1st Edition
The Vygotsky Anthology A Selection from His Key Writings
The Vygotsky Anthology brings together, for the first time, a selection of extracts from the best translations available of Vygotsky’s writings, spanning the entire arc of his career.
Vygotsky was arguably one of the greatest educational psychologists of the 20th century. Grounded in his experience as a teacher, an expert in special education, a research psychologist and an outstanding theorist, the editors of this unique anthology chart his enormous influence on professionals working in education and child development around the world. The extracts are introduced by the editors’ commentaries, helpfully setting them in the context of Vygotsky’s life and work, providing a collection of work that adequately represents his writing, and conveying some of the great pleasures of reading him. In the passages selected here, his voice is clearly heard, the intellectual brilliance of his insights is reflected, his line of argument is clear, and his humour and humanity are evident.
With its inclusion of recent translations of essential texts, this anthology will help students to understand the full diversity of Vygotsky’s influence on today’s classrooms. Seen as a companion volume to Myra Barrs’ previous work Vygotsky the Teacher (Routledge, 2022), the value of this text to teachers, educational psychologists, and other practitioners working in the field of education and child development will be significant and lasting. It is a key reference book for new generations of Vygotsky students.
1. Vygotsky’s roots in psychology: extracts from Educational psychology
2. Vygotsky’s passion for literature and drama: extracts from the psychology of art
3. Vygotsky the defectologist
4. On the crisis in psychology
5. Discovering the power of the sign: extracts from Tool and symbol in child development
6. In pursuit of a unified psychological structure: extracts from The history of the development of higher mental functions
7. Vygotsky the pedologist
8. Play, imagination and creativity
9. The zone of proximal/proximate development
10. Word meaning develops: extracts from Thinking and speech, Chapters 1, 2, 4 and 6
11. The final ‘why’: extracts from Thinking and speech, Chapter 7, ‘Thought and word’
Biography
Myra Barrs was the author of many books and other publications on language and learning in education. She was Honorary Senior Research Associate at the UCL Institute of Education, UK, and former director of the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, UK. Her book Vygotsky the Teacher: A Companion to his Psychology for Teachers and Other Practitioners was published by Routledge in 2022. She died in 2023.
John Richmond has been an English teacher, an adviser of teachers and an educational broadcaster. He has published books and articles on English teaching and language and learning.
