directing attention, partitioning and isolating attributes, abstracting these attributes, and synthesizing them. The formation of the concept and the acquisition of word meaning is the result of complex activity…in which all the basic intellectual functions participate in unique combination.” ( pp.130-131)

“ The development from lower to higher forms of concepts [from lower to higher psychological functions as well – ELS] does not occur through quantitative increase in the number of connections. It involves the emergence of a qualitatively new type of formation.” (p.133)

Three phases of concept development

The first phase: The formation of the syncretic images

Syncretic Image

In this phase the child mediates the task to group the objects with the word meaning in a form of syncretic image, i.e. unstable, randomly formed heap of objects. These objects are accidentally connected in the consciousness of the child as a result of the individual perceptive experience.

See example of the child’ use of word “vau-vau” and “kva” ( p. 148)

Syncretic Image Phase

The first stage. Trial and error; the child moves from one attempt to select objects to another randomly when he discovers the erroneous choice.

The second stage. Still trial and error, but the child is able to capture in the syncretic image the spatial and time connections among the elements he operates with. These are subjective relationships.

The third stage. The syncretic image as a meaning of the word is formed as a result of a two-step process: (1) syncretic groups of objects are formed; (2) individual objects are selected from the existing “heap” and then included again in the “heap” on the grounds of random perception, syncretic relationship. The difference is that at this stage the meaning of the word acquires perspective, it is not simply a flat plane.

The second phase: The formation of complexes

Thinking in complexes

For Vygotsky, complex is an empirical generalization of “…heterogeneous concrete objects.” (p.137) The difference with the syncretic image phase is that in complexes the child groups individual objects not only on the basis of subjective perception, but also on the basis of objective relationships existing among these objects.

The child at this stage overcomes egocentrism and stops interpreting the connections created as a result of personal impressions as objectively existing connections among things. This is the significant step in concept development of overcoming syncretic phase.

Factual relationships among objects discovered through natural experiences are the foundations of any complex. As this is empirical relationship, any existing connection can be included in the complex. The relationship is occasional, random, concrete.( Differs from the scientific concept where only essential relationships are included)

Types of Complexes

Associative Complex

Associative Complex – “…based on associative connection between an object that is included in the complex and any of the features that the child notices in the object that acts in the object nucleus.” ( p.137) E.g. some objects are included as they have common color, others, because the shape is the same, or size, etc. Any feature that catches the eye of the child.

Elements of the complex do not have to be united among themselves, the only ground for their inclusion to complex is their connection to the nucleus.

At this stage, words do not designate concrete object, but become family names. Word’s meaning reflects the particular complex.

Collection

“The various concrete objects are united in accordance with a single feature, i.e. on the basis of reciprocal complementation.” ( p.138)

The basis of collection: heterogeneous nature of its constituents, reciprocal supplementation, and their unification ( e.g. family, clothes, food, etc.; collections the child acquire in the course of everyday experience)

Differs from association: The child does not include twice the objects that have the same feature. He selects single representative of the group with this feature.

“Complex-collection is a generalization of things based of their co-participation in a single practical operation.” ( p.139) Generalization based on experiential functionality of things.

Chain Complex

“The chain complex is constructed in accordance with the principle of dynamic, temporal [ emphasis is mine- ELS] unification of isolated elements in a unified chain, and a transfer of meaning through the elements of that chain.”(p.139)

The foundation of the complex is still associative connections among separate concrete elements that form it. ( see example on p.139)

Different genetic paths are leading to a single point, the transition from one feature to another.

What is added here is the child’s ability to refer to the previously discovered feature even if it is not included in the immediate model ( ability to consider the previously discovered genetic connection) and to substitute one feature with another due. The significance of feature is functional in nature, no single feature is abstracted from others to play a unique role.

The purest form of complexive thinking, as there is no central element that acts as a model as in associative complex.

Diffuse Complex

The elements in the complex are diffuse, undefined, and vague.

The boundaries of the complex are undefined, new concrete objects are included within the basic family continually on no clear grounds. “Unbounded complexes govern” ( p.141)

At this stage the child for the first time is capable of including objects that are outside of his practical knowledge.

Pseudoconcept

Psudoconcept is a bounded associative complex that can be easily confused with concept. ( e.g. the child selects triangles of different colors when given a tringle).

The child operates on the basis of concrete, empirical connections rather than conceptual grounds. The genetical and functional process of thinking here is complexive and associative rather than conceptual.

