Piaget And Vygotsky: Constructivism In The Classroom

Constructivism is an important part of the education process. The influences of the developmental theories of Piaget and Vygotsky are also seen in the constructivist theories of learning. I plan on teaching high school Spanish. This is a very specific subject area, as it deals with not only “Spanish,” but the foundation of language itself. I do believe that the constructivist approach could prove very beneficial in learning and teaching Spanish. There are also some parts of constructivism that could hinder a student’s way of learning Spanish. Either way, constructivism can be a way to help and improve a student’s grasp of a foreign language. One approach that could be used is “top down processing.” In this approach, students are given an advanced, more critical introduction to new concepts. Students, with the assistance of the teacher, work on breaking concepts down to fully comprehend what is being shown to them. Instead of starting with the basics, students are given more complex problems and then work them out into simpler concepts. This could be applied to Spanish. The teacher could start out by either talking completely in Spanish or giving out compositions in Spanish for the students to read. Of course, …show more content…
Students are again learning on their own, but this time through experiments and experiences. They use these processes in order to discover principles for themselves. This would not be practical for a student to learn Spanish. There is not much room for creativity and discovery when learning a foreign language. There are rules that must be followed and that typically cannot be “discovered” on their own. Students would be learning Spanish their own way and drawing up their own conclusions. Unfortunately, these conclusions could be wrong and they would be learning incorrectly. Trying to have students learn Spanish this way would prove