Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol 3, No 4 (2012), 693-699, Jul 2012
doi:10.4304/jltr.3.4.693-699

Sociocultural Perspectives on Foreign Language Learning

Mansoor Fahim, Mastaneh Haghani

Abstract


This paper aims at presenting a brief overview of the major theoretical claims of the sociocultural theory (SCT) of mind and mental development with particular attention to how it relates to the learning and teaching of second/foreign languages. The sociocultural perspective has profound implications for teaching, schooling, and education. The main idea of this psychological view of human development is that social interaction is responsible for the development of higher order functions. In this regard it is believed that just the individual’s internal cognitive process cannot account for developmental process. The researchers should also consider the external social factors in the child’s environment. Children participate in activities which entail the use of cognitive and communicative functions and by doing so, these functions scaffold and nurture them in their developmental process. Hence in language classrooms successful instructions should be within the child’s zone of proximal development (ZPD) and also successful learning process cannot be an individual’s unmediated or unassisted effort but a collaborative process.


Keywords


Sociocultural Theory; social interaction; internal cognitive process; external social factors; Zone of Proximal Development; collaborative process

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