Sociocultural Theory and the Pedagogical Imperative

NAZLINUR GKTRK 2013 April, Bingl

Lev Vygotsky

1896-1934

Principles of Sociocultural Theory

In addition to biological factors, sociocultural factors are also significant in the development of human beings mental processes.

Higher levels of mental activities are mediated through cultural artifacts, activities and concepts (Lantolf, 2000).

Language is one of the primary means of mediation to regulate our relationships with the others.

Learning is thought of as a social event taking place as a result of interaction between individuals.

 As such, it is opposed to the cognitive views of the learner and learning as individualistic, mentalistic, and as functioning independent of the context and use of the language (Zuengler, 2006: 38). In this regard, it is believed that just individuals internal cognitive process cannot account for the developmental process. External social factors should also be taken into consideration.
Zuengler, J., and E, Miller (2006). Cognitive and sociocultural perspectives: Two parallel SLA worlds? TESOL Quarterly 40(1), 35-58.

 Even though Vygotskian sociocultural theory does not deny a role for biological constraints, development does not proceed as the unfolding of inborn capacities, but as the transformation of innate capacities once they intertwine with socioculturally mediational means (Lantolf and Pavlenko, 1995: 42).

Lantolf, J. P. & A. Pavlenko. (1995). Sociocultural theory and second language acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 15: 38-53.

Mediation
1) through another human being 2) via symbolic tools 3) through specially designed sociocultural activity (Kinard and Kozulin, 2008: 51). Ex: Parents- Children

 Different types of cultural activities ( education, play, work, politics etc.) entail different types of cultural concepts (academic, everyday, work-related, religious etc. ) and call for different forms of social relationships between those participating in the activities (teacher-student, parent-child, supervisor-worker etc.) (Lantolf, 2010).

 Social Mediation

--Experts and Novices --Scaffolding --Getting in ZPD

Peer Mediation
Mediation through L1 Self-Mediation

--Working collaboratively to construct meaning

--Use of L1 in peer mediation, inhibitor or facilitator? --Private speech and its function in internalizing L2 --Adult private speech (Diffucult to gain direct access for research)

 Any function in the childs cultural development appears twice, or on two planes. First, it appears on the social plane, and then on the psychological plane. First it appears between people as an interpsychological category, and then within the child as an intrapsychological category. This is equally true with regard to voluntary attention, logical memory, the formation of concepts [I]t goes without saying that internalization transforms the process itself and changes its structure and functions. Social relations or relations among people genetically underlie all higher functions and their relationships [emphasis added]. (Vygotsky as cited in Culligan, 2013, p.3).
Culligan, K. (2013). The relationship between language and thought: Exploring Vygotsky an sociocultural approaches to second language research. The Atlantic Journal of Graduate Studies in Education: Special Edition.

 Thus, the linguistics resources we use and learn can never be seen as merely part of a neutral and impersonal language; rather, Bakhtin viewed our use of language as an appropriation of words that one time existed in other peoples mouths before we make them our own (Zuengler and Miller, 2006, p. 41).

Zuengler, J., and E, Miller (2006). Cognitive and sociocultural perspectives: Two parallel SLA worlds? TESOL Quarterly 40(1), 35-58.

 Vygotsky (1987) proposed that the internalization of socially constructed forms of mediation occurs through the mechanism of imitation.

According to Lantolf (2003), imitation in adult private speech is closely related to L2 internalization (p. 67).
(See Ohta (2001) , Centeno-Corts (2003) Lantolf and Yez-Prieto (2003))

Lantolf, J.P. (2006). Sociocultural theory and second language learning: State of the art. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 28, 67-109.

 There might be more frequent uptake of teacher recasts than much of the L2 literature reports. Lyster and Ranta (1997), for instance, found that in four French immersion classes, only about 31% of teacher recasts were repeated by students to whom the recasts were directed. Ohta (2000) suggested, however, that learners might not only uptake recasts in social speech but also in private speech (Cited in Lantolf, 2006: 72).

