Language and Sociocultural Theory
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST
<div id="sidebar"> <div id="rightSidebar"> <div id="sidebarUser" class="block"><em>Language and Sociocultural Theory</em> is an international journal devoted to the study of language from the perspective of Vygotskian sociocultural theory. Articles may draw upon research in the following fields of study: linguistics and applied linguistics, psychology and cognitive science, anthropology, cultural studies, and education. <a href="https://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/about">Read more about the journal.</a></div> </div> </div> <div id="main"> </div>
Equinox Publishing Ltd.
en
Language and Sociocultural Theory
2051-9699
<p>© Equinox Publishing Ltd.</p> <p>For information regarding our Open Access policy, <a title="Open access policy." href="Full%20details of our conditions related to copyright can be found by clicking here.">click here</a>.</p>
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‘Casual Friday’
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/20951
<p>There is increasing research literature on instructional pragmatics, including work on Japanese, but little research on naturally occurring classroom innovations. This article presents a study of an instructional innovation called Casual Friday, where the professor of a university multi-section advanced-beginning (2nd year) Japanese language course designated certain lessons as spaces for graduate student teaching assistants (TAs) to involve students in using Japanese casual register. Analysis of interviews with instructional staff, student survey results, and classroom and meeting observations, shows how Casual Friday, an organizational transformation of the course, transformed activity systems (Engeström, 1987, 1999, 2003). Transformed TA roles created a pedagogical safe house (Canagarajah, 2004; Pomerantz and Bell, 2011; Pratt, 1991) on Casual Fridays by providing TAs instructional autonomy, stronger horizontal connections with students, and temporary freedom from the restraints of the course-as-usual. The re-organization thus promoted TA innovation, as they creatively used language, designed materials, taught dialect, introduced Japanese youth culture, etc. Triangulation with student surveys confirms findings of the interviews and observations, while also showing that students reported languaculture learning. Results suggest the benefits of carving out spaces within normally textbook-and-grammar-focused courses for TAs to have free rein in presenting and involving students with languaculture.</p>
Articles
Japanese-as-a-second-language (JSL)
activity theory
sociocultural theory
classroom research
pedagogical safehouse
languaculture
teacher development
teacher autonomy
interlanguage pragmatics
register
organizational change
Second language acquisition
sociocultural theory
Japanese
Applied linguistics
Amy Snyder Ohta
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-04-28
2023-04-28
21
49
10.1558/lst.20951
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Development of a Computerized Dynamic Assessment Program for Second Language Grammar Instruction and Assessment
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/21006
<p>A computerized dynamic assessment (CDA) program was created to help instructors develop student understanding of second language grammatical features and as a diagnostic and assessment tool. The program (called CDAG) approximates an interactionist approach to dynamic assessment, utilizing hints/prompts calibrated to the student’s answer choice. CDAG allows the instructor to customize language, question type, linguistic features to be assessed, answer choices (including distractors), and mediational prompts: it can thus assess a variety of grammatical structures. To evaluate the effectiveness of CDAG vis-à-vis static assessment, control and CDA groups were compared in terms of mediated and unmediated individual and group scores. The use of CDAG aided in the micro and macrogenetic development of Spanish as a foreign language students’ ability to conjugate Spanish verbs in the future tense. The information CDAG provides about the specific root causes for students’ incorrect answers makes it useful as a diagnostic and assessment tool.</p>
Articles
computerized dynamic assessment
interactionist mediation
micro and macrogenetic development
learning potential score
Spanish as a foreign language
English as a second language
Dynamic assessment
Computerized dynamic assessment
Applied linguistics
Tina S. Randall
Kimberly Urbanski
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-04-28
2023-04-28
50
81
10.1558/lst.21006
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Mediation and Learner Reciprocity
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/22181
<p>The Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) is an effective tool for assessing language learners’ speaking ability. While it is commonly employed in institutional contexts, the OPI has been criticized for not granting due attention to the assistance that the tester offers to the learner. Dynamic Assessment (DA), rooted in Vygotsky’s theory of the development of human higher psychological functions, believes the use of different forms of mediation, when tailored to learners’ needs, enables learners to perform beyond their current level, thus providing insights into their emerging abilities. This study explores the use of DA within the OPI framework. Through a microgenetic analysis of the mediation-learner interactions observed in a series of mock OPI sessions conducted in Mandarin Chinese, we identified the mediation and reciprocity typological moves that are significant to learner development. The analysis showed DA’s potential for not only pinpointing areas of difficulty but also identifying the learner’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and supporting their microgenetic progress. The findings indicate that DA would add an important, yet long neglected, dimension to the OPI framework.</p>
Articles
dynamic assessment
oral proficiency interview
mediation
learner reciprocity
microgenesis
zone of proximal development
dynamic assessment; oral proficiency interview
second language acquisition
Zhaoyu Wang
Jie Zhang
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-04-28
2023-04-28
82
105
10.1558/lst.22181
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Fleer, M., González Rey, F., and Jones, P. E. (eds.). (2020). Cultural Historical and Critical Psychology: Common Ground, Divergences, and Future Pathways
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/24123