Pseudoconcept is the most widely used form of thinking of the preschool child. Children acquire word meaning that mediates the activity from adults but in their absence they use it as a associative complex.

Pseudoconcept is a link between complexive and conceptual thinking.

Pseudoconcept is not included in the system of concepts, that is characterized by hierarchy and dynamically changing systemic relationships among them. Therefore it is not a true concept.

“The activity of thinking in complexes will unfold differently than the activity of thinking in concepts.” ( p.148)

In pseudoconcept the elements of generalization/ complex preserve their individual uniqueness and concrete independence rather than merging with other elements of the complex. Single word can still have different meanings and indicate different things in different situations.

The third stage: The formation of concepts

Conceptual thinking

The true concept depends equally on the processes of analysis and synthesis.

Theoretical generalization ( true or scientific concepts in Vygotskian language) is fundamentally different from empirical one ( complexive thinking).

Theoretical concept is a system of meanings that are historically developing and dynamically changing, in which the nature of the relationships among elements holds the cultural meaning of the concept. Empirical concepts can be discrete units, used separately, that require definition and are part of classification or typology.

“The primary distinction between complexes and concepts is that these two forms of generalization are the result of different functional uses of the word.”(p.160) The word as a sign can be used in different ways.

Vygotsky distinguishes natural forms of thinking ( as a result of evolution, i.e. biological/natural) from historically emerging forms of human intellect ( as a result of historical and socio-cultural development). In this sense complexive thinking belongs to the first group and conceptual to the second one.

Develops in adolescence as a means to solve specific social or other tasks that adolescent faces in the process of development. Concept develops as a result of solving these tasks.

Difference between concept formation and verbal definition.

Methodological issues

Experimental approach to reveal the genesis of conceptual thinking.

Process of transition from one form of thinking to another is not mechanical, and does not imply pure quantitative accumulation. For example, transition from complexive thinking to thinking in concepts is revolutionary, it restructures the whole system of relationships among various higher psychological functions in the consciousness of the human being.

Genetic functional analysis of concept formation

The development of concepts is analyzed simultaneously from two directions, the general and the particular

Limitations of the experiment

The word meaning - concept

“…the use of the word acts as means of forming the concept, how from syncretic images and connections, complexive thinking, and potential concepts there arises that unique signifying structure that we may call a concept in a true sense of the word.” ( p.166)

Reflection of the learning task

Go back to your question and analyze it. What type of thinking did you use to formulate it?

Did your question help to discover the fundamental relationships, essential contradictions and/or meanings of Vygotskian theory of conceptual development?

If possible/applicable, how would you reformulate your question now ? What are the new questions that emerged?

Theatrical

戲劇觀點看Vygotsky

Cecilia H. C. Liu

Piaget, Vygotsky, Christie (1998)

Piaget認為：透過將生活中的經驗，不斷同化、調適及平衡的機制，幼兒的心智逐漸成熟，藉以適應所處的文化；對於口說語言和書寫語言的學習歷程，當然也不例外。

而Vygotsky則強調社會文化經驗對個體的發展之重要性，更進一步指出幼兒透過社會互動擴展「最佳發展區」（The zone of proximal development），接受成人的支持、引導與協助，逐漸了解熟悉生活中的各項經驗；對於幼兒的語言發展，Vygotsky (1978)指出，書面語言是象微和符號的特定系統，其學習過程是由傾聽成人、手勢、象徵遊戲、畫圖，而再轉接到書寫，這樣的過程必須在社會文化中去經驗，才能使其習得的語言發生社會功能。Morrow進一步詮釋：「讀寫發展是語言發展的一部份；語言發展是符號發展的一部份；符號發展又是社會文化意義發展的一部份」（Morrow, 1993, pp.239）。

Christie (1998)認為從Piaget的練習觀（practice）和Vygotsky的學習觀(learn)來看，幼兒/學習者為了發展讀寫能力，必須透過真實的社會文化經驗，與他人互動，增加練習的機會，在逐漸擴張的最佳發展區中，透過成人及友伴的鷹架（Scaffolding），不斷建構自己對社會文化中的符號系統之理解和掌握；幼兒想要精通語言文字的意義，和以讀寫活動與人順暢溝通，當然也要歷經同樣的過程，並與語言文字產生各種有意義的經驗。

戲劇遊戲和讀寫發展之研究

自1970年代始，戲劇遊戲和讀寫發展之關係的研究便是許多兒童發展研究者和教育研究者的興趣，截至目前，有關戲劇遊戲和讀寫發展的研究可以分為四個方向（Rowe, 2000）：

