Element contents
Series: Elements in Language Teaching
Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Developmental Education
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 May 2024
Summary
Sociocultural Theory (SCT), as formulated by Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky nearly a century ago, is distinct among traditions in the field of second language (L2) studies in its commitment to praxis. According to this view, theory and research provide the orienting basis for practice, which in turn serves as a testing ground for theory (Vygotsky, 1997). This Element offers a synthesis of foundational concepts and principles of SCT and an overview of two important areas of praxis in L2 education: Concept-Based Language Instruction, which organizes language curricula around linguistic concepts, and Dynamic Assessment, a framework that integrates teaching and diagnosing learner L2 abilities. Leading approaches to L2 teacher education informed by SCT are also discussed. Examples from studies with L2 teachers and learners showcase praxis in action, and emerging questions and directions are considered.
Keywords
- Type
- Element
- Information
- Series: Elements in Language TeachingOnline ISBN: 9781009189422Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 06 June 2024
References
Ableeva, R. (2010). Dynamic Assessment of Listening Comprehension in Second Language Learning. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Aljaafreh, A. (1992). Negative Feedback in Second Language Learning and the Zone of Proximal Development. Newark, DE: University of Delaware.Google Scholar
Andersen, R. W. (1991). Development sequences: The emergence of aspect marking in second language acquisition. In Huebner, T. & Ferguson, C. A., eds., Second Language Acquisition and Linguistic Theories. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 305–324.Google Scholar
Antón, M. (2003). Dynamic assessment of advanced foreign language learners. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Appel, G. & Lantolf, J. P. (1994). Speaking as mediation: A study of L1 and L2 text recall tasks. The Modern Language Journal, 78, 437–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arievitch, I. M. (2017). Beyond the Brain. An Agentive Activity Perspective on Mind, Development and Learning. Rotterdam: Sense.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, A. L. & Ferrara, R. A. (1985). Diagnosing zones of proximal development. In Wertsch, J. V., ed., Culture, Communication, and Cognition: Vygotskian Perspectives. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 273–305.Google Scholar
Budoff, M. (1968). Learning potential as a supplementary testing procedure. In Hellmuth, J., ed., Learning Disorders. Vol. 3. Seattle, WA: Special Child, pp. 295–343.Google Scholar
Budoff, M. & Friedman, M. (1964). “Learning potential” as an assessment approach to the adolescent mentally retarded. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 28, 434–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campione, J. C., Brown, A. L., Ferrera, R. A., & Bryant, N. R. (1984). The zone of proximal development: Implications for individual differences and learning. In Rogoff, B. & Wertsch, J. V., eds., Children’s Learning in the “Zone of Proximal Development.” San Francisco, CA: Jossy-Bass, pp. 77–92.Google Scholar
Danziger, K. (1997). Naming the Mind. How Psychology Found Its Language. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davin, K. J., Herazo, J. D., & Sagre, A. (2017). Learning to mediate: Teacher appropriation of dynamic assessment. Language Teaching Research, 21, 632–651.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, S., Ferholt, B., Clemson, H. G., Jansson, S.-M., & Marjanovic-Shane, A. (2015). Dramatic Interaction in Education: Vygotskian and Sociocultural Approaches to Drama, Education and Research. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. M. (2020). Skill acquisition theory. In VanPatten, B., Keating, G. D., & Wulff, S., eds., Theories in Second Language Acquisition: An Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, pp. 83–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewaele, J.-M. & Moxsom-Turnbull, P. (2020). Visual cues and perception of emotional intensity among L1 and LX users of English. International Journal of Multilingualism, 17 (4), 499–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Di Pietro, R. J. (1987). Strategic Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Egan, K. (2002). Getting It Wrong from The Beginning: Our Progressivist Inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. (2015). Implicit and explicit language learning: Their dynamic interface and complexity. In Rebuschat, P., ed., Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 3–23.