Implications of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) in teacher education: ZPTD and self-scaffolding

Abstract

One of the major themes in Vygotsky's sociocultural theory is the zone of proximal development (ZPD). Vygotsky's zone of proximal development was created with child development in mind. Unfortunately, Vygotsky lived a short life and never proposed any specific methodology for the use of ZPD in teacher education. Recently the idea of ZPD has been used in teacher education (Warford, 2011). In this paper, first the philosophical and historical foundation of ZPD is discussed. Then, ZPTD and different stages of developing the ZPTD are introduced. Finally, factors affecting teachers' ZPD are studied and suggestions are made on improving the ZPTD. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.