ABSTRACT
In this chapter I shall discuss the Vygotskian perspective on the social foundations of cognitive development and the Lurian perspective on the individual working brain system. Then, I shall apply both perspectives to understanding literacy acquisition. My aim is to show that the social contextual perspective and the neuropsychological perspective can be integrated into theoretical models of reading and writing acquisition and in educational practice. These perspectives are neither mutually exclusive nor incompatible, although the belief that they are is widespread. This misconception permeates not only the educational and cognitive fields, but also artificial intelligence, which is divided as to whether intelligence should be modelled in terms of the individual thinking machine (e.g. Minsky, 1986) or in terms of the social network (e.g. Roschelle and Clancey, 1992) with which that individual machine interfaces.
