Dialogue, New Media and Children's Intellectual Development: Re-Thinking Malaysian Teaching and Learning Approaches

Abstract

This thesis examines the extent to which ‘Talk or Dialogue’ contributes to children’s cognitive and psychological development when it is experienced through technological devices. The work analyzes some of the sociocultural theories of children’s speech, cognitive learning, psychological functions, sociocultural learning context, dialogic teaching and learning approaches in the classroom, social interaction and the use of social tools. The theory of speech is built on the Vygotskian notion of language as the prime cultural and psychological tool for children’s learning development in a sociocultural environment. Lev S. Vygotsky emphasised that the development of cognitive processes in children includes thinking, reasoning and understanding of a conceptualised social interaction. These processes are core to children’s intellectual learning. Vygotsky and the neo-Vygotskians emphasised the use of Speech, Talk or Dialogue and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) concept in children’s learning development. In the UK, it was evident that the Talk teaching and learning approach (Mercer & Littleton, 2007) contributed effectively to children’s learning achievements. This approach reinforces Talk or Dialogue collaboratively in the classroom with the ZPD concept. The significance of the Talk teaching approach has encouraged this study to examine further children’s speech and the use of technological devices. Hence, a theoretical discourse methodology on children’s Talk or Dialogue was examined for the research outcomes. The aim is to devise a new teaching and learning approach that contributes to the Malaysian children’s intellectual development inside and outside the classroom through the use of Talk or Dialogue. As a result, a Dialogic framework is articulated based on four existing educational theories of children’s speech and learning. This framework is vital to contribute directly to the Malaysia Education Department Blueprint 2013-2025 in promoting children’s intellectual development. For that reason, two approaches are proposed which emphasise children’s psychological functions of perception, attention, sensory motor-operations and memory through the use of Talk and technological devices. These approaches accentuate the ZPD concept between the teachers and children for learning and activity games. This is the study’s contribution to new knowledge.