Review of Sociocultural Theory and the Genesis of Second Language Development (original) (raw)
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Sociocultural theory (hereafter SCT) has its origins in the writings of the Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky and his colleagues. SCT argues that human mental functioning is fundamentally a mediated process that is organized by cultural artifacts, activities, and concepts (Ratner, 2002). 1 Within this framework, humans are understood to utilize existing, and to create new, cultural artifacts that allow them to regulate, or more fully monitor and control, their material and symbolic activity. Practically speaking, developmental processes take place through participation in cultural, linguistic, and historically formed settings such as family life, peer group interaction, public spaces (e.g., restaurants, banks, leisure-time activities, etc.), work places, and above all, for our purposes, formal educational contexts. SCT argues that while human neurobiology is a necessary condition for higher mental processes, the most important forms of human cognitive activity develop through interaction within social and material environments, including conditions found in instructional settings (Engeström, 1987). Importantly, SCT and its sibling approaches, such as cultural-historical activity theory, emphasize not only research and understanding of human developmental processes but also praxis-based research, which entails intervening and creating conditions for development (see Lantolf & Poehner, 2014). Second language (L2) SCT researchers are increasingly emphasizing a praxis orientation to understand processes of language development through active engagement with teachers and learners, as illustrated in the Exemplary Study and other sections of this chapter. Despite an untimely death from tuberculosis at the age of 38 in 1934, Vygotsky had an extremely productive career profoundly influenced by the social conditions produced by the Russian Revolution. While SCT is most strongly associated with the research of Vygotsky and his colleagues, Luria
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2013
As Rod Ellis states in his Preface, Craig Chaudron's book, Second Language Classroom: Research on Teaching and Learning, published in 1988, reviewed systematically the L2 classroom research up to that time. Although Chaudron updated the research community on the development of classroom research in 2001 with an article published in The Modern Language Journal, the space given to it and the relatively brief nature of the review make it necessary that a new volume presenting a comprehensive survey and critical appraisal of the research into L2 learning and teaching in classrooms be available. Ellis' new book, Language Teaching Research and Language Pedagogy (LTRALP), serves this purpose perfectly well. Anyway, it has been over 20 years since the publication of Chaudron's 1988 book, and the rapid development of the field warrants the publication of such a comprehensive book. LTRALP includes 11 main chapters in addition to a concise Preface, where Ellis explains his own theorising of language teaching. He presents two views, one is what he refers to as the 'external view' and the other as the 'internal view'. The former regards language teaching in terms of methods, approaches, materials and techniques, and the latter in terms of it being a 'process'. He posits that such a distinction is important and that the studies he has reviewed in the book can be categorised according to this typology. It is also in his Preface that Ellis highlights the two principal research paradigms: the normative paradigm, which tends to test hypotheses and the interpretive paradigm, which 'seeks to describe and understand some aspect of teaching by identifying key variables and examining how they interrelate' (p. x). Chapter 1, 'Introduction: Developments in Language Teaching Research', as the title indicates, gives the reader a panoramic view of all the topics to be considered in the book. What needs to be stressed is that Ellis has successfully defined what language teaching research is and stated his rationale for electing to focus on it in his book. Ellis begins Chapter 2, 'Methods for Researching the Second Language Classroom', with a discussion of formal and practitioner research before examining the main research traditions in relation to their theoretical underpinnings, research design, data collection and processing methods. The focus of Chapter 3, 'Comparative Method Studies', presents studies that compare different teaching methods. Historically, such studies were once popular, as the ambition of doing so was to find the best methods for effectively teaching foreign language skills. Evidently, such studies have lost their popularity and attracted much criticism because of their insensitivity to the fact that different contexts require different methods and the search for the 'best method' has proven to be futile (Kumaravadivelu, 2006). Chapter 4, 'Second Language Classroom Discourse', examines the oral discourse in L2 classrooms and its nature in the lesson process. Ellis argues that "'teaching' is discourse. observation of the discourse that arises in actual classrooms is fundamental to developing an understanding of language teaching and its relationship to learning" (p. 75). Accordingly, discourse processes become the focus of this chapter. Descriptive research discussed in this chapter range from interaction analysis to classroom discourse analysis, types of language use, conversation analysis and the L2 classroom, and scaffolding in sociocultural theory. Chapters 5 and 6 place their foci on the teacher and the learner respectively. As can be easily imagined, the teacher is the main person that contributes to classroom discourse in most cases. Therefore, studies of teacher talk are the mainstay of a chapter with the teacher as the central figure. Various research studies on teacher talk (including teacher talk and L2 acquisition, teacher talk and teacher education) and teacher questions (including teacher questioning strategies and socially-oriented studies of teacher questions) are reviewed. There have been debates about the role of the learner's L1 in the L2 classroom, and such debates are also discussed in Chapter 5 in relation to various studies on the use of the L1 in L2 classrooms and on teachers' beliefs about the use of the L1. The use of metalanguage and related research into teachers' use of metalanguage, studies on corrective feedback, and teacher cognitions about language teaching are also reviewed. Given the centrality of the learner in the classroom in the field of language teaching and learning, Ellis rightly points out the relative scarcity of research into the learner's contribution to classroom discourse. Quoting Ortega and Iberri-Shea (2005, p. 27), who point out that 'Many questions concerning second language learning are fundamentally
