This study investigated to what extent and how novice second-language (L2) Spanish learners use the cognitive linguistics-informed concept of boundedness to support their development of aspect--namely, the Spanish preterite and imperfect. The concept was presented within the framework of concept-based instruction (CBI) as part of a regular,…

Concept-based language instruction (C-BLI) is a pedagogy guided by sociocultural theory, which has been shown to be effective in facilitating second language learning. Typical activities include materialization by using a schema for a complete orienting basis of an action (SCOBA) and languaging, through which learners' internalization of…

Language teachers are expected to engage in classroom assessment practices and report on learners' progress aligned with proficiency standards, as well as prepare learners for external examinations. The term "language assessment literacy" (LAL) describes what the constituency of language instructors needs to know about assessment…

In commercial materials for the teaching of second language (L2) pronunciation, common bottom-up approaches segment phonology into a series of discrete and decontextualized linguistic components with rules that students are encouraged to internalize. Such approaches seem out of step with recent second language acquisition (SLA) theory and research…

Self-assessment practices have become widespread in second language (L2) education, and while its proponents have long argued that such reflection enhances learner awareness of their abilities and promotes independent learning (Alderson, 2005; Chen, 2008; Little, 2007), others have questioned its value vis-a-vis other indicators of performance…

Community service learning (CSL) is a type of experiential learning that blends specific course content with real-world applications and ties them together through structured reflection. It is an ideal pedagogy for 21st-century language for specific purposes (LSP) programs. This article frames that argument around sociocultural theory, moves to a…

This study investigates contextual features surrounding the use of a first language (L1) in a Japanese university English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) course during peer interaction in the extended preparation phase leading up to two oral presentation tasks (OP1 and OP3), performed seven months apart. Interaction data were analysed in terms of the…

Phrasal verbs present numerous challenges to second language learners of English, who often view verb + particle combinations as random (Side, 1990). This article proposes a pedagogical approach that focuses on particles as a means of spotlighting systematicity within this traditionally problematic area of English vocabulary. Informed by cognitive…

This article takes a broadly sociocultural perspective on the development of an Armenian English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher. It focuses on how experiences and actions outside the professional development classroom influence language teacher agency. The paper is framed within activity theory and specifically draws on Galperin's orienting…

This project investigates whether learners of Russian perceive the sociocultural weight of the two personal pronouns for "you", "ty" (informal/intimate) and "vy" (formal/polite) when they listen to native speech. Research on address pronoun use shows it to be an important sociocultural variable and, while there is some general consistency in use,…

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the mediational function of the gesture-speech interface in the instructional conversation that emerged as teachers attempted to explain the meaning of English words to their students in two EFL classrooms in the Ukraine. Its analytical framework is provided by Vygotsky's sociocultural psychology…

Theoretical in orientation, the focus of this article is the study of language teachers and teaching and builds on a body of research that has become increasingly influential since the mid-1990s. S. Borg's (2006) recent review of the field identifies a number of pathways with promise for new areas of research, but it also highlights the conceptual…

Using a sociocultural theoretical lens, this study examines the nature of student interactions in a dual immersion school to analyze affordances for bilingual language learning, language exchange, and co-construction of language expertise. This article focuses on data from audio- and video-recorded interactions of fifth-grade students engaged in…

Over the past 2 decades, research has demonstrated that learner collaboration facilitates second language (L2) acquisition (Lapkin, Swain, & Smith, 2002; McDonough, 2004; Storch, 1998, 2004; Swain & Lapkin, 1998). Adopting a sociocultural perspective (e.g., Swain & Lapkin, 1998), the current study compared the effectiveness of collaborative and…

Studied operationalization of sociocultural competence for classroom learners and explored the benefit to learners of explicit training in strategies for coping with social and cultural situations. Includes a taxonomy of sociocultural strategies, description of explicit strategy training developed for a Russian English-as-a-Foreign-Language…