The Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) Theory

Abstract

Much like Vygotsky’s development of the ZPD concept and its application to DA, Feuerstein’s MLE theory evolved within a historical, social, and cultural perspective. It is my opinion that Feuerstein developed his theory independently, about three decades after Vygotsky’s theory was published in the Soviet Union, without being familiar with Vygotsky’s ideas. Feuerstein’s theory was developed after the establishment of the State of Israel, when a massive immigration of hundreds of thousands of Jews to Israel began from all over the world, but especially from North Africa and Middle Eastern countries. Many of the immigrants had to go through an accelerated process of integration, a process that required acquisition of sophisticated technology. The social pressures for integration and main-streaming posed pressures for development of new assessment methods that would take into account the immigrants’ diverse cultures and allow the fulfillment of their learning potential, especially those who were “penalized” by the conventional psychometric tests.