Locating Social and Emotional Learning in Schooled Environments: A Vygotskian Perspective on Learning as Unified

Abstract

This article contributes to the emerging literature on social and emotional learning (SEL) from a Vygotskian perspective. A critical perspective on SEL in the context of schooling in the United States situates current interest in SEL programs. Vygotsky's foundational work from the 1920s and 1930s is used to clarify learning as unified, and the concept of feeling is elaborated with literature relevant to learning in school environments and across the life course. Potential next steps for research are noted, in particular given the unity of speech, thinking, and feeling and the literature on the role of social speech and dialogue in learning and development.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful for the support of the issue editors, Manfred Holodynski and Falk Seeger, as well as thoughtful suggestions from three anonymous reviewers.

Notes

¹The theory of mind literature privileges cognition over emotion in mind. For example, more research is conducted on words like “beliefs,” “thinking,” “knowing,” and “guessing,” as separate from less commonly studied words for desires and emotions. Researchers in the field itself have sought to redress this imbalance by advancing “affective theory of mind.” As the separation of cognition and emotion in both approaches is problematic, we use the phrases “psychological states” and “psychological state terms” in an effort to privilege the unity of intellect and affect in experience.