<p>Fleer, M., González Rey, F., and Jones, P. E. (eds.). (2020). <em>Cultural Historical and Critical Psychology: Common Ground, Divergences, and Future Pathways</em>. Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 191 pp. $169.99 (Hard Cover) ISBN: 978-981-15-2208-6; $169.99 (Soft Cover) ISBN: 978-981-15-2211-6</p>
Book Reviews
cultural psychology
critical psychology
cultural historical theory
Sociocultural Theory
Cultural Psychology
Loretta Fernández
Joseph Christensen
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-04-28
2023-04-28
106
111
10.1558/lst.24123
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Better Together
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/24467
<p>This conceptual article argues for the importance of placing creativity at the center of second language (L2) learning and takes music as an illustration of the potential benefits to teachers and learners. The value of music as a resource for L2 education derives from our primary experiences of music as both physical and emotional, thus creating embodied understandings of patterns, rhythms, and words that engage us cognitively and emotionally. Throughout human history, the combination of melody, rhythm, tempo, and structure of each culture’s music has served as a memory tool, a celebration of shared meaning, a space for culturally determined emotional arousal, and a mediator of cooperative physical activity. Following Kozulin’s (1998) analysis of psychological tools as cultural constructions (e.g., numbers, graphic organizers, maps, language, etc.) that allow us to organize our mental functions, music is identified as a unique psychological tool in that it prioritizes and regulates emotive factors along with cognitive factors of development. In this way, music offers possibilities for creating Zones of Proximal Development (ZPD) through activity that advances cognitive goals, such as L2 teaching and learning, and that simultaneously provokes emotional responses and engagement. The paper discusses key features of Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory, including psychological tools (Kozulin, 1998; Lantolf and Thorne, 2006), the ZPD (Vygotsky, 1978), and perezhivanie (Mok, 2015; Vygotsky, 1934/1998), considering how together they lead to a way of approaching L2 teaching and learning that favors creativity and playfulness over grammar rules and that can be advanced through the integration of music into classroom activity.</p>
Articles
perezhivanie
zone of proximal development
music
imagination
creativity
play
teaching and learning
Linguistics
Music
Linguistics
Music
Eleanor Leggett Sweeney†
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-04-28
2023-04-28
1
20
10.1558/lst.24467
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Contingency and Multimodal Communication in the Learning Environment
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/20987
<p>From a Vygotskian (1997) theoretical perspective, teachers and learners, of necessity, need to listen and respond to one another in a meaningful way, which, significantly, entails some form of role reversal (i.e., student as teacher and teacher as student). van Lier (1996) furthered this approach in relation to second language (L2) classroom environments, emphasizing the need for conversational symmetry between students and teacher so that participation by all includes contributing individual and collective thoughts and experiences in relation to the content of a lesson, or ‘contingent interaction’, which van Lier also based on a similar approach: Instructional Conversation. Furthermore, van Lier linked his perspective to Vygotsky’s (1987) central premise that language (signs) constitutes the primary mediational tool with which we navigate ourselves and the world, which includes not only meaning (znachenie) but sense (smysl), and as applied in the case of the current study to L2 immigrant children growing up in a multilingual society. Moreover, although Vygotsky had recognized the role of proto-gesture (e.g., an infant reaching for an object that is then brought by an adult) as perhaps the earliest form of semiotic mediation, he did not concentrate on nonverbal forms of mediation, nor did van Lier. However, the current research hopes to demonstrate that speech together with nonverbal forms of communication, especially in combination (multimodal ensembles) can constitute an important aspect of creating L2 contingent interaction, and following van Lier, as connected to the Zone of Proximal Development. Additionally, emotional development (Perezhivanie) as tied to contingency and as an aspect of cooperative social relations is given treatment. Data for the study come from a second-grade classroom of L2 learners of English engaged in a read-aloud lesson directed towards L2 language and literacy development. </p>
Articles
Contingent Interaction
Multimodal Ensembles
Perezhivanie
Instructional Conversation
Co-speech Gesture
Cultural-Historical Theory
Zone of Proximal Development
Cooperative Social Relations
Second Language
English Learners
Multimodal pedagogy
Applied Linguistics
Educational Linguistics
Early Childhood Education
Steven G McCafferty
Alessandro Rosborough
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-01-10
2023-01-10
175
201
10.1558/lst.20987
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Consciousness and Learning
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/22372
<p>This study presents the results of a research project on the interrelation between an instructional design and the application of cultural-historical-activity-theory (CHAT) on a course on International Culture with higher education students. Over a nine-week course, the researcher collected data on some of the students’ course projects and their reflections from a focus group activity. The findings suggest that the interrelation between the course instructional design and CHAT allowed students to gain consciousness of their class work and their own learning as they demonstrated greater command of the course contents as the course progressed. Additionally, from the perspective of CHAT, students’ agency was enhanced by their concept internalization and awareness of the course objectives and learning goals. Finally, self-regulation in teaching and learning emerged as the research stakeholders committed themselves to working towards the configuration of a learning community with a clear sense of rules and further division of labor.</p>
Articles
cultural historical activity theory
instructional design
consciousness
internalization
self-regulation
teaching and learning
intercultural communication
Héctor Manuel Serna Dimas
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-01-10
2023-01-10
123
146
10.1558/lst.22372
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Do Students have Agency?
