The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): The gap between what a learner is knows and what the learner is capable of learning with assistance. This term is sometimes used in conjunction with scaffolding.                    See: Scaffolding

 

Example: The zone of proximal development for little Jubilee’s pronunciation of daddy is the difference between “dada” and “daddy.” Outside of this zone is her being able to use the word in a complete sentence.

 

Resources:

http://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/5075