James P Lantolf
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 213075 |
|---|---|
| NOME | James P Lantolf |
| PRENOMES | James P |
| SOBRENOME | Lantolf |
| ASSINATURA | LANTOLF J P |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Pennsylvania State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4131-8368 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 44 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 142 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 44 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1981 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 8 |
Praxis and Second Language Acquisition
The focus of the present entry is on educational praxis in second language development. Praxis, in this case, is defined as the necessary integration of theoretical knowledge of features of a language and concrete goal‐directed communicative activity. The integration is understood from the perspective of dialectics, as will become clear throughout the remainder of this entry.
Developing L2 semantic knowledge of English modality through concept‐based language instruction
This study investigates the pedagogical impact of integrating cognitive linguistics (CL) into concept‐based language instruction (C‐BLI) for teaching English modal verbs. Eighty‐nine Mandarin‐speaking university learners were assigned to one of three instructional conditions: C‐BLI with CL‐based conceptualizations (C‐BLI‐CL), C‐BLI with non‐CL functional grammar explanations (C‐BLI‐nonCL), and traditional definition‐based instruction (control). A…
Sociocultural Theory
This entry presents an overview of an approach to second‐language education grounded in the psychological theory proposed by the Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky and his colleagues. The approach reflects Vygotsky's insistence that theory and practice are dialectically integrated, such that while theory informs practice, practice in turn is the ultimate testing ground for theory. This unity of theory and practice he referred to as praxis. The e…
Crisis! Commentary on “synergies” in second language acquisition and teaching (SLA/T) and how the field may advance
We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the special synergies issue on SLA/T (Atkinson et al., MLJ 2025 Supplement). Given length limitations we will restrict our commentary to what we believe to be a crucial matter evidenced by the special issue (SI), namely that it, along with other dialogues in the field (e.g., Douglas Fir Group, 2016; Hulstijn et al., 2014, 2015) are indicative of a crisis in SLA/T. This is not the same type of crisis tha…
Sociocultural theory and classroom second language learning in the East Asian context
In this introduction to the special issue, we first present a brief historical overview of sociocultural theory (SCT) as it has been extended to the process of second language (L2) development and instruction, beginning with two significant publications that appeared in 1994. In the early years, the theory was used as a lens to understand various aspects of learning and instruction. Eventually, it came to be used as a means of promoting the proce…
How concept-based language instruction works in teaching thinking for speaking in an L2
This paper investigates the question of whether systematically organized instruction in L2 thinking for speaking (TFS) can promote a shift from verb-framed L1 (Spanish) to satellite-framed L2 (English) TFS that encompasses the ability to appropriately express in speech and in gesture Path and Manner of Motion in the new language. A pretest narration-instruction-posttest narration design was used to evaluate whether the TFS patterns of seven L1 Sp…
Digital Language Learning
The article reviews Digital Language Learning (DLL) research that has used principles and concepts of Sociocultural Theory (SCT) to support the research. We explain several key principles of the theory and shows how they have been misused or used in a superficial way in the DLL research. These include the assumption that SCT is a social rather than a psychological theory as well as misinterpretation of the central concepts of imitation and the Zo…
A cultural-historical perspective on Digital Language Learning
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
The emotion ∼ intellect dialectic in an EFL teacher's development of a research identity
The ZPD, Second Language Learning, and the Тransposition ~ Transformation Dialectic
The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) held “great practical significance” for education as it identified how instruction can optimally impact learner development: by aligning mediation not to abilities that have already fully formed but to those that are emerging or “ripening” [30]. Despite being one of the most well-known and influential features of Vygotsky’s writings, it has also been subject to critique. For instance, it is [25] suggested th…
