Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning: Introduction to the Special Issue Author(s): James P.

Lantolf Source: The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 78, No. 4 (Winter, 1994), pp. 418-420 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/328580 . Accessed: 09/05/2013 09:29
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to the Special Issue Introduction

JAMES P. LANTOLF and Linguistics ofModern Languages Department Cornell University Ithaca,NY 14853 Email:[email protected]

Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning

THE PAPERS INCLUDED IN THIS ISSUE REport the findingsof studies on various aspects of second language learning informedby the sociocultural theoryof mind developed by the Lev S. and psycholinguist Russian psychologist and his colleagues. ResearchersworkVygotsky ing on educational problems in general, and those of us working on questions relating to second language learning, in particular,have found Vygotsky'sideas challenging, at times and informaperplexing,but alwaysstimulating tive. Although the details of sociocultural theoryare fleshed out in the six papers thatfollow, it is importantto underscore from the outset fundamentaltheoreticalinsight thatVygotsky's is that higher formsof human mental activity mediated and everywhere, are always, bysymbolic means. Vygotskydeveloped his proposals on symbolic mediationbased on analogywiththe processes throughwhich humans mediate theirinteractionwiththe world of objects throughthe use of physicaltools. Mediation, whetherphysical or symbolic,is understood to be the introduction of an auxiliary device into an activity that then links humans to the world of objects or to theworldof mentalbehavior. Justas physical tools (e.g., hammers, bulldozers,computers, etc.) allow humans to organize and alter their reasoned thatsymbolic world,Vygotsky physical tools empowerhumans to organize and control such mental processes as voluntaryattention, planning and evalualogical problem-solving,
TheModern 78, iv (1994) Language Journal,

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?1994 TheModern Language Journal

and intentionallearntion, voluntarymemory, ing. Included among symbolic tools are mnemonic devices,algebraic symbols, diagramsand Almost and, language. importantly, graphs, though physicaland symbolictools are collabconstructedby the membersof a culoratively ture over time, a crucial differencebetween these two forms of mediation resides in their relative directionality. The former are outwhile the latter wardlydirected toward objects, directed towardsubjects. are inwardly Thus, symbolic tools are the means through which humans are able to organize and maintaincontrol over the self and its mental,and even physical, activity. mental development According to Vygotsky, arises as a consequence of the interaction of twodistinctprocesses,one withbiological roots and the otherwithsocioculturalorigins.These two developmentallines merge during the onand togenesisof children.Research byVygotsky otherswas able to demonstratethat once children begin to integrate symbols as auxiliary means of mediation into their physical and takes on a markedly thisactivity mental activity, and culturally influenced, character. different, To illustratethe differencebetween mediated we can and nonmediated mental functioning, consider the simple example of someone trying to rememberwhich itemsto purchase in a grocery store. The person can attemptto remember the items throughrepeated rehearsal until the items are memorized or can rememberthe themdown on a piece of paper. itemsbywriting entail the use of language cases both Although as a mediational tool, in the firstinstance, the person establishes a more direct link between the items and theirmemorytrace; while in the

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P Lantolf James second case, the person creates an even more powerful auxiliary link by generating a shopping list,which greatlyeases the mental strain of trying to imprint the items into one's memory. Symbolicallymediated mental functionsare appropriated by children as theycarryout specific culturallydefined tasks under the guidance (i.e., mediation) of otherindividuals(e.g., parents,older siblings,teachers,etc.), who inifor cartiallyassume most of the responsibility ryingout the tasks.Over time,childrenassume increased responsibility for organizing and dein tasks and, ploying theirown mental activity under normal circumstances,ultimately attain the ability to function independently of the other's guidance. Thus, at the outset of ontogenesis, conscious mental activityis distributed and jointly constructedin the dialogic interactions that arise between children and of the culture. As children parrepresentatives ticipate in these collaborativeinteractions, they the patternsof planappropriateforthemselves ning, attending, thinking,remembering, etc. that the culture through its representatives values. Hence, what is at one point sociallymediated mental processing evolves into selfmediated processing. Given thatcollaborativementalactivity is carried out primarily through linguistic means (initiallyspeaking but later writing,in literate cultures, at least), Vygotskyargued that selfcontrolled cognitivefunctioning would also be mediated and would carry traces linguistically of its social beginnings.This self-controlled linmediation is referred to as inner or guistic priBecause of the developmental relavate,speech. tionshipbetween social and inner speech, even when we appear to be acting alone in "splendid isolation," as forexample, when we take testsin the educational setting,we are not alone. We externalizeon paper, assumingit is a paper and pencil test, the results of our having participated in distributedactivitymediated by dialogue withother individualsin our immediate, and even distant,past. Mediation is the common thematic thread which runs throughthe six papers included in this issue. Although the papers are bound togetherbythisfundamentalsocioculturalprinciple, each considers its implicationsfor second language learningand performancefroma different,though related, perspective.Hence, the reader of this special issue will encounter the of sociocultural importantcorollarystatements whichemanate fromits core principleof theory