1、研究群（e.g., Hall, 1987; Newman & Roskos, 1991; Vukelich, 1991）認為戲劇遊戲提供機會讓幼兒/學習者真實探索閱讀和書寫的過程與目的，所以藉著在幼兒/學習者的戲劇遊戲情境中增加豐富的讀寫材料，觀察幼兒的讀寫行為，結果發現幼兒萌發的讀寫行為大有提升。但也有研究發現：成人示範和引導幼兒在戲劇遊戲中使用讀寫材料更是真正提升幼兒學習者讀寫行為的主因（林玫君，民88；Hall, 2000）。

2、研究群(e.g., Dickinson & Moreton, 1991; Galda, Pellegrini, & Cox, 1989; Pellegrini & Galda, 1991)發現戲劇遊戲、閱讀和書寫過程中所需的象徵能力之間有普遍的相關，因此戲劇遊戲的經驗可以促進幼兒讀寫的發展；而且幼兒在戲劇遊戲中所表現的表徵(representation)層次也與其讀寫的發展階段有正相關(e.g. Smilansky, 1968; Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990)。但是Williamson & Silvern (1991)的長期研究卻發現不是假裝的符號轉換過程與讀寫發展相關，而是幼兒/學習者在戲劇遊戲中的後設溝通（meta-communication）促進了幼兒/學習者的讀寫發展。

3、與前者類似，此研究方向也基於認知心理學，探討戲劇遊戲對幼兒理解文學內容的影響，特別是故事理解力和回憶能力（recall），研究群透過實驗法，證實戲劇遊戲對幼兒/學習者閱讀理解力的影響過程確實相當複雜，也同意後設溝通在影響過程中具有相當重要角色（Christie, 1983; Pellegrini & Galda, 1982; Saltz, Dixon, & Johnson, 1977; Silvern, Williamson, & Waters, 1983）。

4、較少數的研究群（Goodman, 1990; Panofsky, 1986; Wolf & Heath,1992）發現幼兒/學習者在戲劇遊戲中會自發性的演出故事書中的內容，或應用故事中的溝通模式以達自己的社會和認知目的。有些研究只是發現當幼兒的環境中有豐富的書本，且支持他們以戲劇遊戲做為一種對書本反應的方式時，幼兒的遊戲中自然增加許多與書本相關的元素（Martinez, Cheyney, & Teale, 1991; Saltz et al., 1977）。

上述研究方向與結果很具啟示性。敝人認為：

1、戲劇遊戲和書寫語言的表徵（representation）成份確實是兩者的共通之處，透過戲劇遊戲，幼兒/學習者可以強化了解抽象符號的能力，進而提升讀寫發展，而且幼兒/學習者在戲劇遊戲中所表現出來的表徵層次應與其讀寫能力有正相關。

2、把故事演出來的活動的確可以讓故事更具體化，讓幼兒/學習者對原本書中的用語更為理解，進而對書本愈產生喜愛與親近，同時也可能在日常中增加戲劇遊戲的頻率與品質。

3、後設溝通的目的是為了將書中情節、角色、場景…等內容演得更正確或更符合多數人對故事的理解，當然也同時促進了幼兒/學習者的故事理解力。

如此一來，為了促進幼兒/學習者的讀寫發展，不只需要增加其符號表徵演練機會與提高其層次，還需多讓幼兒演故事，並增加因此所產生的後設溝通。於是，「故事戲劇教學」的遊戲訓練，就是一種可能滿足這些需求的策略。

故事戲劇是一種成人介入的遊戲訓練。遊戲訓練最主要的目的是藉由成人的引導（甚至於指導），提高幼兒/學習者戲劇遊戲的品質與持續力。具體的說，故事戲劇（story dramatization），是將故事演出來的一種活動，也是創作性戲劇（creative drama）中很普遍且很主要的一種戲劇扮演活動（張曉華，民88），它更直接的融合戲劇遊戲與故事理解的成份；透過將故事演出的歷程，幼兒/學習者可將書中抽象的符號系統具體化，進而更確切理解故事內容（Snow & Nino, 1986; Rowe, 2000）。Martinez, Cheyney, & Teale (1991)發現五歲幼兒會在教室裡自發的演出一些故事情節，Willams & Silvern (1991)進一步發現由教師組織的重演故事訓練（teacher structured form of reenacting stories）對提升幼兒戲劇遊戲確實具有效果。