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. & Wulff, S. (2020). Usage-based approaches to L2 acquisition. In VanPatten, B., Keating, G. D., & Wulff, S., eds., Theories in Second Language Acquisition. An Introduction. New York: Routledge, pp. 63–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engeness, I. (2021). P. Y. Gal’perin’s Development of Human Mental Activity: Lectures in Educational Psychology. Cham: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esteve, O. (2018). Concept-based instruction in teacher education programs in Spain as illustrated by the SCOBA-mediated Barcelona Formative Model. Helping teachers to become transformative practitioners. In Lantolf, J. P., Poehner, M. E., with Swain, M., eds., The Routledge Handbook of Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Development. New York: Routledge, pp. 487–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esteve, O., Fernandez, F., Martin Peris, E., & Ateinza, E. (2017). The integrated plurilingual approach. A didactic model providing guidance to Spanish schools for reconceptualizing the teaching of additional languages. Language and Sociocultural Theory, 4 (1), 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feuerstein, R., Rand, Y., & Hoffman, M. B. (1979). The Dynamic Assessment of Retarded Performers: The Learning Potential Assessment Device, Theory, Instruments, and Techniques. Baltimore, MD: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Feuerstein, R., Feuerstein, R. S., & Falik, L. H. (2015). Beyond Smarter: Mediated Learning and the Brain’s Capacity for Change. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Frawley, W. & Lantolf, J. P. (1985). L2 discourse. A Vygotskian perspective. Applied Linguistics, 6, 19–44.Google Scholar
Gal’perin, P. I. (1968). Towards research of the intellectual development of the child. International Journal of Psychology, 3 (4), 257–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gal’perin, P. Y. (1969). Stages in the development of mental acts. In Cole, M. & Maltzman, I., eds., A Handbook of Contemporary Soviet Psychology. New York: Basic Books, pp. 249–276.Google Scholar
Gattegno, C. (1972). Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools. The Silent Way. 2nd ed. New York: Educational Solutions.Google Scholar
Gibbs, R. W. Jr. (1994). The Poetics of Mind. Figurative Thought, Language, and Understanding. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Guthke, J. & Beckmann, J. F.. (2000). The learning test concept and its applications in practice. In Lidz, C. S. & Elliott, J. G., eds., Dynamic Assessment: Prevailing Models and Applications. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 17–69.Google Scholar
Haenen, J. (1996). Piotr Gal’perin. Psychologist in Vygotsky’s Footsteps. Commack, NY: Nova Science.Google Scholar
Holodynski, M. (2013). The internalization theory of emotions: A cultural historical approach to the development of emotions. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 20 (1), 4–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, E. L. (2001). The effects of adding dynamic assessment components to a computerized preschool language screening test. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 22 (4), 217–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, K. E. (2009). Second Language Teacher Education: A Sociocultural Perspective. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, K. E. & Golombek, P. (2016). Mindful L2 Teacher Education: A Sociocultural Perspective on Cultivating Teachers’ Professional Development. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, K. E. & Golombek, P. (2018). Making L2 teacher education matter through Vygotskian-inspired pedagogy and research. In Lantolf, J. P. & Poehner, M. E. with Swain, M., eds., Routledge Handbook of Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Development. New York: Routledge, pp. 443–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, K. E., Verity, D. P., & Childs, S. S. (2023). Praxis-Oriented Pedagogy for Novice L2 Teachers. Developing Teacher Reasoning. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Karpov, Y. V. (2003). Vygotsky’s doctrine of scientific concepts: Its role for contemporary education. In Kozulin, A., Ginids, B., Ageyev, V. S., & Miller, S. M., eds., Vygotsky’s Educational Theory in Cultural Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 65–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006). Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: Analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41 (2), 75–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kissling, E. (2023). Can concept-based language instruction change beginning learners’ aspectual development? Preliminary experimental evidence that novice learners taught boundedness are less influenced by lexical aspect. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Applied Literature: Dynamics and Advances, 11(2) doi.org/10.22049/jalda.2023.27948.1447.Google Scholar
Kissling, E. & Muthusamy, T. (2022). Exploring boundedness for concept-based instruction of aspect: Evidence from learning the Spanish preterite and imperfect. Modern Language Journal, 106 (2), 371–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kozulin, A. (2024). The Cultural Mind. The Sociocultural Theory of Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kozulin, A. & Garb, E. (2002). Dynamic assessment of EFL text comprehension. School Psychology International, 23 (1), 112–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Langacker, R. W. (2008). Cognitive Grammar. A Basic Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lantolf, J. P. & Poehner, M. E. (2004). Dynamic assessment of L2 development: Bringing the past into future. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1 (1), 49–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lantolf, J. P. & Beckett, T. (2009). Research timeline for sociocultural theory and second language acquisition. Language Teaching, 42, 459–475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lantolf, J. P. & Poehner, M. E. (2014). Sociocultural Theory and the Pedagogical Imperative in L2 Education: Vygotskian Praxis and the Research/Practice Divide. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lantolf, J. P. & Zhang, X. (2017). Sociocultural theory and concept-based instruction. In Loewen, S. & Sato, M., eds., The Routledge Handbook of Instructed Second Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge, pp. 146–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lantolf, J. P. & Esteve, O. (2019). Concept-based instruction for concept-based instruction: A model for language teacher education. In Sato, M. & Loewen, S., eds., Evidence-Based Second Language Pedagogy. A Collection of Instructed Second Language Acquisition Studies. New York: Routledge, pp. 27–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lantolf, J. P., Xi, J., & Minakova, L. (2021). Research timeline for sociocultural theory: Concept-based language instruction (C-BLI). Language Teaching, 54 (3), 327–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, H. (2012). Concept-Based Approach to Second Language Teaching and Learning: Cognitive Linguistics-Inspired Instruction of English Phrasal Verbs. Unpublished PhD Dissertation. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Leontjev, D. (2016). I Can Do It: The Impact of Computerised Adaptive Corrective Feedback on L2 English Learners. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Jyväskylä: The University of Jyväskylä.Google Scholar
Levitin, K. (1982). One Is Not Born a Personality. A Biographical History of Soviet Psychology, Including “The Best Path to Man.” Kettering: Erythrós Press.Google Scholar
Lichtman, K. & VanPatten, B. (2021). Was Krashen right? Forty years later. Foreign Language Annals, 54, 283–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lobman, C. & Lundquist, M. (2007). Unscripted Learning. Using Improv Activities across the K-8 Curriculum. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Long, M. H. (1997). Construct validity in SLA research: A response to Firth and Wagner. Modern Language Journal, 81 (3), 318–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lortie, D. (1975). Schoolteacher: A Sociological Study. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Luria, A. R. (1961). Study of the abnormal child. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry: A Journal of Human Behavior, 31, 1–16.Google ScholarPubMed
Luria, A. R. (1976). Cognitive Development: Its Cultural and Social Foundations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Nardo, A. (2021). Exploring a Vygotskian theory of education and its evolutionary foundations. Educational Theory, 71(3), 331–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Negueruela, E. (2003). A Sociocultural Approach to the Teaching-Learning of Second Languages: Systemic-Theoretical Instruction and L2 Development. Unpublished PhD Dissertation. . University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Paradis, M. (2009). Declarative and Procedural Determinants of Second Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pienemann, M. (1989). Is language teachable? Psycholinguistic experiments and hypotheses. Applied Linguistics, 10 (1), 52–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pienemann, M. (1998). Language Processing and Second Language Development. Processability Theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poehner, M. E. (2005). Dynamic Assessment of Oral Proficiency Among Advanced L2 Learners of French. Unpublished PhD dissertation. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Poehner, M. E. (2009). Group dynamic assessment: Mediation for the L2 classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 43 (3), 471–491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poehner, M. E. & Lantolf, J. P. (2013). Bringing the ZPD into the equation: Capturing L2 development during computerized dynamic assessment. Language Teaching Research, 17(3), 323–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poehner, M. E., & van Compernolle, R. A. (2020). Reconsidering time and process in L2 Dynamic Assessment. In Poehner, M. E. & Inbar-Lourie, O., eds., Toward a Reconceptualization of L2 Classroom Assessment: Praxis and Researcher-Teacher Partnership. Berlin: Springer, pp. 173–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poehner, M. E. & Wang, Z. (2021). Dynamic assessment and second language development. Language Teaching, 54, 472–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poehner, M. E., Infante, P., & Takamiya, Y. (2018). Mediation processes in support of learner L2 writing development: Individual, peer, and group contexts. Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 17 (1), 112–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qin, T. (2018). Computerized Dynamic Assessment of L2 Chinese Implicature Comprehension. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University.Google Scholar
Ratner, C. (1990). Vygotsky’s Sociohistorical Psychology and Its Contemporary Applications. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J. & Grigorenko, E. L. (2002). Dynamic Testing: The Nature and Measurement of Learning Potential. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sun, Z., Peng, X., & Wang, J. (2023). Dynamic Assessment of the learning potential of Chinese as a second language. Language Assessment Quarterly, 20 (1), 127–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swain, M. (2006). Languaging, agency and collaboration in advanced language proficiency. In Byrnes, H., ed., Advanced Language Learning: The Contribution of Halliday and Vygotsky, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, pp. 95–108.Google Scholar
