Schinke-Llano 1993 Vygotskian Approach for L2A

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Language Learning43:1,March 1993,pp. 121-129

O n the Value of a Vygotskian Fra m ew ork forSLA Theory and ResearchLinda Schinke-LlanoMillikin University

This paper argues that Vygotskian psycholinguistics isnot only compatible with current second language acquisi-tion theory but also extremely useful as a productive para-digm within which to conduct research and theory building.These claims are supported through three sections of thepaper: (a)a brief overview of Vygotskian concepts of particu-lar relevance to SLA, (b) a summary of selected Vygotsky-based SLAresearch, and (c> discussionof areas of researchin which avygotskian framework appears particularly prom-ising.

INTRODUCTIONThe development of theoretical models that are both explana-

tory and predictive is an essential feature of all fields of inquiry., Further, for theory building to be its most productive, cross-disciplinary work is o h n critical. Unquestionably, these state-

*Versionsof this paper were presentedat the 25th AnnualTESOL onvention,24-28 March 1991,in New York, nd at the Second Language Acquisition-Foreign Language Learning 11 Conference, sponsored by the University ofIllinois,2G28April 1990, n Urbana-Champaign. Appreciationgoes to LeovanLier for his comments on an earlier version of this paper.Requests for reprints may be sent to the author at Department of English,Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois 62522. Telephone:(217) 424-6251. E-mail: [email protected].

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ments apply to the field of second language acquisition (SLA)theory and research.

One cross-disciplinary resource for SLA theory and researchis that of Vygotskian psycholinguistics Cvygotsky, 1962; 1978).Whereasitwould be inaccurate tostate that the potential applica-bility of Vygotskian thought to SLA has gone unrecognized, it isreasonable to say that the fu l potential of its applicability has notyet been explored. This paper argues tha t Vygotskianpsycholinguisticsis not only compatible with current SLA theory,but that it can also provide an extremely productive paradigmwithin which to conduct research and theory building. The firstsection of the paper presents a brief overview of Vygotskianconcepts of particular use t o SLA. A brief summary of selectedVygotsky-based SLA research follows. The final section identifiesareas of research in which a Vygotskian framework promises to beparticularly useful.

VYGOTSKIAN PSYCHOLINGUISTICSWhereas a thorough discussionof Vygotskian psycholinguis-

tics is beyond the purview of this paper, a presentation of keypremises and concepts compatible with current SLA theory is inorder. The first premise relates to the relationship betweenthought and language. Vygotsky viewed thought and languagenot as %ner and outer manifestations of the same mental phe-nomenon, but really two distinct cognitive operations that growtogether uniquely in the human animal (Fredericks,1974,p. 283).This growing together occurs a t about the age of 2; thereafter,thought and language develop in an intertwining pattern, eachreinforcing and changing the other as the development proceeds.Such a position is clearly compatible with that of bilingual educa-tion proponents, for example, who argue that a childs cognitivedevelopment suffers ifeducation in the native language is abruptlyreplaced by education in a second language in which the child isnotyet fluent (see Skutnab-Kangas and Toukomaa,1976,for a discus-


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Review by Schinke-Llano 123

sion of double semilinguals). It is also compatible with the findingsfrom immersion programs that demonstrate success in both sec-ond language development and content skills development(Genesee, 1987).

One word used throughout the previous paragraph is devel-opment, a term critical t o the premises of Vygotskianpsycholinguistics. Vygotskian psycholinguistics operates within adevelopmental framework, "a style of explanation in which a givenfact is explained by showing how it arises out of earlier facts"(McNeill, 1987, p. 10). As such, the explanation focuses on thediachronic, on processes and changes, not on products and states(McNeill, 1987). Once again, such a framework coexists well withSLAtheory and research where, especially of late, we have focusedon understanding the processes of language acquisition, ratherthan on describing the products.A final premise cri t ical to note here is that language acquisi-tion and concept formation occur as he result of interaction. Inother words, their development is social, not individual, and is theresult of joint problem-solving activities. As Vygotsky (1978)explains, "Every function in the child's cultural developmentappears twice, on two levels. First, on the social, and later on thepsychological level; first,between people as an interpsychologicalcategory, and then inside the child, as an intrapsychologicalcategory" (p. 86) . Obviously, such a view dovetails well with theevolution of SLA theory from viewing the learner in isolation toviewing the learner asa part of an interactive process(Long, 980;Krashen, 1982; Swain, 1985).

