My First Bloggity Blog: The Zone of Proximal Development & Storytelling

So, for my very first blog as a COMM 490 student, I would like to examine the relationship between the (perhaps alleged) existence of the "zone of proximal development" and storytelling. Thus, I suppose it would be helpful to define the zone of proximal development before I explore it any further. According to my admittedly limited understanding of this concept, the zone of proximal development encompasses all tasks that a child, someone whose brain is still developing, can perform with the help of an adult, someone whose brain has already developed. Conversely, there also exists a set of tasks that a child can perform 100% independently, as well as a set of tasks that a child cannot perform at all. The question is then, what does storytelling have to do with any of this? As I see it, storytelling relates to the zone of proximal development in the sense that it expands it.

On the most basic level, storytelling acts as a vehicle for clarifying language -even individual words- for children. It helps to clarify words, phrases, and concepts that the child would only be able to understand (and then use themselves in his or her own speech and relational skills) with help. In storytelling, this help comes in the form of illustration -- not literal illustration, but oral and physical illustration. As we discovered in this week's reading, the first chapter of Livo & Rietz's Storytelling: Process & Practice, various aural indicators (such as intonation and rate) and physical indicators (such as eye contact and props) push concepts that children are indeed capable of understanding out of the realm of the unknown and into the realm of the known or understood. Hence, a particular word, phrase, or concept is processed through the zone of proximal development and, eventually, into the child's zone of independent understanding...if I may call it that!

If I were to tell a three-year-old a story involving the word "cauldron," and the child does not know this word, I can establish a context through which I can clarify that word. If I begin my story by saying, "The witch filled her giant cauldron with water and set it over the fire," the child then knows a cauldron can be filled and is therefore probably some form of container. I continue on, "As soon as the water began to boil, the witch tossed in a fistful of worms, a newt's foot, and some cauliflower and began to cook herself a delicious soup." Here, I clarify that a cauldron is something you cook in. Perhaps, if I am a good storyteller, I can even mime these actions or use props so that the child gets a very complete, engaging picture of what a cauldron is and where it fits into this story. Just like that, a new word that, again, the child once only had the possibility of understanding (lying in the zone of proximal development) is now understood. With a few more tellings, the story could eventually encourage aromaticity with this word and its meaning. There are, of course, words (and concepts - this works for concepts, too!) that a three-year-old simply cannot understand even with help, as the words lie far outside the zone of proximal development. Clearly, though, storytelling possesses some magical linguistic powers!*

(*perhaps not-so-magical...but crucial and interesting nonetheless :-)