Swain, M., Kinnear, P., & Steinman, L. (2015). Sociocultural Theory in Second Language Education. An Introduction Through Narratives. 2nd ed. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ullman, M. T. (2020). The declarative/procedural model: A neurobiologically motivated theory of first and second language. In VanPatten, B., Keating, G. D., & Wulff, S., eds., Theories in Second Language Acquisition. An Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, pp. 128–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Compernolle, R. A. (2012). Developing Sociopragmatic Capacity in a Second Language through Concept-Based Instruction. Unpublished PhD Dissertation. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
van Compernolle, R. A. (2014). Sociocultural Theory and L2 Instructional Pragmatics. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Compernolle, R. A. & Henery, A. (2015). Learning to do concept-based pragmatics instruction: Teacher development and L2 pedagogical content knowledge. Language Teaching Research, 19 (3): 351–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Aalsvoort, G. M. & Lidz, C. S. (2002). Reciprocity in dynamic assessment in classrooms: Taking contextual influences on individual learning into account. In Van der Aalsvoort, G. M., Resing, W. C. M., & Ruijssenaars, A. J. J. M., eds., Learning Potential Assessment and Cognitive Training 7. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 111–144.Google Scholar
VanPatten, B. & Smith, M. (2022). Explicit and Implicit Learning in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veresov, N. (2010). Introducing cultural historical theory: Main concepts and principles of genetic research methodology. Cultural-Historical Psychology, 4, 83–90.Google Scholar
Verspoor, M. & Schmid, H-J. (2024). What counts as usage in dynamic usage-based models. In McManus, K., ed., Usage in Second Language Acquisition: Critical Reflections for Theory and Research. New York: Routledge, pp. 87–106.Google Scholar
Vocate, D. R. (1994). Self-talk and inner speech: Understanding the uniquely human aspects of intrapersonal communication. In Vocate, D. R., ed., Intrapersonal Communication. Different Voices, Different Minds. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 3–32.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society. The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky. Volume 1. Problems of General Psychology, Including the Volume Thinking and Speech. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S. (1993). The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky. Volume 2. The Fundamentals of Defectology. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S. (1994). The problem of the environment. In van der Veer, R. & Valsiner, J., The Vygotsky Reader. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 338–354.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S. (1997b). The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky. Volume 3. Problems of the Theory and History of Psychology. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S. (1997c). The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky. Volume 4. The History of the Development of Higher Mental Functions. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S. (1998). The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky. Volume 5. Child Psychology. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S. (2004). Imagination and creativity in childhood. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 42 (1), 7–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S. (2011). The dynamics of the schoolchild’s mental development in relation to teaching and learning. Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 10, 198–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wadsworth, B. J. (1984). Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive and Affective Development. 3rd ed. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Wertsch, J. V. (2007). Mediation. In Daniels, H., Cole, M., & Wertsch, J. V., eds., The Cambridge Companion to Vygotsky. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 178–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, L., Abraham, L. B., & Negueruela-Azarola, E. (2013). Using concept-based instruction in the L2 classroom: Perspectives from current and future language teachers. Language Teaching Research, 17, 363–381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yáñez-Prieto, M.-del-C. (2014). Sense and subjectivity: Teaching literature from a sociocultural perspective. Language and Sociocultural Theory, 1 (2), 179–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, X. (2020). Testing the topic hypothesis: A concept-based teaching study. Language and Sociocultural Theory, 7 (2), 87–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, X. & Lantolf, J. P. (2015). Natural or artificial: Is the route of second language development teachable? Language Learning, 65 (1), 152–180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, Y. (2023). Promoting young EFL learners’ listening potential: A model of mediation in the framework of dynamic assessment. The Modern Language Journal, 107 (S1), 113–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
This Element is free online from 23rd May 2024 - 6th June 2024