419 mediated cognition. The firstpalinguistically of the per, by McCafferty, presents a synthesis empirical research thathas been carried out to date on the functionof private speech in second language learning and performance. McCaffertyconsiders the divergent claims that have been made regardingthe regulatory function of verbal aspect in the privatespeech of L2 learners.He discusses how speaker proficiency and culturalbackgroundmayinfluence the frequency of private speech production and addresses what he sees as productiveareas of future research, including the relationship between L2 private speech and nonverbal gestures and comparativeresearch on the private speech of tutoredand nontutoredL2 learners. The second paper, byAppel and Lantolf,presents the resultsof a comparativestudyof the self-mediation of LI and advanced L2 speakers of Englishgiventhe taskof recallinga narrative and an expository text. The authors propose thatanydifferences betweennativeand non-native speakers of a language are not categorical but are verymuch taskdependent.They further argue that recall tasks as employed in reading research and pedagogical practices do not necessarilyelicit the kind of performancefromL2 speakers thatwe have assumed. They interpret the evidence presented to show that speakers often speak, not to remember the contentsof what theyhave read but to constructmeaning from what they have read. Recall tasks, then, assess reading comprehenmaynot consistently sion but may,instead, enhance comprehension itself, the very process they are designed to assess. In the followingpaper based on analysis of the portfoliosof classroom learners of French, Donato and McCormick argue that learning can neitherbe directly strategies taughtnor are theya functionof cognitivestyleor learnerperbut arise as a by-product of the mediasonality, tional processes at workin the foreignlanguage classroom culture. Significantly, they contend thatlearningstrategies are closelylinked to the formationof clear and specific goals for learning. To understandthe significanceof thisfinding, the authorssituatetheiranalysiswithinthe important sociocultural notion of Activity Theory. The next two papers explore the effectsof mediation on L2 learning as it is jointly constructed in the zone of proximal development (ZPD)-an interpersonalconfigurationwhich brings into contact the individual's past learning and futuredevelopment.Aljaafrehand Lan-

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420 tolf present evidence from adult ESL learners that shows how correctivefeedback, as negotiated between expert and novice in the ZPD, leads to L2 learning.The authorsmaintain that for correctivefeedback to be effective it must be sensitiveto the individuallearner'sZPD. Furthermore,theypropose thatL2 developmentis not manifestedsolely in the learner's abilityto but also in the produce the correctL2 patterns, and of co-constructed frequency quality help by the expert and the novice. From a slightly different de Guerperspective, rero and Villamil,in an extensivestudyof adult of peer mediaESL writers, examine the effects tion in the ZPD on the revision process. Although their findingssupport the general assumption that collaborative revision between peers is a positivemove thatshould be fostered in L2 writing, intheycaution thatasymmetrical teractions,in which one of the members of a of givendyad is able to controlthe performance the other member,may be more conducive to in which interactions, learningthan symmetrical both membersof a dyad compete forcontrol. Platt and Brooks, in the final paper, underof such pivotal termsas take a reinterpretation and comprehensible inacquisition richenvironments put. Based on their analysis of interactions among learnersin a vocational ESL class as well

TheModern 78 (1994) Language Journal as in a Swahili as a foreignlanguage class, they suggestthatmuch of whatis relevantto the language learning process is often overlooked in traditionalacquisition studies informedby the beassumptions of information processing theory, cause such studies fail to take full account of what learners are actuallyattemptingto do as theyco-constructtheir own learning environments. The contributorsto this special issue share the hope that the papers included here will serve as a stimulusfor continued research on the implicationsof socioculturaltheoryforsecond language learning. We are aware that the kind of researchpresentedin thisissue does not reflectthe prevailing viewwithinour field. Nevclear in ertheless,as it is becoming increasingly the education and developmental literatures, we are convinced that this line of research has significantpotential for exploring aspects of the second language learning process that would otherwise remain hidden. It is in this authorsand I would spiritthatthe participating like to express our sincere gratitudeto the editor of TheModern Sally Sieloff Language Journal, as to the as well Magnan, journal's editorial forall of board and to the anonymousreviewers their effortsand support in encouraging the continuationof our enterprise.

Forthcomingin The Modern LanguageJournal

Lee Wilberschied and Jean-Louis P. Dassier. "Increasing the Number of MinorityFL Educators: Local Action to Meet a National Imperative" Razika Sanaoui. "AdultLearners' Approaches to Learning Vocabularyin Second Languages" Akiko Okamura. "Teachers' and Nonteachers' Perception of Elementary Learners' Spoken Japanese" Use During Performanceon Three AuthenticListeningCompreAnita Vogely."Perceived Strategy hension Tasks" Julia E.B. Hanley,Carol A. Herron, and StevenP. Cole. "Using Video as an Advance Organizer to a WrittenPassage in the FLES Classroom" Madeline E. Ehrman and Rebecca L. Oxford. "Cognition Plus: Correlates of Language Learning Success" Second Language Learning?A Reply to Sparks and Peter D. MacIntyre."How Does AnxietyAffect Ganschow" (response article)

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