One of the issues related to teaching and learning a foreign language is a consideration of ways of acquiring relevant linguistic competence. Linguistic competence in relation to language acquisition presents attractive contrasts to traditional grammar-translation approaches, considering grammar as not a single, logical, a priori system, but viewing it as a social achievement and tool (Atkinson, 2002). Such perspectives turn to Transformational Grammar, which aims to help language learners to achieve effective communication in language (Atkinson, 2002), and positions the acquisition of a language as being closely related to social
practices and learners’ participation in language (Mondada & Doehler, 2004). I have drawn on such sociocultural perspectives as theoretical bases for language pedagogy in the conduct of my research.
Sociocultural perspectives present possible pedagogical directions for EFL teachers as they implement the curriculum reform (Lantolf & Pavlenko, 1995; Lantolf, 1994;
Vygotskiy, 1978; Wertsch, Del Rio, & Alvarez, 1995). As Mondada and Doehler (2004) say, sociocultural perspectives are inspired by Vygotsky’s work, but developed by neo-Vygotskian scholars (Larsen-Freeman, 2000; Lim & Renshaw, 2001; Ortega, 2007). Vygotsky views learning as embedded in social activities, a perspective that has been extended by researchers who use it as a theoretical position from which to investigate second language acquisition (Larsen-Freeman, 2000). Vygotskian perspectives emphasise learning as a process where individuals interact with each other, participating in tasks together, and attaining a certain level of competence with the help of adults or more knowledgable others (McLoughlin &
Oliver, 1999). The emphasis is on language cognition as social ability, an ability which emerges from the experience of language acquisition itself (Ortega, 2007).
Ortega (2007) further argues:
Learning (including language learning) is explained via processes by which the mind appropriates knowledge from affordances in the environment. These affordances, in turn, are fundamentally social:
They arise out of our relations to others, via tools (including language) that mediate between us and our environment, and out of the specific events we experience (p. 229).
In such a scenario, learning occurs with the changing nature of defining or redefining these relationships and processes of participation (Lim & Renshaw, 2001), where individuals’ cognitive growth and development are closely related to the central roles played by social interaction and cultural institutions, such as schools and classrooms (Donato & McCormick, 1994). Human development occurs because of meaningful interaction, which cannot be separated from its social context (Vygotsky, 1978). These sorts of conceptualisations of learning are evident in the goals articulated as part of China’s EFL curriculum reform, with their focus on students being competent as citizens of the 21st century. Student development is seen to be part of keeping up with the social and economic development which the new curriculum has been designed to address.
Vygotsky first systematized his work on learning and learner development in the early 20th century (Goodman & Goodman, 1990; VanPatten & Williams, 2006).
According to Antón (2002), Vygotsky considered that individual interaction stimulates higher psychological functions mediated by symbols and signs in language use, and that a shift of function from the social to the cognitive level then takes place within the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The ZPD is:
The distance between the actual developmental level as determined through 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, p. 86).
According to Kinginger (2002), the ZDP is a pedagogical tool that may be used in an attempt to achieve those educational goals set for children. One of the
contributions of the concept of the ZPD to education and other domains is rooted in its notion of assistance, which Bruner and Garton (1978) have developed into concepts of scaffolding, which has been further expanded by other scholars
(Fernández, Wegerif, Mercer, & Rojas-Drummond, 2001; Lantolf & Thorne, 2007).
Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976) say that scaffolding is the help provided by experts, or more knowledgeable others, for novice learners to achieve goals which are beyond their current levels of ability. Bruner and Garton (1978) define scaffolding as a sort of cognitive assistance offered by pedagogues to learners, aimed at helping them to solve the problems they cannot yet work out without assistance. Fernández
et al. (2001) see scaffolding as the way in which learners can mutually support each other’s development in learning by solving difficult problems together. The concept of scaffolding may be used by teachers to explore learners’ potential and help them to achieve expected and ideal goals. Scaffolding, then, emphasizes the strength of interaction, cooperation, negotiation and collaboration in learning, all of which are closely related to the stated teaching and learning processes of the reform under study where task-based learning is encouraged. The aims are for more interactive activities with classmates and teachers in order to achieve the stated learning and teaching goals. I have discussed task-based learning later in this chapter.
The ZPD is a concept that does not sit easily alongside traditional Chinese use of tests and measures which only focus on examining learners’ actual level of development, and which ignore explorations of learners’ potential as influencing future learning (Lantolf & Thorne, 2007). The ZPD is a concept which may guide assessments towards levels which include both present and potential achievements of learners (Lantolf & Thorne, 2007). A number of studies has drawn on
Vygotskian perspectives from which to investigate second language acquisition, EFL teaching and learning in particular (Antón, 2002; Lantolf & Pavlenko, 1995;
Lantolf, 1994; Lantolf & Thorne, 2007), and my research is no exception as I have examined learner-centred and task-based methods that are to be employed as part of the EFL curriculum reform.
Vygotskian perspectives provide a guide for the teacher as they come to understand the emergence of learners’ cognitive development in activities which are mediated by language (Kininger & Belz, 2005). Language is a symbolic tool, used as part of human consciousness that inform human activity (Appel & Lantolf, 1994).
Vygotsky (1978) considers it to be better for language educators to help children to develop Reading and Writing skills through play rather than actually learning to read or to write; that people achieve language acquisition and development in the context of the application of that learning and development (Goodman & Goodman, 1990). Vygotskian perspectives provide part of a framework for language educators, specifically EFL educators, to understand and explore ways in which language teaching and learning can be achieved effectively and successfully (Donato &
McCormick, 1994). I have drawn on such perspectives to underpin my research to
investigate the sorts of EFL teaching and learning delivered by participant EFL teachers.