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/23366
<p>Much research exploring the use of videos to support language learning positions videos as tools and learners as passively engaged viewers. This study reveals that when encouraged to explore authentic Chinese videos, L2 learners actively took control of their language learning based on their personal interests. The complexity of video learning calls for deeper exploration into learners’ experiences. Using socio-cultural theory perspectives of self-, other-, and social-mediation and internalization, this article depicts heritage and non-heritage university-level Chinese language learners’ agency during informal video learning. This two-year qualitative study used semi-structured interviews, stimulus recall, participant observation, and document collection. Analysis revealed these lived experiences of participants’ agentic video learning; Learners in our study demonstrated variety in terms of social support and cultural understanding helping or hindering how videos mediated their L2 learning. Teachers should therefore design video pedagogy that considers individual students’ social worlds and purposes for L2 learning.</p>
Articles
Sociocultural Theory
Video Learning
Qualitative
Mediation
Agency
Sociocultural Theory
Video Learning
Qualitative
Mediation
Agency
Education
Qualitative Research
Chinese L2
CFL
Video Learning
Online Education
Ting Huang
Jayne C Lammers
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-01-10
2023-01-10
147
174
10.1558/lst.23366
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Critical Literature Review on Teaching Chinese as a World Language in the Context of Globalization
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/21178
<p>Using perspectives on language and language learning in Second Language Acquisition (SLA), including the traditional cognitive orientation, sociocultural theory orientation, and critical theoretical orientation as theoretical frameworks, this study critically analyzes 78 papers published from 2014 to 2020 in Chinese as a Second Language—The Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA (CSL), a leading journal that is devoted exclusively to the study of Chinese language, culture, and pedagogy. This study investigates how the teaching and learning of Chinese language and culture has been conceptualized and enacted in the field of SLA and explores factors that contributed to frustration, dissatisfaction, or criticisms in this field (e.g., Lantolf and Genung, 2002; Li and Duff, 2008, 2018; Thorne, 2005). Additionally, this study raises awareness of the value of sociocultural and critical perspectives on language teaching and learning (e.g., Douglas Fir Group, 2016; Fairclough, 1992; Halliday and Hasan, 1985; New London Group, 1996; Vygotsky, 1978), suggesting more critical and sociocultural-oriented research to support learning Chinese as a world language in the context of globalization.</p>
Articles
teaching Chinese as a world language
cognitive
disciplinary literacy
sociocultural
critical
Chinese as a second/foreign language
Teaching Chinese as a World Language
Junling Zhu
Copyright (c) 2023 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-01-27
2023-01-27
202
248
10.1558/lst.21178
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Teaching the Japanese Aspectual form Teiru using Concept-Based Language Instruction (C-BLI) in an Intact Beginning-Level Classroom
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/18855
<p>The Japanese aspectual form teiru marks ‘the durative phase of a situation’ (Shirai, 2000: 333) and has four distinct meanings, progressive, resultative, perfect, and habitual. Because of the complex concepts and the polysemous nature of the structure, even advanced learners’ understanding and ability to interpret and produce appropriate teiru forms is at times fragmented and incomplete (e.g., Nishi, 2018; Shirai and Kurono, 1998; Shibata, 1999; Sugaya, 2002). This paper considers how Concept-Based Language Instruction (C-BLI) can help L2 beginning learners of Japanese, who were introduced to teiru for the first time, develop understanding of the target concept. C-BLI teaches categories of meaning and how they are connected to forms through the materialization and transformation of conceptual understandings (García, 2018; Lantolf et al., 2020). The instruction was conducted in a college-level intact first-year Japanese class for six weeks. This paper presents findings that illustrate the development of the entire class, focusing on the transformation in two focal students’ understanding and interpretations of the teiru form.</p>
Articles
Japanese-as-a-foreign-language (JFL)
concept-based language instruction (C-BLI)
teiru form
aspectual marker
beginning-level learners
Concept-based language instruction
novice level
Japanese
Rie Tsujihara
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2022-07-20
2022-07-20
91
121
10.1558/lst.18855
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A Classroom Application of Concept-Based Language Instruction (C-BLI)
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/21349
<p>This study reports on an investigation of the potential of Concept Based Language Instruction (C-BLI) for enhancing EFL learners’ understanding of the concept of tense/aspect in English and their use of associated forms; past simple, past continuous, and present perfect. C-BLI was compared to a grammar presentation approach based on the Presentation-Practice-Production (PPP) model. Participants included 45 adult learners of L2 English from an Algerian University. Drawing on a pre-, post-, delayed post-test research design the study revealed the effectiveness of C-BLI over PPP for improving the participants’ understanding of the concept of tense/aspect as well as their use of the three target forms.</p>
Articles