 Lantolf (2003) argues that imitation that occurs in private speech is language acquisition as it unfolds in real time, it is imperative to establish connections between what happens in private speech and subsequent social speech. Ohta (2001) and Centeno-Corts (2003) both documented a few instances of a link between private speech and public performance for L2 adults, but use of the features attested in private speech imitation occurred in more or less pedagogical activities rather than in spontaneous social speech whose intent was communicative interaction (Cited in Lantolf, 2006: 72).

Zone of Proximal Development

Scaffolding

Selfregulation

What is the Zone of Proximal Development?

Vygotsky describes it as the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers (Vygotsky, 1978).

 Successful instructions should be within the learners Zone of Proximal Development. Successful learning is a collaborative process, by which the learners internalize the language of interaction for their own purposes through the negotiation and creation of meanings. Swain (2000) suggests that interactions for learning can occur between learners or peers in the ZPD. When language learners work together on a linguistic task aimed at problem solving, they are able to notice (Swain, 2000, p.99) or identify what they do not know in the collaborative dialogue.
( See Swain (2010) for Collaborative Dialogue, Long (1990) for Interaction Hypothesis)
Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning (pp. 97-114). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Scaffolding

Knowledgeable person (adult, teacher, or peer) help the less knowledgeable (child, or student) to accomplish a task which he or she would not otherwise be able to do by himself or herself.

 The goal of the educator when using the scaffolding teaching strategy is for the student to become an independent and selfregulating learner and problem solver (Hartman, 2002).
Hartman, H. (2002). Scaffolding & Cooperative Learning. Human Learning and Instruction (pp. 23-69). New York: City College ofCity University of New York.

In the educational setting, scaffolds may include models, cues, prompts, hints, partial solutions, think-aloud modeling and direct instruction (Hartman, 2002).

 However, as stated by Cook (2008) you cannot teach things that are currently out of the learners reach (p. 229). Teachability concept The fundamental idea is that for scaffolding to facilitate L2 learning, it needs to exist within a learners ZPD.
(Cited in Fahim, M., & Haghani, M., (2012). Sociocultural Perspectives on Foreign Language Learning. Journal of Language Teaching and Research 3: 4, 693-699.

Motivate the learners interest in the task

Break the task down into manageable steps

Provide some direction to keep the learner focused

Reduce factors that cause frustration

Model and define the expectations of the activity

Promote interaction in pairs or groups

Give tasks that require the learners to interact with each other

Interact with learners to negotiate any aspect of learning and teaching process

Make slow learners work with more successful learners to carry out a task

Self-regulation

As stated by elik (2009), a self-regulated learner is capable of autonomous functioning in the sense that learners now carry out linguistic tasks (speaking, writing, etc.) independently and without the guidance of more knowledgeable peers or teachers (p. 449).

Activity Theory

We do things that have significance and make sense to us as agents active in constructing our worlds including our own learning (Taylor, 1985). Task-based learning (Ellis) & Computer-mediated communication

 Wen (2008) also views language learning through the lens of activity theory and believes that choosing certain tasks for language teaching is under the influence of the learners motives, goals and condition of learning. He argues that while task-based language learning and teaching could yield positive learning outcomes, there can be no guarantees, because what ultimately matters is how individual learners decided to engage with the task as an activity (p. 22).
Wen, W. (2008). Activity theory and second language acquisition. Sino-US English Teaching 5.5, 19-23.

 Dynamic assessment methods involve mediating an examinees performance by providing prompts and leading questions during the assessment itself. Its primary goal is to provide learning opportunities, and in so doing, to produce a nuanced understanding of examinees current and future developmental potential (Thorne, 2005).

Thorne, S. L., (2005) Epistemology, Politics, and Ethics in Sociocultural Theory, The Modern Language Journal 89:3 p. 393-409