The Contributions of Nina Fedorovna Talyzina to Research Developed in Brazilian Postgraduate Programs

BACKGROUND: Nina Fedorovna Talyzina was a Russian psychologist, whose theories have been applied in educational research in many countries around the world, including Brazil. Her name is mainly connected to the Activity Theory of Learning (ATL), which has been dubbed the Galperin-Talyzina system of developmental didactics. OBJECTIVE: Investigate how N.F. Talyzina’s ideas are applied in dissertations and theses developed in postgraduate programs in Brazil. DESIGN: Our research was a bibliographic review which used the state of the question method to examine how Talyzina’s ideas are applied in Brazilian academic publications. Data were gathered from three responsible databases – the Brazilian Digital Library, the CAPES Catalogue, and the Institutional Repositories (1987–2022). The method of content analysis was used for data analysis, according to pre-determined categories. RESULTS: We found a prevalence of research based on the methodology of formative experiments carried out at different educational levels. Skills, scientific concept- formation, and problem-solving were the objects of investigation in most of the studies. The ideas proposed by L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, P.Ya. Galperin, and V.V. Davidov were expressed through references to Talyzina’s work as the theoretical basis of many studies, thus evidencing a crucial dialogue with the Cultural-Historical School (CHS). CONCLUSION: Our study points out the growing interest in Talyzina’s ideas, specifically her Activity Theory of Learning, which can be attributed to comprehensive dialogues with the ideas of L.S. Vygotsky and A.N. Leontiev which predominate in Brazilian research.