Concept-Based Language Instruction
Sociocultural Theory
C-BLI
tense/aspect
Concept Based Instruction
Applied Linguistics
TEFL
Maroua Benhamlaoui
Gabriela Adela Gánem-Gutiérrez
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2022-07-20
2022-07-20
1
33
10.1558/lst.21349
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Escaping the ‘Mimicking Circle’ in the Teaching Practicum
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/21966
<p>Grounded in Vygotskian sociocultural theory, the current article examines imitation as a leading activity of development in second language teacher education. The study is centered on a novice teacher in an MA TESL practicum experience who struggled to confront and resolve contradictions surrounding the articulation and enactment of a personally-satisfying teacher identity. Analysis of written reflections collected during the practicum and an in-depth interview conducted two years later revealed how the experiencing of drama arising from imitation, as refracted through the teacher’s perezhivanie and mediated by her mentor teacher, allowed for new understandings to emerge that supported the reframing of her teacher identity. The study concludes by suggesting that the confrontation and working over of dramatic moments supported by appropriate mediation are driving forces in teacher development, and that future research should investigate the experiencing of imitation and other leading activities of development through the lenses of perezhivanie and drama.</p>
Articles
Imitation
Perezhivanie
Second Language Teacher Education
Dramatic Events
Language Teacher Identiity
Second Language Teacher Education
Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory
Applied Linguistics
Education
Jacob Rieker
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2022-07-20
2022-07-20
69
90
10.1558/lst.21966
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Application of a SCOBA in Educational Praxis of L2 Written Argumentative Discourse
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/19037
<p>The purpose of this study was to examine if and the way in which a central argumentative discourse schema, as a cognitive tool, was appropriated by an English language learner. There has been little research on the development of L2 written argumentative discourse after a period of instruction and no study, to my knowledge, examining and detailing a systematic pedagogy for L2 learners. Grounded in both C-BLI (concept-based language instruction) and cognitive-process theory of writing (Bereiter and Scardamlaia, 1987), the present study details the appropriation of a central Toulmin (1958/2003) SCOBA, ‘schema for complete orientating basis of an action,’ (Gal’perin, 1989: 70) to mediate the cognitive processes leading to the production of texts that feature argumentative discourse features. The central Toulmin SCOBA and the text generation artifacts that were (co-) constructed during C-BLI will be examined and evidence will be provided for the effectiveness of the SCOBA. There will be a theoretical and empirical discussion of how the SCOBA and its related artifacts made the-rule-of thumb (Negueruela, 2003) and amorphous idea (Vygotsky, 1986) of thesis-support scientific and discrete. In order to guide the teaching-learning of written argumentative discourse, the cognitive processes of writing were conceptualized as mental actions (Gal’perin, 1989). The findings indicate that the learner’s cognitive processes of composing and the quality of his texts improved during and after instruction.</p>
Articles
Argument
discourse
Toulmin model
scientific concepts
concept based language instruction
SCOBA, L2 writing
cognitive process theory
mental action
P118-118.75 Language acquisition
Applied Linguistics, Education, Cognitive Psychology
Ali Hadidi
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-06-10
2021-06-10
68
96
10.1558/lst.19037
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Cognitive Linguistics, Sociocultural Theory and Content and Language Integrated Learning
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/17565
<p>This study applies cognitive linguistics (CL) to what Llinares et al. (2012) refers to as the three overlapping theoretical perspectives of content and language integrated learning (CLIL): (a) systemic functional linguistics, (b) Vygotskian-based sociocultural theory, and (c) dialogic inquiry. CL is complimentary to these theoretical perspectives because it views language development as conceptually motivated, meaning making, and usage-based (Langacker, 2000). Academic genre-based theory is another factor integrating content, language, and learning in CLIL. The specific meaning-meaning making under analysis is polysemous lexis that has both everyday and scientific (Vygotsky, 1978) or genre-specific meanings. Results of an empirical study indicate that using a CL-based approach within the zone of proximal development raises L2 learners' awareness of the metonymically motivated extension in meaning from everyday to genre-specific and significantly improves their comprehension of both meanings. This study concludes that by including CL as a conceptual link CLIL's pedagogical efficacy could be enhanced to further integrate content, language and learning: i.e., content and language conceptually integrated learning.</p>
Articles
conceptual
dialectical
everyday and genre-specific meanings
extension
motivated
polysemous
zone of proximal development
Language Education
Second-language Acquisition
Applied Linguistics
Cognitive Linguistics
Sociolinguistics
Education
Kent Hill
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2020-03-31
2020-03-31
133
157
10.1558/lst.35805
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Concept-based pragmatics instruction
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/17566