Fein, Ardila-Rey, & Groth (2000)請一位小朋友口述一個故事，教師將這個故事寫下來之後，再唸給全班聽，接著請故事的作者指定演員，最後由教師一邊旁白故事，演員們一邊演出故事。研究發現這樣的經驗使幼兒在教室中增加了許多敘事性活動（narrative activities），包括聽、說故事和其他讀寫活動。而Rowe(2000)也發現即使是對兩歲的幼兒，在讀完故事書之後，提供道具加上成人引導也能有效鼓勵幼兒演出故事，而且幼兒也從中對自己建構了更深的故事意義。

教師在進行戲劇活動時，必須努力的維持活動中接近遊戲本質的部份，包括自發性、內在現實與內在控制；另外也必須注意各種戲劇元素在學習者發展上的需求與表現，包含「實物」、「動作」與「情境」、「角色」等之轉換和「溝通」、「社會互動」及「時間」等其他要素（林玫君，民89）。

創作性戲劇之課程實施流程大致分為：1、引起動機或暖身活動；2、呈現主題；3、討論與練習；4、計畫與呈現；5、反省檢討；6、二度計畫與呈現（林玫君，民88）。

Theatre Workshop

Activities in theatre workshops:

*BODY-- Familiar with and observing one's own body in mirrors.

Examples: body exercises Tapping into imagination and combining it with bodies

Examples: expressing emotions, personifying, objectifying, abstract notions (loyalty, dutifulness, love, hollowness)

*BODY and BODY-- Pairing up participants, exploring each other's body

Examples: body exercises and the aforementioned exercises only this time with two people, e.g., the instructor prepares several subjects or topics for groups of two to work on it.

Examples: Designate a group to present "憂鬱的麥當勞叔叔"，a broken jukebox草履蟲寫書法, and so on. The topics must be as weird as it can be. To use our physical movement to present it only. Then add more people to work on a subject, then gradually adding up to the total number of all participants with a fresh topic, like 凡爾賽宮的木魚聲 and so on.

*BODY and ENVIRONMENT

Examples: preparing easy breakable threads, giving each thread to each group of two, one blindfolded, tying the thread onto both participants' fingers. No utterances, only signaling each other by the thread. The instructor picks up a site for destination and asks every group of two to reach it. The one without blindfold ushers the blinded one to the site. To feel the environment without sight and to trust the partner is the fun of this part.

*BODY and OBJECTS

Examples: The instructor prepares several objects and asks each participants to choose one they like and relate to it. One rule has to be abided: the objects can't be served as its original purpose. The participant can't relate the pen as a pen, it must be other things. Each participant comes up and chooses on one object and relates to it without having time to think about. They take turns to show their imagination and how the objects relate to them personally. They can stage a short scenario, a frozen picture-like pose, a mechanic movement.

*BODY and Happenings

Examples: Give a situation and ask participants to react on the spot. Then gradually built up a scenario and ask the participant to present a story.

*BODY and MUSIC

Examples: Ask each participant to choose a piece of music and add his /her own interpretation or reaction to this music then pantomime it out along with the music. The instrumental music is preferred than lyrical one.

Example: Make one's own music by scatting or irrational, meaningless utterances, sounds, alphabets. Then complement it with movement, with object, with other participants.

Example: Exploring one's own voice

參考資料

中文部份：

李連珠譯（民88年），全語言的全全在哪裡，台北：信誼基金會出版社。

林玫君譯（民83），創作性兒童戲劇入門，台北：心理出版社。

林玫君（民88），讀寫遊戲之介入對學前幼兒遊戲形式與讀寫發展之影響，台南師院學報，第32期，頁495-515。

林玫君（民88），戲劇創作在幼稚園中之教學省思研究—以故事為主軸。發表於「八十八學年度師範教育學術論文發表會」。台北：國立台北師範學院。

林玫君（民89），幼兒戲劇遊戲與創造性戲劇之相關研究。發表於「八十九學年度師範教育學術論文發表會」。新竹，台灣：國立新竹師範學院。

林翠湄、王雪貞、歐姿秀、謝瑩慧譯（民85），幼兒全人教育，台北：心理出版社。

張曉華(民88)，創作性戲劇原理與實作，台北：財團法人成長文教基金會。

黃瑞琴（民86），幼兒讀寫萌發課程，台北：五南圖書公司。

彭秀麟（民89），全國兒童閱讀實施計畫，成長幼教技刊，第44期，頁25。

英文部份：

Bottomley, D. M., Truscott, D. M., & Marinak, B. A. (1999). An affective comparison of whole language, literature-based, and basal reader literacy instruction. Reading Research and Instruction. 38:2, 115-129.