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2013
As Rod Ellis states in his Preface, Craig Chaudron's book, Second Language Classroom: Research on Teaching and Learning, published in 1988, reviewed systematically the L2 classroom research up to that time. Although Chaudron updated the research community on the development of classroom research in 2001 with an article published in The Modern Language Journal, the space given to it and the relatively brief nature of the review make it necessary that a new volume presenting a comprehensive survey and critical appraisal of the research into L2 learning and teaching in classrooms be available. Ellis' new book, Language Teaching Research and Language Pedagogy (LTRALP), serves this purpose perfectly well. Anyway, it has been over 20 years since the publication of Chaudron's 1988 book, and the rapid development of the field warrants the publication of such a comprehensive book. LTRALP includes 11 main chapters in addition to a concise Preface, where Ellis explains his own theorising of language teaching. He presents two views, one is what he refers to as the 'external view' and the other as the 'internal view'. The former regards language teaching in terms of methods, approaches, materials and techniques, and the latter in terms of it being a 'process'. He posits that such a distinction is important and that the studies he has reviewed in the book can be categorised according to this typology. It is also in his Preface that Ellis highlights the two principal research paradigms: the normative paradigm, which tends to test hypotheses and the interpretive paradigm, which 'seeks to describe and understand some aspect of teaching by identifying key variables and examining how they interrelate' (p. x). Chapter 1, 'Introduction: Developments in Language Teaching Research', as the title indicates, gives the reader a panoramic view of all the topics to be considered in the book. What needs to be stressed is that Ellis has successfully defined what language teaching research is and stated his rationale for electing to focus on it in his book. Ellis begins Chapter 2, 'Methods for Researching the Second Language Classroom', with a discussion of formal and practitioner research before examining the main research traditions in relation to their theoretical underpinnings, research design, data collection and processing methods. The focus of Chapter 3, 'Comparative Method Studies', presents studies that compare different teaching methods. Historically, such studies were once popular, as the ambition of doing so was to find the best methods for effectively teaching foreign language skills. Evidently, such studies have lost their popularity and attracted much criticism because of their insensitivity to the fact that different contexts require different methods and the search for the 'best method' has proven to be futile (Kumaravadivelu, 2006). Chapter 4, 'Second Language Classroom Discourse', examines the oral discourse in L2 classrooms and its nature in the lesson process. Ellis argues that "'teaching' is discourse. observation of the discourse that arises in actual classrooms is fundamental to developing an understanding of language teaching and its relationship to learning" (p. 75). Accordingly, discourse processes become the focus of this chapter. Descriptive research discussed in this chapter range from interaction analysis to classroom discourse analysis, types of language use, conversation analysis and the L2 classroom, and scaffolding in sociocultural theory. Chapters 5 and 6 place their foci on the teacher and the learner respectively. As can be easily imagined, the teacher is the main person that contributes to classroom discourse in most cases. Therefore, studies of teacher talk are the mainstay of a chapter with the teacher as the central figure. Various research studies on teacher talk (including teacher talk and L2 acquisition, teacher talk and teacher education) and teacher questions (including teacher questioning strategies and socially-oriented studies of teacher questions) are reviewed. There have been debates about the role of the learner's L1 in the L2 classroom, and such debates are also discussed in Chapter 5 in relation to various studies on the use of the L1 in L2 classrooms and on teachers' beliefs about the use of the L1. The use of metalanguage and related research into teachers' use of metalanguage, studies on corrective feedback, and teacher cognitions about language teaching are also reviewed. Given the centrality of the learner in the classroom in the field of language teaching and learning, Ellis rightly points out the relative scarcity of research into the learner's contribution to classroom discourse. Quoting Ortega and Iberri-Shea (2005, p. 27), who point out that 'Many questions concerning second language learning are fundamentally
The Cambridge Guide to Pedagogy and Practice in Second Language Teaching
As an educator and researcher, I am always on the lookout for useful titles which draw not only on current theory and research, but also on practical approaches for the classroom. In The Cambridge Guide to Pedagogy and Practice in Second Language Teaching, I have found a useful and comprehensive account of emerging issues and approaches in second language teaching.