I support vygotsky's theory of social interaction purely because we have the evidence that children need interaction to learn language. When children grow up and work through the stages of development they need interaction of adults and other children to help them along the way and this is how they learn and develop language. The evidence of the you tube clip we all watched in class, of the young girl, that was locked away in a bedroom and never let out until she was 13, supports vygotsky's theory because there was no social interaction, all the little girl got was shouted at or beaten, no communication no physical conversation was made between her and another human being from a very young age therefore that little girl never reached or achieved a very critical stage in the development ladder of proximal development. In result of this the girls brain shrunk smaller physically, leading to when she was found and taught the English vocabulary she was unable to achieve actually grammar and sentences. The girl would learn new words gradually however at a certain point she just froze because of the last of cognitive development and love along with social interaction she had never received. Compare this to another you tube clip we watched in class of the "girl who cried wolf" this story showed a girl who was so neglected as a child she was brought up and lived with dogs. She started to walk and howl like a dog and lost any human interaction therefore she adopted her love and effect ion from the dogs, this girl in contrast with the first case study we looked at is the girl who was brought up with dogs was neglected at the age of three years old, therefore her brain already hit the stage of cognitive development and already had some social interaction with her parents for four years, and that's why her brain was able to increase her variety of the English language and develop on as a normal human however not at her age of development.
Thank you Claudia - you write well. Through contrasting the two cases, you show a clear understanding of the concepts surrounding a child's language development. A well-structured and intelligent response. Well done.
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