Vygotsky & Bernstein in the Light of Jewish Tradition

Antonella Castelnuovo (PhD, London University) has been teaching Intercultural Communication at Siena University; at present she is teaching Linguistic and Cultural Mediation at University La Sapienza, Rome. She had been Visiting Professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Publications include L'Identita' Multicolore (1994), Ebrei e Protestanti nella storia d’Italia (1996), Minoranze religiose e cultura europea (1999), Giochi di ruolo e formazione interculturale (2007), A Sociocultural Study of Intercultural Discourse. Empirical Research on Italian Adolescent Pupils (forthcoming). Bella S. Kotik-Friedgut (PhD, Moscow State University) is a professor of Psychology at D. Yellin Academic College of Education in Jerusalem. Her scholarly interests are focused on various aspects of bilingualism and psychological support in new (foreign and second) language learning and teaching. This has developed into a culture sensitive research dealing with Ethiopian adults, illiterate in their native Amharic. Prof. Kotik-Friedgut initiated and served as scientific editor of the translation from Russian into Hebrew of Vygotsky’s seminal work Language and Thought. Among her recent publications: "A Man of His Country and His Time: Jewish Influences on the Personality and Outlook of Lev Vygotsky," History of Psychology 11(1): 15-39 (with Theodore Friedgut, 2008), "Cultural-historical Theory and Cultural Neuropsychology Today," Handbook of Cultural-Historical Theory (2014), How to Study Language to Learn It (2014, in Russian).