In addition to the premises of Vygotskian theory just de-scribed, several key concepts are worthy of note here. First is thatof the zone of proximal development (ZPD),which is "the distancebetween the actual developmental levelasdetermined by indepen-dent problem solving and the level of potential development asdetermined through problem solving under adult guidance or incollaboration with peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86). According toVygotsky, the zone of proximal development is the area in whichlearning takes place. Learning occursas he result of mediation in


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which an adult or more skilled peer acts as the go-betweenbetween the learner and the task, or problem at hand. In certainways, the ZPD is reminiscent of Krashens (1982) i+ l construct.

This fact leadsus to another useful concept, that of regula-tion, or control. In any joint problem-solving activity, the task athand can be thought of as consisting of a number of substeps; eachsubstep can be regulated by either interlocutor. If the learner isresponsible for the substep, $he is said t o be self-regulated; f theinterlocutor is responsible, the learner is said to be other-regu-lated. One kind of other-regulation is that of mediation in whichthe adult or more skilled peer provides strategies, rather thaninformation per se to the learner. There is a third category ofregulation, that of object-regulation, in which the learner is dis-tracted by the environment; this level of regulation developmen-tally precedes the other two. As a learner progresses from object-to other- to self-regulation, he functionsof the strategic activitieschange from interpsychologicalto intrapsychological, as indicatedin a previous quote.A final useful concept is that of inner speech. According t oVygotsky, egocentric speech (asdiscussed by Piaget, 1955) goesundergroundto become inner speech. If a task situation proveschallenging, this inner speech will resurface as private speech (orprivate dialogue, as Wertsch, 1980, refers to it). The privatespeech represents an effort on the part of the individualto regaincontrol of the task situation.

VYGOTSKY-BASED THEORYAND RESEARCHAs already stated, it would be unfair to claim that the

applicability of Vygotskian psycholinguistics to SLA theory andresearch has gone unnoticed. For example, Skinner (1985a;1985b)combines theories ofvygotsky, Piaget, and Cummins in anattempt to account for the linguistic and cognitive achievementsand failures of language minority students inU.S.ublic schools.Collison (1974) uses Vygotskys theory to compare the conceptual


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development in English (the L2)of sixth-grade students in Ghanato their conceptual development in either Twi o r Ga (their Ll).Findings indicate that students are not able to realize theircognitive potential when English is the language of instruction,even &r six years of instruction.

In another study, McCreary (1985) uses the concept of regu-lation to analyze his son's loss of Japanese skillsafter their returnto the United States. He reports that the child's self-regulatedspeech was los t first,and his other-regulated speech next. Object-regulated speech, on the other hand, remained, and McCrearybelieves that it can serve as he basis for a redevelopment of lostlanguage skills. Schinke-Llano (1986) also uses the concept ofregulation to examine dyadic problem-solving interactions be-tween fiRh- and sixth-grade mainstream teachers and limitedEnglish-proficient (LEP) and nonlimited English-proficient stu-dents. It was determined that the teachers structure the instruc-tional interactions sigmficantly differently for the LEP studentsthan for the non-LEP students (p=.0028). That is,the interactionswith the LEP students are more teacher-regulated. Whereas thisfact appears to suggest that teachers are providing the necessaryhelp, they may-precisely because of their regulation-be pre-venting students from internalizing both language and concepts.

In another utilization of Vygotskian concepts, Lantolf,Labarca, and den Tuinder (1985) studied the bilingual dictionaryaccessing skills of university students a t three levels in Spanish.The researchers describe tw o different accessing strategies inuse-a lexical approach by beginning and intermediate levels ofstudents (which they relate to object-regulation) and a semanticapproach by advanced students (which they argue demonstratescharacteristics of self-regulation). They conclude that bilingualdictionaries areof little pedagogical use for learners who are at thestage of object-regulation in the language acquisition process.Frawley and Lantolf (1985)also report other-regulation predomi-nating in a study of university-aged intermediate ESL studentswho were asked to construct a story based on s ix drawings. In thesame study the researchers also explain tense, aspect, affective


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markers, and macrostructure ofthe elicited discourse nvygotskianterms.

APPLYING VYGOTSKIANTHOUGHTTO SLA RESEARCHGiven the studies just mentioned, it appears safe to claim

that relatively few SLA heoreticians and researchers have usedthe potential of Vygotskian psycholinguistics to its fullest extent.Thus, his section will suggest areas of theory revision and re-search in which Vygotskian theory may be particularly useful.Frawley and Lantolf(1985)uggest two topics. One is that errorsneed not be viewed as flawed learning or even as approximationsof the target language, but rather as the result of a learners tryingto gain control of a task. (Note that Washburn, 1990,uses aVygotskian approach to fossilization.) Another is that communi-cative strategies that have been identified may be efficientlysubsumed into the three functions of object-, other-, and self-regulation.

