Written Speech: A Barrier to Knowledge Building in Blended Learning Teacher Professional Development

Literature Review

Although Vygotsky, as a developmental psychologist, advanced his views on language, cognitive development, and culturally based learning through the social and cultural lenses of early Soviet Russia, these views remain relevant to the educational practices of the digital age (Ahmadian, Pouromid, & Nickkhah, 2016; Baleghizadeh, Memar, & Memar, 2011; Linask, 2012; Smagorinsky, 2013). Accordingly, numerous researchers have applied Vygotsky’s theoretical framework to the implementation of collaborative practice strategies and subsequent analyses of social presence in online settings (Arshavskaya & Whitney, 2014; Brooks & Gibson, 2012; Churcher, Downs, Tewksbury, 2014; Liu & Lan, 2016; Siriwardane & Durden, 2014). Likewise, there have been frequent studies on writing activities in virtual environments and their effect on learning, but few have applied Vygotsky’s language based learning theory for analysis of the impact of written speech on adults as an online knowledge building tool (Ahmadian et al., 2016; Arshavskaya & Whitney, 2014; Farr & Riordan, 2015; Jablonski, 2015; Kuo, Belland, Kuo, 2017; Lee, 2015; Siriwardane & Durden, 2014). Vygotskian based literature that is available on language acquisition and written speech is primarily directed toward second language acquisition studies (Ahmadian et al., 2016; Arshavskaya & Whitney, 2014; Baleghizadeh et al., 2011).