Language Learning43:1,March 1993, pp.

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On the Value of a Vygotskian Framework for SLA Theory and Research

Linda Schinke-Llano
Millikin University This paper argues that Vygotskian psycholinguistics is not only compatible with current second language acquisition theory but also extremely useful as a productive paradigm within which to conduct research and theory building. These claims are supported through three sections of the paper: (a)a brief overview of Vygotskian concepts of particular relevance to SLA, (b) a summary of selected Vygotskybased SLA research, and (c> a discussion of areas of research in which avygotskian framework appears particularly promising.

INTRODUCTION
The development of theoretical models that are both explanatory and predictive is an essential feature of all fields of inquiry. Further, for theory building to be its most productive, crossdisciplinary work is o h n critical. Unquestionably, these state*Versionsof this paper were presented at the 25th Annual TESOLConvention, 24-28 March 1991, in New York,and at the Second Language AcquisitionForeign Language Learning 1 1 Conference, sponsored by the University of Illinois, 2G28 April 1990,in Urbana-Champaign. Appreciationgoes to Leovan Lier 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. Email: LLANO@mail.millikin.edu.

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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 research is that of Vygotskian psycholinguistics Cvygotsky, 1962; 1978). Whereas it would be inaccurate to state that the potential applicability of Vygotskian thought to SLA has gone unrecognized, it is reasonable to say that the f u l lpotential of its applicability has not yet been explored. This paper argues that Vygotskian psycholinguistics is not only compatible with current SLA theory, but that it can also provide an extremely productive paradigm within which to conduct research and theory building. The first section of the paper presents a brief overview of Vygotskian concepts of particular use to SLA. A brief summary of selected Vygotsky-based SLA research follows. The final section identifies areas of research in which a Vygotskian framework promises to be particularly useful.

VYGOTSKIAN PSYCHOLINGUISTICS
Whereas a thorough discussion of Vygotskian psycholinguistics is beyond the purview of this paper, a presentation of key premises and concepts compatible with current SLA theory is in order. The first premise relates to the relationship between thought and language. Vygotsky viewed thought and language not as %ner and outer manifestations of the same mental phenomenon, but really two distinct cognitive operations that grow together uniquely in the human animal(Fredericks, 1974,p. 283). This growing together occurs at about the age of 2; thereafter, thought and language develop in an intertwining pattern, each reinforcing and changing the other as the development proceeds. Such a position is clearly compatible with that of bilingual education proponents, for example, who argue that a childs cognitive developmentsuffers ifeducation in the native language is abruptly replaced by education in a second language in which the child is not yet fluent (see Skutnab-Kangas and Toukomaa, 1976, for a discus-

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sion of double semilinguals). It is also compatiblewith the findings from immersion programs that demonstrate success in both second language development and content skills development (Genesee, 1987). One word used throughout the previous paragraph is development, a term critical t o the premises of Vygotskian psycholinguistics. Vygotskian psycholinguistics operates within a developmental framework, "a style of explanation in which a given fact is explained by showing how it arises out of earlier facts" (McNeill, 1987, p. 10). As such, the explanation focuses on the diachronic, on processes and changes, not on products and states (McNeill, 1987). Once again, such a framework coexists well with SLAtheory and research where, especially of late, we have focused on understanding the processes of language acquisition, rather than on describing the products. A final premise critical to note here is that language acquisition and concept formation occur as the result of interaction. In other words, their development is social, not individual, and is the result of joint problem-solving activities. As Vygotsky (1978) explains, "Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice, on two levels. First, on the social, and later on the psychological level; first, between people as an interpsychological category, and then inside the child, as an intrapsychological category" (p. 86). Obviously, such a view dovetails well with the L A theory from viewing the learner in isolation to evolution of S viewing the learner as a part of an interactive process (Long, 1980; Krashen, 1982; Swain, 1985). In addition to the premises of Vygotskian theory just described, several key concepts are worthy of note here. First is that of the zone of proximal development (ZPD),which is "the distance between the actual developmental 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 peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86). According to Vygotsky, the zone of proximal development is the area in which learning takes place. Learning occurs as the result of mediation in