<p>This article presents parts of a replication study on the development of sociopragmatic capacity in beginner and intermediate university students' understanding of German singular address pronouns (du/Sie) through concept-based pragmatics instruction (CBPI). The CBPI intervention consisted of six group sessions with a pre-test - instruction - post-test design. While minor inter-level differences exist, all participants in the intervention exhibited enhanced sociopragmatic capacity. Participants demonstrated a shift from rule-of-thumb-based thinking to a focus on the meaning potential of utterances. By appropriating sociopragmatic concepts through CBPI, learners also gained an understanding of their own agency in the meaning design of address pronouns as well as the consequences of creating particular meanings.</p>
Articles
Sociocultural theory
CBPI
sociopragmatic capacity
second language pragmatics
German address pronouns
Second language acquisition
Applied Linguistics
Marie-Christin Kuepper
Anne Feryok
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2020-03-31
2020-03-31
158
183
10.1558/lst.37359
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Dynamic Assessment of IELTS Speaking
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/17567
<p>This paper presents the results of a qualitative case study that explored the potential of Dynamic Assessment (DA) to promote language development for students preparing for the International English Testing System (IELTS) speaking exam. Two high-intermediate learners of English from an Intensive English Program (IEP) in the U.S. participated in a three-week mediation program aimed at improving their use of tense-aspect markers in speaking. The transfer tasks conducted at the end of the program indicated that both participants gained better control over the use of past tense as well as perfect and progressive aspects. Their improved ability was demonstrated by the appropriate and independent use of the target forms and frequent attempts to self-correct. The study provides an example of how DA can be integrated into the test preparation context to promote learners’ language skills within their Zone of Proximal Development.</p>
Articles
Dynamic Assessment (DA)
Test Preparation
The International English Language Testing System (IELTS)
Systemic-Theoretical Instruction (STI)
Linguistics
Applied Linguistics
Valeriya Minakova
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2020-03-31
2020-03-31
184
212
10.1558/lst.36658
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SCT and Translanguaging-to-learn
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/17570
<p>This paper arose as a result of dialogue between researchers involved in a research project undertaken across England, Finland, France, and Romania. The research aimed to improve the educational experience for Roma children in school, who face sustained racism, discrimination and poverty, alongside reduced levels of access to and inequitable outcomes in education, by focusing on translanguaging as a transformative pedagogy. A close reading of the translanguaging literature revealed an oft assumed sociocultural understanding of learning. This paper is an exploration of the synergies and tensions between sociocultural theory as a learning theory and translanguaging as a theory of language in use and as a pedagogical approach in order to suggest a conceptual integration useful to both. In particular, we focus on the formation and form of Vygostkian inner speech, given its central role in higher mental activity such as learning. We examine movement between external speech in collaborative activity (and to oneself) to condensed inner speech in reimagining Guerrero's (2005) schema, by fusing translanguaging theory with Vygotskian notions of sense and meaning, and everyday and scientific concepts. We also consider translanguaging in joint activity in terms of neo-Vygotskian notions of cumulative and exploratory talk, arguing the usefulness of microgenetic analysis to reveal learning in action within joint activity. The paper therefore provides both a renewal of sociocultural understandings of language and learning, and conceptual tools for a more refined and robust articulation and analysis of the operation of translanguaging-to-learn. </p>
Articles
Translanguaging
sociocultural theory
inner speech
concept development
sense and meaning
LB5-3640
theory and practice of education
Education
applied linguistics
Heather Jane Smith
Leena Helavaara Robertson
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2020-03-31
2020-03-31
213
233
10.1558/lst.36955
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Language Program Reintegration After Study Abroad
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/18447
<p>This study explores the challenges a language instructor and classroom cohort members encountered in reintegrating study abroad returnees into a US domestic language program. The presence of study abroad returnees in the upper-level, domestic world language class is not exceptional, but language program reintegration remains a neglected topic. Among the few existing studies, reentry is either tangentially addressed or routinely understood through the returnee’s perspectives only. This article presents commentary from a world language instructor and students at home. Triangulated with classroom interactional recordings, the commentary characterizes discursive practices of study abroad returnees, the pedagogical shock they experienced, altered motives upon their return, and consequences of contact with these returnees. For the domestic instructor and classmates, reintegration emerges as sharp dichotomies–language classroom versus study abroad, teacher mediation versus real-life affordances, victimized students at home versus assertive returnees from abroad – which require pedagogical efforts and program support to mitigate.</p>