Sociocultural theory and concept-based language instruction
In the initial sociocultural theory (SCT) timeline, Lantolf and Beckett (2009) surveyed a broad spectrum of research informed by sociocultural psychology as it was extended into the field of second language acquisition and language teaching. Since that time, the amount of research that has been published within the SCT framework has grown exponentially. With regard to the educational setting, two major strands of research have emerged; one that a…
Scaffolding and the zone of proximal development
For nearly four decades, a variety of social science disciplines have assumed that the zone of proximal development (ZPD) and the metaphor of scaffolding reflect more or less the same process. However, we will argue that any similarity is at best partial and at worst superficial. Equating the processes adds nothing to Vygotsky's general theory and in fact may weaken and dilute the robustness of the theory. To make the non‐equivalence case, the pa…
Let's not get tied into knots
The September 2018 issue of this journal included an article by Newman, (2018) that challenges research carried out on second language acquisition (henceforth, SCT‐L2) informed by the psychological theory proposed by L. S. Vygotsky. We would like to respond to Newman's critique, which he problematizes as three “knots” that he then undertakes to untie through analysis of Vygotsky's writings contained in Vygotsky's two most popular works, Thought a…
Pursuing Vygotsky's Dialectical Approach to Pedagogy and Development
The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is a widely recognized construct articulated by L. S. Vygotsky, whose scholarship inspires the approach to L2 research known as Sociocultural Theory (SCT). In a synthesis of North American L2 ZPD work, Kinginger (2002) outlined how the construct had been appropriated, focusing on three interpretations then permeating the field: skill mastery, scaffolding, and metalinguistic knowledge. Kellogg (2017) has argu…
Understanding the revolutionary character of L2 development in the ZPD
The Zone of Proximal Development has been one of the most misunderstood features of Sociocultural Theory. It has been inappropriately equated with Krashen’s i+1 and with the concept of ‘scaffolding’. Based on an empirical study where learners seemed to require the same degree of explicit mediation at two different points in time, Erlam, et al. (2013) have questioned Aljaafreh and Lantolf’s (1994) regulatory scale and have instead supported a one-…
Response to Pienemann's Critique of Zhang and Lantolf (2015)
We respond here to Pienemann's critique of our study that appeared earlier this year in the Language Learning Special Issue entitled “Orders and Sequences in the Acquisition of L2 Morphosyntax, 40 Years On” and guest edited by Jan Hulstijn, Rod Ellis, and Søren Eskildsen. Pienemann objected to our claim that the Teachability Hypothesis is a corollary of general Processability Theory; to our use of elicited imitation, one of the three tasks in our…
Natural or Artificial
The current study was designed to assess the central claim of the Teachability Hypothesis (TH), a corollary of general Processability Theory (PT), which predicts instruction cannot alter posited universal, hierarchically organized psycholinguistic constraints behind PT's developmental sequences. We employed an interventional design, which adhered to instructional procedures of Systemic Theoretical Instruction, and we taught four university learne…
Sociocultural Theory and the Pedagogical Imperative in L2 Education
Explicating clearly and concisely the full implication of a praxis-oriented language pedagogy, this book argues for an approach to language teaching grounded in a significant scientific theory of human learning—a stance that rejects the consumer approach to theory and the dichotomy between theory and practice that dominates SLA and language teaching. This approach is based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, according to which the two activities …
Bridging the Gap
For some, research in learning and teaching of a second language (L2) runs the risk of disintegrating into irreconcilable approaches to L2 learning and use. On the one side, we find researchers investigating linguistic-cognitive issues, often using quantitative research methods including inferential statistics; on the other side, we find researchers working on the basis of sociocultural or sociocognitive views, often using qualitative research me…
Sociocultural Theory
Vygotsky's (1926/2004) monograph The Historical Meaning of the Crisis in Psychology is his foundational work in which he lays out the theoretical basis of his theory of culturally mediated mind, which is eventually expanded into his much better known publication Thinking and Speech (Vygotsky, 1987).