In addition to these possible adjustments in theory, severalpromising areas of research are evident. One is in the area oftransmission of cultural knowledge. Anthropologists have longviewed the transmission of cultural knowledge as socially based.Given Vygotskys views of concept development as a social activity,it would be productive to analyze NS-NNS (native speaker-nonna-tive speaker) dyadic interactions in an effortto ascertain both howinformation about the target culture is conveyed and how cultur-ally appropriate discourse patterns and nonverbal behaviors areconveyed to NNSs by NSs.

Whereas theu8e of dyadic interactions for SLAresearch is notnew, the u8e of the concept of regulation to analyze the resultantdiscourse is. As an artifact of their study on comprehensibleoutput, Pica, Halliday, Lewis, and Morgenthaler(1989)ndicate apossible interaction with sex and ethnicity. Experimental studiesinvolving various configurations of sex and ethnicity could be


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aided by using other- and self-regulationto analyze the interac-tions. Another fertile area of investigation is that of scaffolding, aprocess that Enright and McCloskey (1988) recommend to facili-tate second language acquisition in children, and tha t van Lier(1991) evelops into the notion of pedagogical scaffolding, a whole-class teaching strategy. It is quite likely that scaffolding can betheoretically explained and experimentally justified through theconcept of regulation.

The area of language loss, BB explored by McCreary (19851,deserves further attention. For example, is the regression fromself-regulationto other-regulation and finallyto object-regulationa universal, or is it idiosyncratic? Is other-regulation the key toreaccessing the lost language skills? Is one specific kind ofmediation more effective than are others in slowing or reversinglanguage attrition? Just as the entire subject of language lossdeserves further attention, so too does the application ofvygotskianconcepts to such research merit o u r time.

Finally, given the continuing controversy over bilingual edu-cation in which concepts are taught in the students L1, and giventhe recent emphasis in ESL programs on integrating language andcontent skills,a Vygotskian approach to examining language andconcept formation seems timely. Specifically, what kinds ofmediation strategies are most effective in allowing learners tobecome self-regulatory in both linguistic and cognitive tasks?

CONCLUSIONClearly, it would be both naive and foolhardy to suggest at

this time that a single theory holds the answerstoall the questionsgenerated in the field of second language acquisition. As such,thispaper isnot a call to abandon multifaceted research approachesorother kinds of interdisciplinary work. However, given the compat-ibility of Vygotskian psycholinguistic theory with current SLAtheory, and given the relatively unexplored applicability of itsconceptsto SLA research, I strongly encourage my SLAcolleagues


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to use Vygotskian theories to their maximum potential. Theresults, I believe, will justify our efforts.

Final version accepted July 1992

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Ghanaian school children. Haruard Educational Review, 44,44147.Enright, S.,& McCloskey, M. L. (1988).Zntegmting English: Developing

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283-290.Genesee, F. (1987). r n i n g t h u g h two languages. New York, New York

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Long, M. (1980).nput, intemctwn, and second language acquisition. Unpub-lished doctoral dissertation, LosAngeles, University of California.

McCreary,D. (1985). Vygotskyan psycholinguistic perspective on the acqui-sition and lossof Japanese. Rassegna Italiana di Lin gu is th Applicata, 17,159-171.

McNeill, D. (1987). sychlinguistics:A new approach. New York, New York:Harper&Row.Piaget, J.(1955). he anguage and thought of the child. New York, New York:New American Library.

Pica, T., Halliday, L., Lewis, N., C Morgenthaler, L. (1989). omprehensibleoutputasan outcome oflinguistic demandson the learner. Studies inSecondLanguage Acquisition, 11,63-90.

Schinke-Llano, L. (1986). oreigner talk in joint cognitive activities. In R. Day(Ed.),Ta1kingtolearn:Conversatwn nsecondlanguageacquisition (pp.99-117).Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House.

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Skinner, D. (1985b).Accesstomeaning: The anatomy of the languagdearningconnection.Jownal OfMultilingunland Multicultwa Development,6,369-388.SkutnabKangas, T.,& Toukomaa, P. (1976). Teaching migmnt childrensmdher tongueand earningthe hngunge of the host country in the contextofthe socio-cultwal situation of the migrant fhmily. Helsinki: The FinnishNational Commission for UNESCO.

Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensibleoutput in its development. InS.M.Gass&C. Madden (Eds.) ,Znput nsecondlanguageacquisition (pp. 235-253). Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House.

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Washbum, G. (1990, April). Using Vygotskiun theoty to study fossilization inSLA. Paper presented at the Second Language Acquisition-Foreign Lan-guage Learning 11Conference, Urban4 Illinois.

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