Articles
reentry
study abroad
classroom interaction
activity theory
P118-118.75; Language acquisition
Applied Linguistics
Education
Sheng-Hsun Lee
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-02-24
2021-02-24
60
86
10.1558/lst.38324
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Testing the Topic Hypothesis
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/18448
<p>The Topic Hypothesis (Pienemann, Di Biase, and Kawaguchi, 2005) predicts that L2 Chinese learners must go through three stages in the processing of L2 syntax (Stage 1: SVO; Stage 2: ADJ+SVO; Stage 3: OSV). The current study investigated whether properly organized instruction (Concept-based Instruction/Systemic Theoretical Instruction) could allow learners to process and produce two stages of grammar structures at the same time. Two beginning Chinese learners at Stage 1 received concept-based instruction that taught both OSV and ADJ+SVO structures in the same instructional session. Learners’ spontaneous speech indicate that both learners were capable to process and produce the two newly taught grammar structures after one instructional session. Post-test and delayed post-test show that both grammar structures were processable by the two learners. This study highlights the importance of instruction to shape cognitive development, which echoes Vygotsky’s (1986) notion that good instruction shall lead development.</p>
Articles
Ecolinguistics
Ecosophy
Discourse Analysis
SLA
Applied Linguistics
Xian Zhang
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-02-24
2021-02-24
87
122
10.1558/lst.37716
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A Concept-based Approach to the Instruction of the Chinese ba-construction
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/18449
<p>This study explores a concept-based instruction approach to promoting second language<br />development of the ba-construction, a known difficult area, by six collegelevel<br />English learners of Chinese in a two-month enrichment program. We developed<br />SCOBAs to explain the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic constraints of the baconstruction,<br />as well as its similarities and differences from the canonical Subject-<br />Verb-Object (SVO) and topicalization Object-Subject-Verb (OSV) word orders. The<br />participants’ productive use of the construction was assessed with two translations<br />(one on paper and one on the computer) and a cartoon description task following<br />a pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest format. Semi-structured interviews and the<br />participants’ verbalization data were also collected. By comparing the participants’<br />gain scores in relation to maximum possible scores, we found that the participants had made large gains throughout the study and retained much of the gain two weeks after the posttest. The microgenetic analyses of the participants’ production data showed improvement in the use of resultative verb compound, perfective marker–le, and the placement of directional particles. Finally, the verbalizations data indicated improvement in conceptual understanding of the ba-construction in terms of its scope, i.e., not just the physical placement of objects, but the accentuation of the results of the verbal action.</p>
Articles
concept-based language instruction
L2 development
sociocultural theory
ba-construction
ntelligent computer-assisted language learning
P118-118.75
Applied Linguistics
Haiyang Ai
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-02-24
2021-02-24
1
32
10.1558/lst.38768
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Applied Linguistics: Towards a New Integration? by Lars Sigfred Evensen (2013)
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/18450
<p>Applied Linguistics: Towards a New Integration? by Lars Sigfred Evensen (2013)</p>
Book Reviews
Applied Linguistics
Applied Linguistics
Applied Linguistics
Paolo Infante
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-02-24
2021-02-24
123
127
10.1558/lst.29587
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Interacting with SCOBAs in a Genre-based Approach to Italian as a FL
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/18451
<p>The purpose of this study is to examine how four adult beginners of Italian as a foreign language used the Schema of a Complete Basis of Action (SCOBA) based on Gal’perin’s pedagogical model during a course of six one-hour lessons. The SCOBA for this course was designed using the Systemic Functional Linguistic concepts of genre and register (field, tenor, and mode) for the typified situation of requesting goods and services during a service encounter in a restaurant. The study investigated students’ perceptions regarding the usefulness of SCOBAs for navigating this context of language use. Data from the students’ talk-in-interaction, interviews, and in class use of the SCOBA were analyzed. It was found that during the course of instruction students used the SCOBA according to their own communicative needs. For example, students used the SCOBA to orient themselves to contextual differences and language choices when register variations of the typified situation were introduced during classroom tasks. Finally, students were able to modify the SCOBA based on classroom instruction and their own insights into the typified situation.</p>
Articles
SCOBA
Italian as a foreign language
language learning tool
concept based instruction
P118-118.75 (language acquisition)
Education
Applied Linguistics
Qualitative Methods
Loretta Fernández
Richard Donato
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-02-24
2021-02-24
33
59
10.1558/lst.31180
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Li, L. (2020). Language Teacher Cognition: A Sociocultural Perspective
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/18452
