The present paper focuses on classroom discourse from the perspective of Sociocultural Theory. This theory, represented mainly by Vygotsky (1978), Leont'ev (1978) and Wertsch (1985), has been applied to second language acquisition by researchers such as Lantolf (1994). Firstly, the paper presents the view of language and language learning and the main constructs in sociocultural SLA, such as mediation through social interaction, mediation by means of private speech, internalization, the zone of proximal development, and Activity Theory. The methodology of sociocultural research is also taken into consideration. Secondly, the paper describes a number of studies into classroom discourse which are discussed in reference to the constructs mentioned above. Thirdly and finally, the paper provides some evaluation of the theory in question.
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According to Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST), language is a complex dynamic system consisting of subsystems which show a lot of variability, especially during intensive development. Second language development is generally connected with an increase in complexity, accuracy and fluency but there are trade-offs within and between these language subcomponents. What is more, intra-individual variability, defined as differences in the level of developmental variables within individuals and between repeated measurements, is said to be an important developmental phenomenon. The aim of this article is to analyze the relationships between different measures of syntactic complexity, lexical complexity, accuracy and fluency, and to examine intra-individual variability with respect to the rate of development in longitudinal oral data provided by a good, average and poor language learner at the level of secondary school. Generally, the results of the study show some statistically significant differences between the learners in the development of these language subsystems but no such differences in intra-individual variability. Nevertheless, the study indicates a strong, positive correlation between the learners’ level of intra-individual variability and the rate of development of the language subsystems in speech at this level.
The present paper focuses on the role of strategies in learning the pronunciation of the target language. First, an outline of various general classifications of language learning strategies is provided. Next, pronunciation learning strategies are defined and their various taxonomies are presented. This is followed by the description of the study which investigated the influence of pronunciation learning strategies on the perception and production of English pure vowels and diphthongs by first-year students of an English department. The results of the study indicate that students of English, who on average use pronunciation learning strategies rather occasionally, should receive some strategy-based instruction as there exists a significant relationship between the investigated phenomena, especially between the use of pronunciation learning strategies and the production of English monophthongs and diphthongs.
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