Hasan: Semiotic Mediation r March 2001 1 SEMIOTIC MEDIATION AND MENTAL DEVELOPMENT IN PLURALISTIC SOCIETIES: SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR TOMORROW'S SCHOOLING Ruqaiya Hasan That children's learning begins long before they attend school is the starting point of this discussion. Any learning a child encounters in school has a previous history. (Vygotsky 1978: 84). The enormous reach of Vygotsky's theoretical approach to mental development derives from the very concept of semiotic mediation. What makes the concept so powerful is the fact that it establishes connections across some of the most important areas of human social existence. More specifically, it foregrounds a fundamental relationship between mental functions and discourse within the context of social/cultural activity. This, in turn, invites us to explore the relations between the disciplines of psychology, semiotics and sociology. Reflection on these interconnections suggests that if we wish to fully understand the implications of Vygotsky's claims about the sociogenesis of human mind, then on the one hand we must be willing to ignore the conventionally accepted boundaries erected in the name of specialisation across these and many other disciplines, and on the other hand we must be prepared to probe deeper into the significance of the claims made by this powerful theory It is well recognised (Vygotsky 1962; Wertsch 1985) that in putting forward the concept of semiotic mediation, Vygotsky attached greater importance to language than he did to other modalities of meaning. We need, then, to ask why language has been granted this special status in Vygotsky's theory; what it is that language enables us to do which other semioticHasan: Semiotic Mediation r March 2001 2 modalities do not -- or at least not to the same extent, or with the same facility. Similarly, in identifying social/cultural activity as the essential site for the operation of semiotic mediation the theory opens up interesting questions, such as the relation between cultural activities and language, and whether different kinds of activities encourage different forms of semiotic mediation. Since the societies we know today are pluralistic, with multiple groupings whose boundaries are drawn by reference to interest, race, gender, occupation and socio-economic status, it is important to ask whether the different social groups engage in the same range of activities, and if so, whether the performance of such activities takes the same form across the distinct social groups. If there is an inherent relation between language, cultural activities and semiotic mediation, and if we wish to understand the working of semiotic mediation, then we do need to focus on such questions. It seems to me that the extent to which we can benefit from the application of Vygotskian insights depends on how far we are able to engage successfully in enquiries of this kind. Nowhere does this appear truer than in the complex area of constructive thinking on education, both its theory and its practice. It is the aim of this chapter to begin an exploration of the concept of cultural activity in relation to semiotic mediation by using the modality of language. I hope that this exploration will reveal some important implications of accepting semiotic mediation as the essential means of making human minds, and thus suggest avenues for conceptualising better programs for truly egalitarian education. Semiotic Mediation: One Process, Two Manifestations I shall use the term semiotic mediation throughout this chapter as a short form for semiotic mediation by means of the modality of language. The term semiotic refers to all modalitiesHasan: Semiotic Mediation r March 2001 3 for signing, not just language. In assigning this crucial place to language in the processes of semiotic mediation, I do not wish to prejudge the role of other semiotic modalities in the formation of higher mental functions, but simply to respect Vygotsky's own usage (Vygotsky 1978; Wertsch 1985). The term mediation on the other hand refers to a process that is inherently transitive: it requires at least two participants -- something/someone mediates something. So for the purposes of this chapter the term semiotic mediation may be paraphrased as mediation of something by someone to someone else by means of the modality of language. Using the term in this sense, I take it as axiomatic that semiotic mediation is a constant feature of human social life. The natural condition of language in use in the context of cultural activity is to mediate; the issue is not whether it mediates, but rather what it is that it mediates. In the writings of Vygotsky and his colleagues, as well as in current discussions and applications, it has been customary to invoke the agency of this process with specific reference to concept formation and/or some form of problem solving. The concepts and problems cited belong typically to the specialised educational activities of officially recognised educational sites. To be sure, semiotic mediation is a powerful tool in these processes, but to emphasize its function only in such contexts is to encourage the questionable view that this constitutes the default function of semiotic mediation, that it represents its true essence, and that semiotic mediation functions only intermittently, coming into play in cultural activities which call for explicit, deliberate teaching of specific concepts, knowledge structures and the like. I believe that such a view of semiotic mediation undersells the concept. In fact, to appreciate the full power of this notion, all we need do is toHasan: Semiotic Mediation r March 2001 4 remember that semiotic mediation occurs wherever discourse occurs, and that discourse is ubiquitous in the living of social life: semiotic mediation is what language naturally does in discourse. And the most important thing that language does in discourse is to enable the speaking subjects to internalise the world they experience in the living of their life. This includes -- but also goes beyond -- the formation of specific concepts, especially if by the term concept we mean to refer only to technological or scientific concepts, the conscious inculcation of which is taken to be the main aim of formal education. Seen from this perspective, the most basic and foundational achievement -- but certainly not the only achievement -- of semiotic mediation is the