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which an adult or more skilled peer acts as the go-between between the learner and the task, or problem at hand. In certain ways, the ZPD is reminiscent of Krashens (1982) i+l construct. This fact leads us to another useful concept, that of regulation, or control. In any joint problem-solving activity, the task at hand can be thought of as consisting of a number of substeps; each substep can be regulated by either interlocutor. If the learner is responsible for the substep, $he is said to be self-regulated;if the interlocutor is responsible, the learner is said to be other-regulated. One kind of other-regulation is that of mediation in which the adult or more skilled peer provides strategies, rather than information per se to the learner. There is a third category of regulation, that of object-regulation, in which the learner is distracted by the environment; this level of regulation developmentally precedes the other two. As a learner progresses from objectto other- to self-regulation,the functions of the strategic activities change from interpsychologicalto intrapsychological, as indicated in a previous quote. A final useful concept is that of inner speech. According to Vygotsky, egocentric speech (as discussed by Piaget, 1955)goes underground to become inner speech. If a task situation proves challenging, this inner speech will resurface as private speech (or private dialogue, as Wertsch, 1980, refers to it). The private speech represents an effort on the part of the individual to regain control of the task situation.

VYGOTSKY-BASED THEORY AND RESEARCH

As already stated, it would be unfair to claim that the applicability of Vygotskian psycholinguistics to SLA theory and research has gone unnoticed. For example, Skinner (1985a; 1985b)combines theories ofvygotsky, Piaget, and Cummins in an attempt to account for the linguistic and cognitive achievements public schools. and failures of language minority students in U.S. Collison (1974) uses Vygotskys theory to compare the conceptual

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development in English (the L2) of sixth-grade students in Ghana to their conceptual development in either Twi or Ga (their Ll). Findings indicate that students are not able to realize their cognitive potential when English is the language of instruction, even &r six years of instruction. In another study, McCreary (1985)uses the concept of regulation to analyze his son's loss of Japanese skills after their return to the United States. He reports that the child's self-regulated speech was lost first, and his other-regulated speech next. Objectregulated speech, on the other hand, remained, and McCreary believes that it can serve as the basis for a redevelopment of lost language skills. Schinke-Llano (1986) also uses the concept of regulation to examine dyadic problem-solving interactions between fiRh- and sixth-grade mainstream teachers and limited English-proficient (LEP) and nonlimited English-proficient students. It was determined that the teachers structure the instructional interactions sigmficantly differently for the LEP students than for the non-LEP students (p=.0028).That is, the interactions with the LEP students are more teacher-regulated. Whereas this fact appears to suggest that teachers are providing the necessary help, they may-precisely because of their regulation-be preventing students from internalizing both language and concepts. In another utilization of Vygotskian concepts, Lantolf, Labarca, and den Tuinder (1985) studied the bilingual dictionary accessing skills of university students a t three levels in Spanish. The researchers describe two different accessing strategies in use-a lexical approach by beginning and intermediate levels of students (which they relate to object-regulation) and a semantic approach by advanced students (which they argue demonstrates characteristics of self-regulation). They conclude that bilingual dictionaries are of little pedagogical use for learners who are at the stage of object-regulation in the language acquisition process. Frawley and Lantolf (1985)also report other-regulation predominating in a study of university-aged intermediate ESL students who were asked to construct a story based on six drawings. In the same study the researchers also explain tense, aspect, affective

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markers, and macrostructure ofthe elicited discourseinvygotskian terms.