Happiness is drinking beer
This paper examines multimodal conceptual metaphors in a corpus of 32 American and Ukrainian beer commercials. The dominant metaphor in both cultures is HAPPINESS IS DRINKING BEER, with a secondary metaphor BEER IS A PERSON. The Ukrainian commercials exhibit a third metaphor that appears in a very subtle way in the American commercials: LOVE FOR THE MOTHERLAND IS DRINKING BEER. The analysis reveals cross‐cultural variation in the mappings and ent…
Dynamic assessment in the classroom
This article reports the efforts of an elementary school teacher of Spanish as a second language to implement principles of dynamic assessment (DA) in her daily interactions with learners. DA is neither an assessment instrument nor a method of assessing but a framework for conceptualizing teaching and assessment as an integrated activity of understanding learner abilities by actively supporting their development (Poehner, 2008). DA is based on Vy…
Vygotsky's Teaching-Assessment Dialectic and L2 Education
This article concerns a particular application of Vygotsky's concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) wherein conventional assessment situations are reorganized to allow for cooperation between assessor and learner as they jointly complete assessment tasks and work through difficulties that arise. This approach, known as Dynamic Assessment (DA), a term coined by Luria (1961 Luria, A. R. 1961. Study of the abnormal child. American Journal…
Sociocultural theory and second language acquisition
Second language acquisition (SLA) research informed by sociocultural theory (henceforth, SCT) began in earnest with the publication of Frawley & Lantolf's (1985) article on L2 (second language) discourse (described in the timeline proper). Since then, well over 300 journal articles, book chapters and doctoral dissertations have appeared in the research literature. Although the term ‘sociocultural’ is often applied to a wide array of approaches to…
Dynamic assessment
This presentation is situated within the general framework of Vygotsky's educational theory, which argues that development in formal educational activity is a fundamentally different process from development that occurs in the everyday world. A cornerstone of Vygotsky's theory is that to be successful education must be sensitive to learners' zone of proximal development . This requires the dialectical integration of instruction and assessment int…
SLA Theory Building
This article presents a postmodernist critical analysis of the SLA theory building-literature as primarily represented in the writings of Beretta, Crookes, Eubank, Gregg, Long, and to some extent Schumann. I argue that there is no foundational reason to grant privileged status to the modernist view of SLA theory these scholars espouse. Scientific theories are metaphorical constructs that are elevated to theoretical status because they are "taken …
Bridging the Gap
For some, research in learning and teaching of a second language (L2) runs the risk of disintegrating into irreconcilable approaches to L2 learning and use. On the one side, we find researchers investigating linguistic-cognitive issues, often using quantitative research methods including inferential statistics; on the other side, we find researchers working on the basis of sociocultural or sociocognitive views, often using qualitative research me…
Second language learning as a mediated process
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Scaffolding and the zone of proximal development
For nearly four decades, a variety of social science disciplines have assumed that the zone of proximal development (ZPD) and the metaphor of scaffolding reflect more or less the same process. However, we will argue that any similarity is at best partial and at worst superficial. Equating the processes adds nothing to Vygotsky's general theory and in fact may weaken and dilute the robustness of the theory. To make the non‐equivalence case, the pa…
Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development and Krashen's i+1
Second language scholars, in public research and in public discussions,have suggested that Krashen's construct of i+1is similar to Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and that it might therefore befeasible to integrate the two constructs in a way that would be productive for second languageacquisition (SLA) research. After surveying publications relevant to the issue, we argue that thisenterprise is futile, not only because the concepts are u…
The emotion ∼ intellect dialectic in an EFL teacher's development of a research identity
The “private function” of gesture in second language speaking activity
This article examines Slobin's concept of thinking for speaking (TFS) in the gesture/speech interface of advanced L2 speakers of English and Spanish. The focus is on the use of motion verbs in the respective languages. English, a satellite‐framed language, encodes manner of motion in the verb and indicates path of motion on satellite phrases (e.g. The frog leaped out of the boy's pocket ). Spanish, a verb‐framed language, encodes path, and only r…
The linguistic analysis of private writing
Sociocultural theory and concept-based language instruction
