Lev Vygotsky was born in Russia in 1896. He was an important theorist who started his career as a school teacher and then went on to become a psychology lecturer at a teacher training college. Vygotsky’s theories took a constructivist approach as did Piaget’s. But in some ways Vygotsky challenged Piaget’s conclusions. He claimed that is the result of social, not independent, learning. According to Vygotsky, as children learn, they engage in mutual dialogues with peers and adults, who assist them in their efforts. During these interactions, cognitive processes are socially, transferred to the child. Vygotsky constructed a theory in which the child and the social environment work together to shape cognition. Through Vygotsky's studies, we can see how a child progresses through the stages of concept development and how adults, through the medium of language, provide support in a child’s learning. There are three underlying themes, which unify Vygotsky’s theory. The first being the importance of culture, which as mentioned before Piaget did not really consider, the second is the central role of language and the third is what Vygotsky calls the zone of proximal development or ZPD.

According to Vygotsky, in terms of development, the one thing that separates humans from other animals is our use of tools and symbols. As a result of these we create cultures. Our cultures grow and change as we develop, and become extremely powerful influences over us. They dictate what we have to learn, and the sorts of skills we need to develop. The next theme within Vygotsky’s theory is the central role of Language. Language is made possible because of our culture (tools and symbols). Social processes bring about the learning of language, and language ultimately makes thought possible. Therefore when a child is an infant, at the preverbal stage of development, his or her intelligence is a purely natural, useful capacity. As a child begins to develop so does their language, and as they begin to speak, their thought processes also begin to develop. At this stage, Vygotsky described three stages in the development of speech. The first being external speech, which occurs from birth to about 3 years old. This is where the child’s use of language is in response and aimed at the outside world. The child uses speech to express simple thoughts and emotions for example crying, laughter and shouting. Following on from this, there is egocentric speech. This stage takes place between the ages of 3- 7 years old. This is when the child thinks aloud, for example, ‘I’m going to give dolly her tea now ‘. Children often talk to themselves, regardless of someone listening to them. Following on from this, there is inner speech, which occurs from around the age of 7. This is inner, soundless speech takes place in the head. This type of speech allows the child or adult to control their thinking and behavior.