After reading the article, I would say that the cognitive framework involves the actual thinking process. It includes the reasoning for why students engage in tasks, the type of goals students have, beliefs of students, attributions of students, and the locus of control the student identifies with. On the other hand, I would say that the sociocultural framework is a combination of components or variables that act to influence the cognitive framework or actual thinking process. The social and cultural environments act to shape what people think and how it is displayed.
Is this difference important? I think that it is important to distinguish between the cognitive and sociocultural framework because they are separate entities and have different roles in determining what and how we think. However, both frameworks are essential to the thinking process and act symbiotically to determine the outcomes of the thinking process. I don’t think that one framework is more important than another, they are both essential and equally important. I believe that people should focus on the interaction between the two frameworks rather than the difference between the two.
The sociocultural framework is important because it adds the environmental variables to the thinking process. These environmental variables would include things such as the setting, the people present, and cultural influences. For example, the classroom incident discussed in the article indicates just how important the social and cultural components are. The fact that Alex’s parents are immigrants may play an important role in Alex’s thinking process and motivation to learn. Alex may be unfamiliar with school-based norms, he may be receiving pressure from his family to perform well, he may be receiving pressure to perform poorly because of the low importance placed on schooling, Alex’s family may or may not value literacy, or maybe the competitive orientation of the classroom is unfamiliar and uncomfortable to Alex. There are a number of social and cultural factors that may be at play in this situation and thus having a great influence over Alex’s thinking process and motivation to learn.
There is a great practical significance to the sociocultural framework because it allows for an evaluation of the environmental factors influencing the student. It allows the teachers to observe the environment in which students act and interact. This evaluation can help provide clues to the thinking process of the student and thus their motivation outcome.
I have to say that this would be a very beneficial and helpful process in understanding the influences affecting a student’s cognitive framework and motivation outcomes, however, I would imagine that this type of evaluation would take a long time. In today’s classrooms, many teachers would not have the luxury of determining all the sociocultural influences on the thinking process besides the obvious and blatant ones. I think that every student could benefit from a teacher taking the time to really understand who the student is and what experiences the student brings to the classroom. It would be like having an individual learning agenda for each student based on their social and cultural experiences. In an ideal world, this would be wonderful. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world. I think that best we can hope for regarding this concept at this point is that those students having the most difficulty receive this type of in-depth analysis in hopes of improving their motivation to learn.
Not only should we take a look at the students, I think that each student should critically evaluate their teaching style and classroom management techniques if they find students lacking motivation. Of course, it is merely impossible to create a classroom environment in which every student’s motivation will be heightened at all times, but I do think that teachers could do more to improve their techniques in hopes of reaching as many students as possible. I know that one of the things that really helped me was videotaping myself teach and also the student’s reactions to my teaching. It is not an easy thing to do, believe me! However, I do think that the benefits of doing this activity are great. Maybe in the case of Alex, if Mr. Patterson was able to watch himself teaching he would realize that these techniques may not be the best for this particular group of students.
In summary, I believe that both the cognitive and sociocultural frameworks are equally important in understanding the thinking processes of individuals and their motivation to learn. I think that a greater understanding of students is necessary in determining where problems lie in regards to motivation. I also believe that teachers should evaluate their own teaching techniques to determine whether or not they play a role in influencing the motivation of their students. I don’t think that everything is known about these processes and I envision a lot more research being done in this area.