English 2017 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Lev Vygotsky, Working Mother, Neuropsychology

• School: Western University
• Department: English
• Course: English 2017
• Professor: Nigel Joseph

Document Summary

(page numbers for passages from course-pack are marked cp) Language shapes culture, language shapes thinking and language shapes brains. The verbal bath in which a society soaks its children arranges their synapses and their intellects; it helps them to learn to reason, reflect and respond to the world. The brain is ravenous for language stimulation in early childhood but becomes increasingly resistant to change when the zero hour of puberty arrives . The brains of today"s children are being structured in language patterns antagonistic to the values and goals of formal education. The overall effects of television viewing and other forms of video on the growing brain are poorly understood, but research strongly indicates that it has the potential to affect both the brain itself and related learning abilities. Abilities to sustain attention independently, stick to problems actively, listen intelligently, read with understanding, and use language effectively may be particularly at risk .