An Integrated Theory of Thinking and Speaking that Draws on Vygotsky and Bakhtin/Vološinov

Oct 15, 2026

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Vygotsky’s social-psychological theory of development and Bakhtin/Vološinov’s dialogical theory of language and thinking have attracted educational research interest but are often kept separate. This article presents an integrated model, a mapping of theoretical terms across four European languages, and a unifying account of psychological and sociological dimensions. It then develops six research-relevant issues, including sensual life, self-movement, nested relations between activity and utterance, signification, vernacular development, and unit analysis.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages22

Reading Time55 min

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Introduction

Purpose and model scope

Thought-word relations in Vygotsky and Bakhtin

Research implications and commonalities

ISSN: 2325-3290 (online) An Integrated Theory of Thinking and Speaking that Draws on Vygotsky and Bakhtin/Vološinov | | | Wolff-Michael Roth
University of Victoria, Canada | | --- | --- | --- | | Abstract
Vygotsky’s social-psychological theory of human development and Bakhtin/Vološinov’s theory of language and the dialogical nature of thought have received increasing interest in the educational research literature but tend to remain unrelated even where co-citation occurs. In this article, I first present a model that integrates the fundamentally common features in the two approaches and present a table with the correspondences ofthe theoretical terms across four European languages; the model thereby integrates the psychological and sociological dimensions at the heart of the two approaches. I then articulate and elaborate on six main issues that are relevant to and have implications for research: (a) sensual life as integrative unit,(b) self-movement and development, (c) the nested relations between activity and living utterance,(d) signification,(e) vernacular as the origin and locus of development, and (f) unit analysis. | | | | Keywords: Vygotsky; Bakhtin circle; cultural-historical activity theory; sociocultural theory; socio-historical theory; dialogism; materialist dialectics; unit analysis | | | Wolff-Michael Roth is Lansdowne Professor of Applied Cognitive Science in the Faculty of Education atthe University of Victoria. His research is concerned with knowing and learning across the life span, especially as it relates to mathematics and science. His research approach is transdisciplinary, and he publishes his research in many different scholarly fields. Recent publications include What First-Person Method (Sense, 2012), Passibility: At the Limits of the Constructivist Metaphor (Springer, 2011), and Geometry as Objective Science in Elementary Classrooms (Routledge, 2010) . He can be contacted at: MacLaurin Building A567, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, [Canada. Email: mroth@uvic.ca](Canada. Email: mroth@uvic.ca) Introduction The relation of thought to word is not primarily a thing but a process, a movement from thought to word and back—from word to thought. This relationship represents, in the light of psychological analysis, as a developing process, which moves through a series of phases and stages and undergoes all those changes that, due to the essential characteristics, may be called as development in the true sense of this word (Vygotskij, 2005, p. 962) . The purpose of this article is to articulate a model of cognition, thinking and speaking, and its grounding in cultural-historical activity theory (A. N. Leont’ev, 1983), dialogism (Vološinov, 1930), social psychology (Vygotskij, 2005), and psycholinguistics (A. A. Leont’ev, 1969/1971; Mikhailov, 1976) . The model is intended to provide a framework for scholars working in different European countries and root languages for the translation and integration of discourses all too often difficult to make because of linguistic boundaries and differences. Whereas scholars already recognize the integral relation between communication and cognition (e.g. , Sfard, 2008), neologisms such as “commognition” may not at all be required given that the field has inherited a common framework for understanding communication as cognition. Moreover, the commognition framework lacks some essential features for understanding cognition that are already present in its historical antecedents. What is more, the model integrates ideas from scholars that are sometimes placed in opposing camps: Vygotsky, grounded in dialectics, and Bakhtin, emphasizing dialogue. Although assigned to different camps, Vygotsky and Bakhtin do not appear to be so far apart on many issues. In a section of Thought and Language (Vygotskij, 2005) where the scholar focuses on the changes of signification in the living process of verbal thinking, he provides a description of

FAQs

What two theoretical traditions does the article integrate?

It integrates Vygotsky’s social-psychological theory of human development with Bakhtin/Vološinov’s theory of language and the dialogical nature of thought.

How does the article characterize the relationship between thought and word?

It treats the relation as a process and movement from thought to word and back—from word to thought—linked to phases of development.

Which research issues does the article propose after presenting the model?

It elaborates six main issues: sensual life as an integrative unit, self-movement and development, nested relations between activity and living utterance, signification, vernacular as the origin and locus of development, and unit analysis.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dhado