The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity at school age

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The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity
at school age
Natalya V. Smirnova Department of Foreign
Languages Russian Federation, St. Petersburg
International Conference on Education and
Educational Psychology Istanbul, Turkey October,
19-21, 2011
Higher School of Economics - St.Petersburg,
2011 www.hse.spb.ru
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The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity
at school age

• Overview
• - Theoretical background and definition of
  Sign-Symbolic activity
• The nature of sign-symbolic mediation
• Importance of studying SSA
• Main aims of the research
• - Methodology of the pilot study
• Future perspectives of the study

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Higher School of Economics , St.Petersburg, 2011
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The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity
at school age
Theory 1. child's development - a process of
acquiring different sign systems and ways of
information processing - Piaget, Bruner, Flavell,
Solso, Lindsay , Anderson, etc. 2. Vygotsky
school - Galperin (1998), Davydov (1994) and
Elkonin (1989) schools 3. Current stage research
field - Ananyev, Lomov, Gamezo, Salmina,
Glotova
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Higher School of Economics , St.Petersburg, 2011
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The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity
at school age

• Definition
• Sign Symbolic Activity is analyzed as a system
  of mediation, representation and relation aiming
  at reflection and transformation of reality. At
  the same time it is considered as an action and
  belongs to higher psychic functions and is an
  essential condition for the human development and
  life at all ages (Salmina, 1998)

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Higher School of Economics , St.Petersburg, 2011
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The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity
at school age

• SSA nature
• - signs and symbols have common structure and
  functioning
• SS functions
• Communicative
• Cognitive
• Substitutional
• SS micro level functions
• - indicative
• - regulative
• - esthetic
• - valuation

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Higher School of Economics , St.Petersburg, 2011
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The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity
at school age

• SSA nature
• According to SSA functions Salmina (1998) defines
  its four types
• Modeling
• Schematization
• Encoding
• Substitution

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Higher School of Economics , St.Petersburg, 2011
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The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity
at school age

• Importance of studying SSA
• - complex educational program and studying
  process at schools
• - not the quantity of the acquired knowledge
  which is important but how well children can find
  and process new knowledge by themselves
• - investigate the processes which allow learners
  to encode/decode information in different sign
  systems quickly, independently, fully, accurately
  and consciously

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Higher School of Economics , St.Petersburg, 2011
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The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity
at school age

• Aims of the research
• - analyze SSA nature (its structure, types, and
  functions)
• - Study SSA dynamics with relation to the
  learners age, individual characteristics, their
  general cognitive level without creating any
  specific learning environment and without taking
  into account any external factors.

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Higher School of Economics , St.Petersburg, 2011
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The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity
at school age

• Methodology of the pilot study
• - theoretical literature analysis
• - study and analysis of the research papers in
  the field of developmental, pedagogical and
  general psychology
• - development of a set of criteria to assess the
  level of SSA
• - development of an original experimental
  methodology to investigate SSA dynamics with
  different age groups
• - development of an original experimental
  methodology to study the learning success and
  progress

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Higher School of Economics , St.Petersburg, 2011
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The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity
at school age

• original experimental methodology to investigate
  SSA dynamics
• e.g. Schematization/ Native language Russian/
  7th school grade
• 1. Make a scheme of the following sentence
  (verbal non verbal).
• 2. Look at the words cat, lake, sister, table,
  etc. Systematize them according to their case and
  declination (verbal non verbal)
• 3. Make words according to the following schemes
  (non verbal - verbal)
• 4. Make a sentence according to the following
  scheme (non verbal - verbal)

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Higher School of Economics , St.Petersburg, 2011
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The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity
at school age

• SSA development level indicators based on
  Matveeva, 1989 Gamezo, 1975 Lomov, 1959
  Salmina, 1988 Glotova, 1990
• - Degree of correctness of SSA
• - Learners speed of SS mediation
• - Learners independence of SS mediation
• - Learners consciousness of SS mediation

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Higher School of Economics , St.Petersburg, 2011
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The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity
at school age

• Analysis of the learning progress of students
• 4 learning progress variables
• - successful acquisition of new notions in the
  subject
• - general progress in studies
• - teachers of English and Russian assessment of
  students learning progress
• - self-assessment of their own learning progress

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Higher School of Economics , St.Petersburg, 2011
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The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity
at school age

• Future perspectives of the study
• - study SSA features and correlations of SSA and
  learners study progress in connection with their
  individual characteristics
• - to investigate the relationship of learning
  progress and SSA level development according to
  the following primary indicators consciousness,
  accuracy, and speed, independence of using SS
  tools and according to the secondary (derived)
  indicators SSA consistency and frequency
• - to investigate gender differences in the SSA
  process with primary school learners and if these
  difference disappear with age
• - to study the relationship between SSA level and
  learners general cognitive level of development

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Higher School of Economics , St.Petersburg, 2011
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The problem of studying sign-symbolic activity
at school age

• References
• Anderson, G.R. (2002). Cognitive psychology. ( p.
  496). St. Petersburg Piter.
• Bruner, G. (1997) Psychology of cognition Beyond
  the limits of immediate information. Translation
  from English. (p.412). Moscow Progress.
• Davydov, V.V. (1994) Psychological problems in
  teaching young learners. Age psychology.
  (pp.160-163). Edited by Feldshtein D.I. Moscow.
• Elkonin, D.B. (1989). Collection of works on
  psychology. (p.554). Moscow Pedagogika.
• Eremeeva, V.D., Chrisman, T.P. (2001). Boys and
  girls two worlds apart. (p.184). St.
  Petersburg Tuskarora.
• Flavell, G.H. (1967). Genetic psychology by
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• Galpirin, P.J. (1998). Psychology as objective
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• Gamezo, M.V. (1975). Theoretical issues of
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• Glotova, G.A. (1990). Human and sign.
  Semiotic-psychological aspects of human
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• Korshunov, A.M. (1979). Reflection, activity,
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• Leontyev, A.N. (1983). Collection of works on
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• Lindsay, P.H., Norman, D.A. (1974). Human
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• Lomov, B.F. (1959). Forming graphical knowledge
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  Moscow Izdatelstvo APN RSFCR.
• Matveeva, L.A. (1989). Young learner as an object
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• Piege, J. (1997). Speech and cognition of a
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• Raev, A.I. (1983). The problem of developing
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• Rubinshtein, S.L. (1999) The foundations of
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• Salmina, N.G. (1988). Sign and symbol in learning
  process. (p.287). Moscow MSU.

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