While research on second language teacher cognition (SLTC) has significantly developed over the past three decades, this line of inquiry has not paid adequate attention to material development/evaluation as compared to the key role that materials play in teachers' daily practice. In response to this gap, in this study we adopted the theoretical…

In 1999, the western concept of 'Learner-Centred Education' (LCE) was nationally mandated for schools and universities across Thailand. Most early research into this mandate portrayed Thai teachers in deficit terms, suggesting they were unwilling or unable to implement government policy. Such studies often underappreciated the range of cultural,…

Language learning strategies are an important variable in language learning, as they both facilitate learning and make learning more effective. Previous research has categorized and placed language learning strategies into taxonomies. However, despite calls for more socioculturally-appropriate strategy questionnaires, there is a paucity of…

Drawing on theoretical insights from a complex dynamic systems framework, this work explores the ways that learner selves, as they relate to learning and using languages, manifest across different contexts and timescales and emerge in interaction with various factors. First, a broad overview of dynamically-oriented L2 motivation research is…

In recent years, an increasing number of non-native EFL teachers have been recruited to teach English in English dominant settings. Grounded in sociocultural views of identity, the research question of this study focused on how contextual factors influence the professional identity construction of three EFL teachers in a Saudi School in Kuala…

Dynamic Assessment (DA) has lately taken the floor as an alternative by embedding instruction into assessment. Grounded in the dialogic teacher-learner interaction during an in tandem work, DA asserts that diagnosing the learners' matured abilities and needs, mediating them accordingly, and then observing their maturing abilities and microgenesis…

Second language classroom interaction has unique characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to describe the linguistic resources that teachers draw on to encourage social interaction in the EFL classroom. This examination includes a detailed analysis of the practical activities teachers engage in, focusing on their use of linguistic repertoires…

The purpose of this research is to investigate the practice of intertextuality of Farah (pseudonym) a 20-year-old female university student who engaged in a variety of culturally shaped digital literacy practices. In particular, it seeks to elucidate how Farah's practice of intertextuality serves as a semiotic mediation for her exercise and…

The present article argues for a conceptual distinction between corrective feedback and mediation that emphasizes the status of the latter not as an instructional practice but as a defining feature of human psychology (Vygotsky, 1987) that has direct implications for how instruction might be approached. Specifically, Sociocultural Theory (SCT)…

From a sociocultural perspective, identity is understood as constructed through active negotiations with others (Gee, 2006; Lantolf, 2009). Language constitutes a mediation tool used to create meanings in new social and cultural contexts as individuals become members of new communities of practice (CoP). In doing so, an ongoing process of sharing…

EFL learners often have problems to speak properly in English. As the purpose of teaching speaking is to improve the learners' oral production, language teaching should maximize language use in the classrooms (Haozhang, 1997), which is achieved through implementing proper teaching techniques to require learners to learn and practice the language…

Conceptualization of foreign language teaching as a cross-cultural interaction means engaging learners in various cultural mediations. Language use becomes a form of interpretative architecture of a target language. Understanding language use from a discursive perspective develops meta-pragmatic awareness and interpretative capacities of learners.…

Drawing on Vygotsky's insights on the sociocultural origins of development, we examine the French homestay as a site for learning, with a focus on the dinner table. Based on audio recordings of mealtime interactions, interviews, and field notes, we present two case studies of French language learners and their host families. "Amelia"…

To write a linguistic autobiography is to explore and reflect on our lived experiences with language. The purpose of this research was to gain insight into students' language experiences through their linguistic autobiographies and to gain a greater understanding of their relationship with and thoughts on language within their social contexts. In…

Theoretically grounded in Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of mind, Dynamic Assessment (DA) provides researchers with the opportunity to investigate different aspects of learners' developmental trajectory, including the ways they overcome their errors. As a qualitative inquiry into the nature of errors reflecting learners' development in academic…