Media text proposal

Vygotsky theory

Vygotsky's main work was in developmental psychology, and he proposed a theory of the development of higher cognitive functions in children that saw reasoning as emerging through practical activity in a social environment. During the earlier period of his career he argued that the development of reasoning was mediated by signs and symbols, and therefore contingent on cultural practices and language as well as on universal cognitive processes.

Vygotsky also posited a concept of the Zone of Proximal Development, often understood to refer to the way in which the acquisition of new knowledge is dependent on previous learning, as well as the availability of instruction.

Three major concepts:
1. Role of Social Interaction in Cognitive Development
The Social Development Theory (SDT) mainly asserts that social interaction has a vital role in the cognitive development process. With this concept, Vygotsky's theory opposes that of Jean Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory because Piaget explains that a person undergoes development first before he achieves learning, whereas Vygotsky argues that social learning comes first before development. Through the Social Development Theory, Vygotsky states that the cultural development of a child is firstly on the social level called interpsychological, and secondly on the individual or personal level called intrapsychological.

2. The More Knowledgeable Other (MKO)
The MKO is any person who has a higher level of ability or understanding than the learner in terms of the task, process or concept at hand. Normally, when we think of an MKO we refer to an older adult, a teacher or an expert. For example, a child learns multiplication of numbers because his tutor teaches him well. The traditional MKO is an older person; however, MKOs could also refer to our friends, younger people and even electronic devices like computers and cellphones. For instance, you learn how to skate because your daughter taught you this skill.

3. The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
The ZPD is the distance between what is known and what is unknown by the learner. It is the difference between the ability of learner to performer a specific task under the guidance of his MKO and the learner`s ability to do that task independently. Basically, the theory explains that learning occurs in ZPD.

Media Text Proposal

Media Text Proposal

Genre

The genre of the piece for my media text will be a magazine article which will be to entertain readers whilst providing them with information about men and women’s health.

Audience

The audience to my media text will be both males and females as it will focus on both the male and female health issues and how stereotyping is used. The audience of the media text will be interested in reading health related magazines and articles.

Purpose

The main purpose to the piece which I am creating will be to inform readers about the health issues and how stereotyping is used within magazines.

Mode

The magazine article will be multi-modal as it will include both images and text. This is because the text will be written mode however there will be images which will link to the magazine. The images will make the double page spread more appealing to the readers as well as allowing the audience to understand what the interview is about

Formality
The magazine article will be written in a formal manner however they may be a few informal words. The language will be formal due to the target audience and the seriousness of the article.

Context

The magazine article would be found in a magazine sold in most shops which sell a range of magazines.

Language Development Investigation

My own language investigation into my own language development

First word - When asking my mum what my first word was she told me that it was 'mummy' however I did not pronounced it like that till I was slightly older and began pronouncing it 'mumma' when I first starting speaking. I then started saying 'nanna' and then 'dadda' and gradually gained more words.

Common sayings -

Are there any conscious decisions behind your language development? – from a young age my parents brang me up to never use bad words or swear words. This has impacted my language now as like some people have been brought up using bad or taboo language I have not used this and therefore do not use it as much as some other people.

Favourite books – as a child I used to enjoy reading the horrid henry books. I also used to enjoy reading Disney books.

Who did you read with – when I was younger I used to spend time reading with my mum if she was at home but because I spent a lot of time with my nan and my mum and dad worked full time I used to enjoy reading books with her.

What are you early memories of speaking and reading -

What do you remember of speaking or reading in early years - When I was younger I remember finding reading and English difficult and struggled with this at school in the early years. However as I became older this was not an issue and began reading higher level books as they called it in the younger years of school.

 

Media text - Do's, Don'ts and advice

Chall's stages

Chall’s Stages of reading development

Chall's model of reading development grew out of her seminal research on the effectiveness of different beginning reading approaches. Chall described six stages of development that are entirely consistent with the stages of instruction that constitute the direct-instruction model which we advocate.

Stage 0 (up to Age 6)is a prereading stage characterized by children's growth in knowledge and use of spoken language. Increasing vocabulary and syntax is apparent. In addition, children acquire some beginning understandings of the sound structures of words. Most children also acquire some knowledge of print at this stage. They may, for example, learn the names of the letters of the alphabet and learn to print their names and some letters not in their names. Although much of their reading may best be described as "pretend reading," most children do learn to hold the book right-side up and turn the pages. Some may learn to point at a word on the page while saying the word. Reading to children provides them with opportunities to acquire this kind of prereading knowledge.

Stage 1 (Grades 1–2)In Stage 1, children learn the letters of the alphabet and the correspondences between the letters and the sounds that they represent. By the end of this stage, they have acquired a general understanding of the spelling-sound system. Direct teaching of decoding accelerates development in Stage 1, particularly for those with limited readiness.

Stage 2 (Grades 2–3)In Stage 2, confirmation of what was learned in Stage 1 takes place and children learn to apply the knowledge gained in Stage 1 to read words and stories. Children learn to recognize words composed of increasingly complex phonic elements and read stories composed of increasingly complex words. Through practice, oral reading of stories and passages becomes more fluent and sounds more like talking.

Stages 1 and 2 Together, Stages 1 and 2 constitute a "learning to read stage," at the end of which children are no longer glued to the print on the page. They recognize most words automatically and read passages with ease and expression. Decoding the words on the page no longer consumes all of their cognitive attention; cognitive capacity is freed for processing meaning. At this point, children are ready to make the important transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn."

Stage 3 In Stage 3, children begin to learn new knowledge, information, thoughts, and experiences by reading. Growth in word meanings and background knowledge. Children read selections from an increasingly broad range of materials about an increasingly broad range of topics. Most reading is for facts, concepts, or how to do things. In Phase A of Stage 3, when vocabulary and background knowledge are still rather limited, reading is best developed with materials and purposes that focus on one viewpoint. As students move through Phase B, they start to confront different viewpoints and begin to analyse and criticize what they read.

Kroll's stages

Preparatory stage

ages 0-6
the child masters the physical skills needed for writing and have an understanding of the basic principles

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Consolidation stage

ages 6-8
writing reflects spoken language and contains colloquialisms. Sentences are short, declarative, grammatically incomplete, or simple conjunctions (eg. and, so, then) used to link longer sentences

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Differentiation stage

ages 8-mid teens
There's an awareness of the differences between writing and speech. Children have confidence in grammatical structures and sentences become more complex, with sophisticated connectives used

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Integration stage

mid teens onwards
A 'personal voice' is developed and a writing style is adopted confidently.

Presentation of investigation

Jean Piaget