<p>Li, L. (2020). Language Teacher Cognition: A Sociocultural Perspective. London: Palgrave/Macmillan. 369 pp. $85.68 (Hard Cover) ISBN 978-1-137-51133-1; $70.52 (e-book) ISBN 978-1-137-51134-8.</p>
Book Reviews
Language teacher cognition
P302-302.87; Discourse Analysis
Applied Linguistics; Psycholinguistics;Sociolinguistics; Education; Sociology
Karen E. Johnson
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-02-24
2021-02-24
224
229
10.1558/lst.42530
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‘Good Packaging Can be Misleading’
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/18833
<p>This article explores the applicability of a Peircean approach to the intersubjectivity of adult-child shared reading. Peirce’s semiosis serves as an analytical device for ways in which intersubjectivity transcends social interaction. By scrutinising instances of signification, i.e., the production and interpretation of signs constitutive of meaning making in the reading of a dual-language picturebook, the analysis reveals that the word-image complementarity renders an unfolding of intersubjective nuances in collaborative learning and intervention. This provides impetus for furthering Vygotsky’s sign mediation to embrace the notion of ‘intersemiosis’ as indexed to the interdependence of signifying codes in communication and representation, thus theorising how the signification of such codes elicits, invites, and empowers social interaction. Resonant with edusemiotics, increasingly a reference point in the philosophical foundation of learning and development, this article offers pedagogical implications for teachers.</p>
Articles
Peirce
Vygotsky
intersubjectivity
semiosis
iconicity
instances of signification
intersemiosis
linguistics
language, education and semiotics
James Ma
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-02-24
2021-02-24
176
201
10.1558/lst.18833
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The Differential Diagnostic Affordances of Interventionist and Interactionist Dynamic Assessment for L2 Argumentative Writing
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/18891
<p>Taking a case study approach, this study investigated the differential potentials of interactionist and interventionist Dynamic Assessment (DA) as diagnostic tools for the investigation of the difficulties faced by five Farsi-speaking learners of English argumentative writing. The study was conducted as part of an EFL academic writing course which aimed to improve learners’ ability to present strong arguments based on a revised version of Toulmin’s model (Qin, 2009). The focus of the study was on the process rather than the product of learning, with the aim of gaining insights into the diagnostic nature of DA to address persistent problems these learners had been shown to have, as confirmed by their instructor. Data were collected via individualized sessions between the mediator and the learners, randomly assigned into interactionist (n=3) and interventionist (n=2) DA groups. Qualitative analysis of transcribed interactions evidenced that interactionist DA could provide more nuanced understandings of the learners’ ZPDs in relation to the components of Toulmin’s model. Suggestions for further research have been made.</p>
Articles
Argumentative Writing
Dynamic assessment
Interactionist
Interventionist
LB1025-1050.75 Teaching (Principles and practice)
Applied Linguistics
Education
Hossein Nassaji
Ali Kushki
Mohammad Rahimi
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-02-24
2021-02-24
151
175
10.1558/lst.37685
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Promoting Conceptual Development of the Second Conditional in the Classroom Zone of Proximal Development
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/19300
<p>Drawing on Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory (SCT) and the theory of Instructional Conversation (IC), this study explores the development of L2 learners’ understanding of the second conditional during an IC in an online teaching video made by Macmillan Learning Teaching Education. During the IC, the instructor leads students toward a conceptual understanding of the second conditional by providing appropriate mediation sensitive to the class’s zone of proximal development (ZPD). The transcripts of the IC are analyzed with regard to the amount and type(s) of instructional mediation and the development opportunities created in this type of collaborative interaction. The analysis demonstrates the conceptual and linguistic development among the students in terms of the second conditional and shows the value of IC in creating a ZPD to promote L2 conceptual and linguistic development. In addition, this study raises the awareness of the value of online teaching videos in Sociocultural Theory and teacher education.</p>
Articles
sociocultural theory
zone of proximal development
second language teaching
instructional conversation
second conditional in English
LB5-3640; Theory and practice of education
Education
Applied Linguistics
Junling Zhu
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-02-24
2021-02-24
129
150
10.1558/lst.39031
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It’s Beyond Our Group ZPD
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/19302
<p>This study is a replication of Upper (1974). Our results are identical. We too have been unable to focus and accomplish our writing goals since the beginning of the global pandemic. We are certainly not alone, and we would like to recognize all of our colleagues who have also had to take on additional responsibilities at work and at home over the past year that have made writing nearly impossible.</p>
Articles
COVID-19
COVID-19
COVID-19
Rémi A. van Compernolle
Dmitri Leontjev
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-02-24
2021-02-24
223
223