In the initial sociocultural theory (SCT) timeline, Lantolf and Beckett (2009) surveyed a broad spectrum of research informed by sociocultural psychology as it was extended into the field of second language acquisition and language teaching. Since that time, the amount of research that has been published within the SCT framework has grown exponentially. With regard to the educational setting, two major strands of research have emerged; one that a…
Sociocultural theory and second language acquisition
Second language acquisition (SLA) research informed by sociocultural theory (henceforth, SCT) began in earnest with the publication of Frawley & Lantolf's (1985) article on L2 (second language) discourse (described in the timeline proper). Since then, well over 300 journal articles, book chapters and doctoral dissertations have appeared in the research literature. Although the term ‘sociocultural’ is often applied to a wide array of approaches to…
Natural or Artificial
The current study was designed to assess the central claim of the Teachability Hypothesis (TH), a corollary of general Processability Theory (PT), which predicts instruction cannot alter posited universal, hierarchically organized psycholinguistic constraints behind PT's developmental sequences. We employed an interventional design, which adhered to instructional procedures of Systemic Theoretical Instruction, and we taught four university learne…
Talking Yourself into Spanish
An empirically-supported theoretical argument is made for the relevance of private speech, or intrapersonal communication, in the internalization of an L2. We propose that the process is parallel to that attested in children learning their L1. In internalization learners imitate the linguistic affordances made available by the classroom community. Imitation, in the theoretical perspective that informs the study, is not mimicking; rather it is a u…
The Syntactic Complexity of Written Texts in Spanish as a Foreign Language
Happiness is drinking beer
This paper examines multimodal conceptual metaphors in a corpus of 32 American and Ukrainian beer commercials. The dominant metaphor in both cultures is HAPPINESS IS DRINKING BEER, with a secondary metaphor BEER IS A PERSON. The Ukrainian commercials exhibit a third metaphor that appears in a very subtle way in the American commercials: LOVE FOR THE MOTHERLAND IS DRINKING BEER. The analysis reveals cross‐cultural variation in the mappings and ent…
Dynamic assessment
This presentation is situated within the general framework of Vygotsky's educational theory, which argues that development in formal educational activity is a fundamentally different process from development that occurs in the everyday world. A cornerstone of Vygotsky's theory is that to be successful education must be sensitive to learners' zone of proximal development . This requires the dialectical integration of instruction and assessment int…
Commentary from the flower garden
I begin my necessarily brief commentary on Gregg (2000) with a confession: I am not, nor have I ever been, a practising postmodernist. I freely admit, however, that some of the ideas that have emerged from this project are sufficiently interesting to take seriously. I wrote my 1996 article to stir up the waters and to explore what a postmodernist perspective might do for, and to, second language acquisition (SLA). It can be useful for any discipl…
The cognitive function of linguistic performance
Private speech and self-regulation
Strategies for Accessing Bilingual Dictionaries
Colloquium on Spanish and Luso-Brazilian Linguistics
El concepto de oracion en la linguistica espanola
Second Language Discourse
WILLIAM FRAWLEY, JAMES P. LANTOLF; Second Language Discourse: A Vygotskyan Perspective, Applied Linguistics, Volume 6, Issue 1, 1 January 1985, Pages 19–44
Strategies for Accessing Bilingual Dictionaries
Private speech and self-regulation
Private speech and self-regulation
The Syntactic Complexity of Written Texts in Spanish as a Foreign Language
Negative Feedback as Regulation and Second Language Learning in the Zone of Proximal Development
The linguistic analysis of private writing
SLA Theory Building
This article presents a postmodernist critical analysis of the SLA theory building-literature as primarily represented in the writings of Beretta, Crookes, Eubank, Gregg, Long, and to some extent Schumann. I argue that there is no foundational reason to grant privileged status to the modernist view of SLA theory these scholars espouse. Scientific theories are metaphorical constructs that are elevated to theoretical status because they are "taken …
The cognitive function of linguistic performance
Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development and Krashen's i+1
Second language scholars, in public research and in public discussions,have suggested that Krashen's construct of i+1is similar to Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and that it might therefore befeasible to integrate the two constructs in a way that would be productive for second languageacquisition (SLA) research. After surveying publications relevant to the issue, we argue that thisenterprise is futile, not only because the concepts are u…
Second language learning as a mediated process
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Commentary from the flower garden
