MORALITY IN CONTEXT - A SOCIOCULTURAL APPROACH TO ENHANCING YOUNG CHILDRENS MORAL DEVELOPMENT

This paper addresses how Vygotskian views on children's transition fro m other-regulation to self-regulation might be used to illustrate how children internalize moral norms and then use the norms in guiding the ir own behavior. First, Martin Hoffman's research on induction, Diana Baumrind's work on parenting styles, and Lawrence Walker's studies of the role of family interaction in the development of moral reasoning w ill be examined with the focus on the processes these researchers cons ider fundamental to children's internalization of moral norms. Next, c omparisons will be drawn between these processes and those of Vygotsky 's sociocultural view as outlined by Diaz, Neal, & Amaya-Williams (199 0). Finally, it will be proposed that incorporating Vygotsky's sociocu ltural theory with Bakhtin's concept of dialogicality extends our unde rstanding of the process through which children internalize interperso nal dialogue and transform it into an internal dialogue which they use as part of a self-regulatory function in guiding their behavior.