Dialogue, difference and voice in the zone of proximal development

In recent years many similarities, especially centering on the notion of di alogue, have been noted in the writings of Mikhail Bakhtin and Lev Vygotsky . Although both attend to the dialogical character of speech and thought an d the role of dialogue in the social constitution and genesis of mind, we a rgue that their understandings of dialogue are different in important ways. We consider the implications of such differences for a broader cultural-hi storical view of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) by focusing on thre e issues: dialogue, otherness and voice. These issues lead us to consider e xtending the domain of the ZPD to incorporate Magistral, Socratic and Menip pean dialogues. These dialogues constitute three regions on a continuum wit h centripetal Vygotskian and centrifugal Bakhtinian poles, and each emerges at a different point of development of the ZPD. This broader perspective o n the ZPD provides a medium for cultural and historical change as well as f or individual socialization.