I begin my necessarily brief commentary on Gregg (2000) with a confession: I am not, nor have I ever been, a practising postmodernist. I freely admit, however, that some of the ideas that have emerged from this project are sufficiently interesting to take seriously. I wrote my 1996 article to stir up the waters and to explore what a postmodernist perspective might do for, and to, second language acquisition (SLA). It can be useful for any discipl…
Talking Yourself into Spanish
An empirically-supported theoretical argument is made for the relevance of private speech, or intrapersonal communication, in the internalization of an L2. We propose that the process is parallel to that attested in children learning their L1. In internalization learners imitate the linguistic affordances made available by the classroom community. Imitation, in the theoretical perspective that informs the study, is not mimicking; rather it is a u…
Dynamic assessment of L2 development
The “private function” of gesture in second language speaking activity
This article examines Slobin's concept of thinking for speaking (TFS) in the gesture/speech interface of advanced L2 speakers of English and Spanish. The focus is on the use of motion verbs in the respective languages. English, a satellite‐framed language, encodes manner of motion in the verb and indicates path of motion on satellite phrases (e.g. The frog leaped out of the boy's pocket ). Spanish, a verb‐framed language, encodes path, and only r…
Sociocultural Theory and L2
This article considers the implications of two central constructs of sociocultural theory (SCT) for second language (L2) development: mediation and internalization. It first discusses Vygotsky's general theoretical claim that human mental activity arises as a consequence of the functional system formed by our biologically specified mental capacities and our culturally constructed symbolic artifacts. It then examines some of the L2 research that h…
Language Emergence
The appearance of this special issue on emergentism, chaos/complexity theory and dynamic systems theory (henceforth, ECCTDST) is a welcome addition to the mix of theories that inform the field of applied linguistics in general and SLA in particular (see Lantolf 1996).1 This set of theories has been particularly provocative for those working on L2 development from the perspective of Vygotskian sociocultural theory (henceforth, SCT). As Steve Thorn…
Sociocultural theory and second language acquisition
Second language acquisition (SLA) research informed by sociocultural theory (henceforth, SCT) began in earnest with the publication of Frawley & Lantolf's (1985) article on L2 (second language) discourse (described in the timeline proper). Since then, well over 300 journal articles, book chapters and doctoral dissertations have appeared in the research literature. Although the term ‘sociocultural’ is often applied to a wide array of approaches to…
Dynamic assessment
This presentation is situated within the general framework of Vygotsky's educational theory, which argues that development in formal educational activity is a fundamentally different process from development that occurs in the everyday world. A cornerstone of Vygotsky's theory is that to be successful education must be sensitive to learners' zone of proximal development . This requires the dialectical integration of instruction and assessment int…
Vygotsky's Teaching-Assessment Dialectic and L2 Education
This article concerns a particular application of Vygotsky's concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) wherein conventional assessment situations are reorganized to allow for cooperation between assessor and learner as they jointly complete assessment tasks and work through difficulties that arise. This approach, known as Dynamic Assessment (DA), a term coined by Luria (1961 Luria, A. R. 1961. Study of the abnormal child. American Journal…
Dynamic assessment in the classroom
This article reports the efforts of an elementary school teacher of Spanish as a second language to implement principles of dynamic assessment (DA) in her daily interactions with learners. DA is neither an assessment instrument nor a method of assessing but a framework for conceptualizing teaching and assessment as an integrated activity of understanding learner abilities by actively supporting their development (Poehner, 2008). DA is based on Vy…
Sociocultural Theory
Vygotsky's (1926/2004) monograph The Historical Meaning of the Crisis in Psychology is his foundational work in which he lays out the theoretical basis of his theory of culturally mediated mind, which is eventually expanded into his much better known publication Thinking and Speech (Vygotsky, 1987).
Happiness is drinking beer
This paper examines multimodal conceptual metaphors in a corpus of 32 American and Ukrainian beer commercials. The dominant metaphor in both cultures is HAPPINESS IS DRINKING BEER, with a secondary metaphor BEER IS A PERSON. The Ukrainian commercials exhibit a third metaphor that appears in a very subtle way in the American commercials: LOVE FOR THE MOTHERLAND IS DRINKING BEER. The analysis reveals cross‐cultural variation in the mappings and ent…
Psychology (33 obras) · Linguistics (27 obras) · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning (24 obras) · Philosophy (23 obras) · Sociology (21 obras) · Epistemology (20 obras) · Computer Science (19 obras) · Educational and Psychological Assessments (16 obras) · Sociocultural evolution (13 obras) · Mathematics education (12 obras)