10.1558/lst.19302
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Sociocultural Theory and L2 Learning
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/19401
<p>This article reviews SCT-informed empirical studies that are centered in East AsiaWe discuss how SCT helped scholars to gain a nuanced understanding of the nature of East Asian learners’ L2 learning (and teaching), and how East Asian scholars have made active contributions to SCT. Specifically, this review uncovers how SCT is used to explain (1) the multifaceted nature of pedagogical and curricular innovation in East Asia; (2) socioculturally organized learner psychology; (3) learning potential afforded by technology; and (4) L2 writing as a complex activity. Moreover, we consider how scholars in East Asia developed and extended SCT, with special attention drawn to the concept of ‘written languaging’. While it is worth noting that most of the research centered in East Asia used SCT as a theoretical lens to understand L2 learning, less has been done on how to employ specific principles and concepts of SCT to organize instructional practices. Therefore, future directions of researching SCT in East Asia are also addressed.</p>
Articles
East Asia
Sociocultural Theory
Second Language Learning
Written Languaging
Linguistics
Linguistics
Jinfen Xu
Zaibo Long
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-02-24
2021-02-24
202
222
10.1558/lst.19401
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Meaningfully Designing and Implementing SCOBAs in Socioculturally-based L2 Teacher Education Programs
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/18398
<p>In recent years, the adoption of a socioculturally based perspective on teacher development has led to significant advances in L2 teacher education (Esteve, 2018a; Lantolf and Esteve, 2019; Johnson, 2009; Johnson and Golombek, 2016; Negueruela, 2011). The authors’ practice-based research over the past ten years on the impact of socioculturally based formative interventions on teacher professional development has shown that conceptual mediation through SCOBAs enables (student) teachers to gain new ways of thinking and acting in the classroom (Esteve, 2018a; Esteve, Fernández and Bes, 2018; Lantolf and Esteve, 2019). Conceptual mediation consists of promoting a dialectic relationship between <em>everyday concepts</em> and <em>scientific concepts</em>, and more specifically between <em>everyday concepts</em> and <em>core concepts</em>. <em>Core concepts</em> are the scientific concepts informing the socioculturally based perspective of language teaching and learning that are to be appropriated by the (student) teachers throughout the formative interventions. After being introduced to <em>core concepts</em>, (student) teachers progressively appropriate them throughout a structured mediational process, a process that enables them to informedly design and carry out, from their own agency, purposeful, pedagogically valid classroom practices.</p> <p> </p> <p>The article specifically seeks to answer the following questions that are often posed by teacher educators willing to adopt a sociocultural perspective in their formative interventions: 1) how to select the scientific concepts for SCOBA-driven formative interventions; 2) how to design SCOBAs and 3) how to facilitate the appropriation of the selected concepts so that they become psychological tools. To this end, the article focuses on the criteria guiding the selection of <em>core concepts</em>, as well as on the tools that help (student) teachers to apprehend them and, by that means, to develop new ways of thinking and acting.</p> <p> </p>
Articles
teacher agency; professional development; mediated conceptual expansion; double stimulation; conceptual and procedural SCOBAs
Teacher education
Teacher agency
Learning to teach
LB1025-1050.75 Teaching (Principles and practice
Teacher professional development
Sociocultural perspective of teacher education
Applied Linguistics
Education
Olga Esteve
Laura Farró
Conchi Rodrigo
Elena Verdía
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-06-10
2021-06-10
8
34
10.1558/lst.18398
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Teaching Subjective Construal and Related Constructions with SCOBAs
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/LST/article/view/19036
<p>Japanese and English have substantial typological differences, including different construal patterns. Construal patterns reflect linguistic framing of events, more objectively or more subjectively, depending on whether the speaker is understood as a separate part of the scene or as merged with the scene. English frames events using objective construal more often than subjective construal; Japanese overwhelmingly prefers subjective construal. Understanding construal is critical for Japanese L2 learners, yet overlooked in Japanese pedagogy. This paper considers how SCOBAs (Schema of a Complete Orienting Basis of an Action) can be used in Concept-Based Language Instruction (C-BLI) to teach construal. The first SCOBAs introduced visualize construal concepts; subsequent SCOBAs depict how Japanese subjective construal relates to other constructions, including the non-use of ‘I’, motion verbs, verbs meaning ‘give’, and psychological predicates. We also discuss approaches to promoting internalization of the concepts via a variety of dialogic tasks and application exercises.</p>
Articles
Japanese-as-a-second-language (JSL)
concept-based language instruction (C-BLI)
concept-based instruction (CBI)
schema of a complete orienting basis of action (SCOBA)
subjective construal, non-use of ‘I’
motion verbs
meanings of give
psychological predicates
P302-302.87 Discourse analysis
Discourse Analysis
Kyoko Masuda
Amy Snyder Ohta
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-06-10
2021-06-10
35
67
10.1558/lst.19036