A Unity of Obucheniye and Vospitaniye: An Unexplored Unity in Vygotskian Zone of Proximal Development

Abstract

The most acknowledged throughout practical and theoretical educational settings across the globe, the concept of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) suggested by the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, is not typically recognized for its individual integral components. As Russian educational practices suggest, for an educator to prompt their students’ comprehensive and pragmatical mastery of the studied content, an educational process has to include obucheniye and vospitaniye . Obucheniye and vospitaniye are interpermeating processes, quintessential to any guided teaching-learning. As a result, it is through their joint impact that a student is able to comprehensively develop, master the studied content, and develop situationally adequate proficiency of a skill or discipline. The goal of this paper is to introduce international academic community to both concepts integral to any Vygotskian teaching on education and development. These concepts can be traced in the original (Russian) used in alternation and consequently, are often mistranslated or overgeneralized in English impacting the overall understanding of Vygotskian theories. Additionally, this article advocates for the beneficial joint effect of obucheniye and vospitaniye synthesis in the process of mentor’s guided interference into the student’s Zone of Proximal Development.