APPLYING VYGOTSKIAN THOUGHT TO SLA RESEARCH

Given the studies just mentioned, it appears safe to claim that relatively few SLA theoreticians and researchers have used the potential of Vygotskian psycholinguistics to its fullest extent. Thus,this section will suggest areas of theory revision and research in which Vygotskian theory may be particularly useful. Frawley and Lantolf (1985) suggest two topics. One is that errors need not be viewed as flawed learning or even as approximations of the target language, but rather as the result of a learners trying to gain control of a task. (Note that Washburn, 1990,uses a Vygotskian approach to fossilization.) Another is that communicative strategies that have been identified may be efficiently subsumed into the three functions of object-, other-, and selfregulation. In addition to these possible adjustments in theory, several promising areas of research are evident. One is in the area of transmission of cultural knowledge. Anthropologists have long viewed the transmission of cultural knowledge as socially based. Given Vygotskysviews of concept development as a social activity, it would be productive to analyze NS-NNS (native speaker-nonnative speaker) dyadic interactions in an effort to ascertain both how information about the target culture is conveyed and how culturally appropriate discourse patterns and nonverbal behaviors are conveyed to NNSs by NSs. Whereas the u8e of dyadic interactions for SLAresearch is not new, the u8e of the concept of regulation to analyze the resultant discourse is. As an artifact of their study on comprehensible indicate a output, Pica, Halliday, Lewis, and Morgenthaler (1989) possible interaction with sex and ethnicity. Experimental studies involving various configurations of sex and ethnicity could be

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aided by using other- and self-regulation to analyze the interactions. Another fertile area of investigation is that of scaffolding, a process that Enright and McCloskey (1988) recommend to facilitate second language acquisition in children, and that van Lier (1991) develops into the notion of pedagogical scaffolding, a wholeclass teaching strategy. It is quite likely that scaffolding can be theoretically explained and experimentally justified through the concept of regulation. The area of language loss, BB explored by McCreary (19851, deserves further attention. For example, is the regression from self-regulation to other-regulation and finally to object-regulation a universal, or is it idiosyncratic? Is other-regulation the key to reaccessing the lost language skills? Is one specific kind of mediation more effective than are others in slowing or reversing language attrition? Just as the entire subject of language loss deservesfurther attention, so too doesthe application ofvygotskian concepts to such research merit o u r time. Finally, given the continuing controversy over bilingual education in which concepts are taught in the students L1, and given the recent emphasis in ESL programs on integrating language and content skills,a Vygotskian approach to examining language and concept formation seems timely. Specifically, what kinds of mediation strategies are most effective in allowing learners to become self-regulatory in both linguistic and cognitive tasks?

CONCLUSION
Clearly, it would be both naive and foolhardy to suggest at this time that a single theory holds the answers to all the questions generated in the field of second language acquisition. As such, this paper is not a call to abandon multifaceted research approachesor other kinds of interdisciplinary work. However, given the compatibility of Vygotskian psycholinguistic theory with current SLA theory, and given the relatively unexplored applicability of its conceptsto SLA research, I strongly encourage my SLA colleagues

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

to

Final version accepted July 1992

REFERENCES
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Skinner, D. (1985b).Access t omeaning: The anatomy of the languagdearning connection.Jownal OfMultilingunland Multicultwa I Development, 6,369388. SkutnabKangas, T . ,& Toukomaa, P. (1976). Teaching migmnt childrens mdher tongue and learning the hngunge of the host country in the context of the socio-cultwal situation of the migrant fhmily. Helsinki: The Finnish National Commission for UNESCO. Swain, M. (1985). Communicativecompetence: Some roles of comprehensible output in its development. In S.M. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.),Znputin second languageacquisition (pp. 235-253). Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House. van Lier, Leo. (1991).Inside the classroom: Learning Processes and teaching processes. Applied Language Learning, 2,2948. Vygotsky, L. (1962). Thought and Iangunge. Cambridge, MassachusettsMIT Press. Vygotsky, L. (1978).M i n d in society: T L development of higher psychotogical processes. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Washbum, G. (1990, April). U s i n g Vygotskiun theoty to study fossilization in SLA. Paper presented at the Second Language Acquisition-Foreign Language Learning 1 1Conference, Urban4 Illinois. Wertsch, J. (1980). The significance ofdialogue in Vygotsws account of social, egocentric, and inner speech. Contempornry Educcltional Psychology, 5, 150-162.