Clay, M. M. (1967). Emergent reading behavior. Doctoral dissertation, University of Auckland.

Christie, J. F. (1983). The effects of play tutoring on young children’s cognitive performance. Journal of Educational Research, 76, 326-330.

Christie, J. F. (1998). Play as a medium for literacy development. In D. P. Fromberg & D. Bergen (Eds.). Play from birth to twelve and beyond: Context, perspectives, and meanings (pp. 50-55). NewYork: Garland Publishing.

Dickinson, D., & Moreton, J.(1991) Predicting specific kindergarten literacy skills from three-year-old’s preschool experiences. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle.

Fein, G. G., Ardila-Rey, A. E., & Groth, L. A. (2000). The narrative connection: Stories and literacy. In K. A. Roskos & J. F. Christie (Eds.), Play and literacy in early childhood: Research from multiple perspectives (pp. 27-43). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Galda, L., & Pellegrini, A. D., & Cox, S. (1989). Preschoolers’ emergent literacy: A short-term longitudinal study. Research in the Teaching of English, 23, 292-310.

Goodman, J. R. (1990). A naturalistic study of the relationship between literacy development and dramatic play in 5-year-old children. Unpublished dissertation, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.

Hall, N. (1987). The emergence of literacy: Young children’s developing understanding of reading and writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heineman.

Hall, N. (2000). Literacy, play, and Authentic Experience. In K. A. Roskos & J. F. Christie (Eds.), Play and literacy in early childhood: Research from multiple perspectives (pp. 189-204). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Lin, Huey-Jiuan (2001), The effects of creative drama on young children’s creative expression. The Second International Symposium on Child Development – Creativity: A Moment of Aha!（CD-ROM）

MacLane, J. B., & McNamee, G. D. (1990). Early literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Martinez, M. G., Cheyney, M., & Teale, W. (1991). Classroom literature activities and kindergartner’s dramatic story reenactments. In J. Christie (Ed.), Play and early literacy development (pp. 119-140). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Morrow, L. M. (1993). Literacy development in the early tears. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Neuman, S. B., & Roskos, K. (1991). The influence of literacy-enriched play centers on preschoolers’ conceptions of the functions of print.In J. Christie (Ed.), Play and early literacy development (pp. 167-187). Albany, NY: State university of New York Press.

Panofsky, C. (1986，December). The functions of language in parent-child bookreading events. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Reading Conference, Austin, TX.

Pellegrini, A. D., & Galda, L. (1982). The effects of thematic-fantancy play training on the development of children’s story comprehension. American Educational Research Journal, 19, 443-452.

Pellegrini, A. D., & Galda, L. (1991). Longitudinal relations among preschooler’s symbolic play, metalinguistic verbs, and emergent literacy. In J. Christie (Ed.), Play and early literacy development (pp. 47-67). Albany, NY: State university of New York Press.

Rowe, D. W. (2000). Brining Books to life: The role of book-related dramatic play in young children’s literacy learning. In K. A. Roskos & J. F. Christie (Eds.), Play and literacy in early childhood: Research from multiple perspectives (pp. 3-25). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Saltz, E., Dixson, D., & Johnson, J. (1977). Training disadvantaged preschoolers in various fantasy activities: Effects on cognitive functioning and impulse control. Child Development, 48, 367-380.

Silvern, S., Williamson, P., & Waters, B. (1983). Play as a mediator of comprehension: An alternative to play training. Educational Research Quarterly, 7, 16-21.

Smilanskey, S. (1968). The effects of sociodramatic play on disadvantaged preschool children. New York: Wiley & Sons.

Snow, C. E., & Nino, A. (1986). The contracts of literacy: What children learn from learning to read books. In W. H. Teale & E. Sulzby (Eds.), Emergent literacy: Writing and reading (pp. 116-138). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Vukelich, C. (1991). Materials and modeling: Promoting literacy during play. In J. Christie (Ed.), Play and early literacy development (pp. 215-231). Albany, NY: State university of New York Press.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Wolf, S., & Heath, S. B. (1992). The braid of literature: Children’s worlds of reading. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Williams, P. A., & Silvern, S. B. (1991). Thematic-fantancy play and story comprehension. In J. Christie (Ed.), Play and early literacy development (pp. 69-90). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Williams, P. A., & Silvern, S. B. (1992). “You can’t be grandma; you’re a boy”: Events within the thematic fantasy play context that contribute to story comprehension. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 7, 75-93.