Introducing sociocultural theory 1. Sociocultural contributions to understanding the foreign and second language classroom 2. Rethinking interaction in SLA: Developmentally appropriate assistance in the zone of proximal development and the acquisition of L2 grammar 3. Subjects speak out: How learners position themselves in a psycholinguistic task 4. The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue 5. Playfulness as mediation in communicative language teaching in a Vietnamese classroom 6. Social discursive constructions of self in L2 learning 7. Second language learning as participation and the (re)construction of selves 8. Side affects: The strategic development of professional satisfaction 9. The appropriation of gestures of the abstract by L2 learners 10. Second language acquisition theory and the truth(s) about relativity 11. From input to affordance: Social-interactive learning from an ecological perspective Bibliography Index

Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning

Feedback is widely seen as crucial for encouraging and consolidating learning, and this significance has also been recognised by those working in the field of second language (L2) writing. Its importance is acknowledged in process-based classrooms, where it forms a key element of the students' growing control over composing skills, and by genre-oriented teachers employing scaffolded learning techniques. In fact, over the past twenty years, changes in writing pedagogy and research have transformed feedback practices, with teacher written comments often supplemented with peer feedback, writing workshops, conferences, and computer-delivered feedback. But while feedback is a central aspect of ESL/EFL writing programs across the world, the research literature has not been unequivocally positive about its role in writing development, and teachers often have a sense that they are not making use of its full potential. In this paper we examine recent research related to feedback on L2 students' writing, focusing on the role of feedback in writing instruction and discussing current issues relating to teacher written and oral feedback, collaborative peer feedback and computer-mediated feedback.

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Feedback on second language students' writing

To give is better than to receive: The benefits of peer review to the reviewer's own writing

This paper studies the use of L1 in the collaborative interaction of adult learners of Spanish who are native speakers of English. Viewed as a psychological tool that mediates human mental activity...

Socio-cognitive Functions of L1 Collaborative Interaction in the L2 Classroom

This article reviews research on oral corrective feedback (CF) in second language (L2) classrooms. Various types of oral CF are first identified, and the results of research revealing CF frequency across instructional contexts are presented. Research on CF preferences is then reviewed, revealing a tendency for learners to prefer receiving CF more than teachers feel they should provide it. Next, theoretical perspectives in support of CF are presented and some contentious issues addressed related to the role of learner uptake, the role of instruction, and the overall purpose of CF: to initiate the acquisition of new knowledge or to consolidate already acquired knowledge. A brief review of laboratory studies assessing the effects of recasts is then presented before we focus on classroom studies assessing the effects of different types of CF. Many variables mediate CF effectiveness: of these, we discuss linguistic targets and learners' age in terms of both previous and prospective research. Finally, CF provided by learners and the potential benefits of strategy training for strengthening the role of CF during peer interaction are highlighted.

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Oral Corrective Feedback in Second Language Classrooms.

enties, with the ground breaking publications of Pit Corder, Burt and Kiparsky, George, and Richards (14), one of the central themes of second language research has been the study of learner errors as a reflection of hypothesis testing on the part of second language learners (8; 15; 20; 23;)1 Eventually, the attention of those working on learner errors has moved away from the analysis of errors in their own right as indications of hypothesis testing and interlanguage development to concern with questions relating to the potential effects of corrective procedures on language learning The fundamental question is: does error correction lead to learning, or are corrective moves by teachers or other caretakers ineffective? In addition, some corollary questions have also been addressed, including how and when errors should be corrected (7: p 135) Research aimed at answering these questions has been carried out in either an ethnographic or an experimental framework2 Those working within the ethnographic approach have conducted careful observational studies of corrective behaviors both in the classroom and natu-

Ali Aljaafreh

Papers

Negative Feedback as Regulation and Second Language Learning in the Zone of Proximal Development