Semiotic Mediation, Dialogue and the Construction of Knowledge

In this paper, I want to explore how this claim relates to the concept of semiotic mediation in cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and the writings of the Bakhtin circle and then to consider how the theoretical framework that these scholars provide can be brought to bear, first on early language development, and then on the activity of education. I shall argue that the development of children’s understanding of their world -of themselves as well as of the content of the curriculum -needs to be understood in terms of a co-construction of knowledge through jointly conducted activities that are mediated by artifacts of various kinds, of which dialogue is the most powerful.