“New” Mainstream SLA Theory: Expanded and Enriched

MERRILL SWAIN PING DETERS Modern Language Centre Modern Language Centre The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto University of Toronto 252 Bloor Street West 252 Bloor Street West Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6 Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6 Canada Canada Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

How have the ideas raised by Firth and Wagner (1997) influenced the construction of second language acquisition (SLA) theories? In this article, we take the position that prior to and since 1997, there was and has been a notable increase in SLA research and theory that pri- oritizes sociocultural and contextual factors in addition to acknowledging individual agency and multifaceted identities. This article focuses on 4 major influences on a growing body of SLA research: sociocultural theory of mind, situated learning, poststructural theories, and di- alogism. We highlight aspects of these perspectives that have been used in SLA theory, and provide examples of research that illustrate the richness and complexity of constructs such as languaging, legitimate peripheral participation, subjectivity, and heteroglossia. These per- spectives and constructs address Firth and Wagner’s call for a reconceptualization of SLA by offering alternative understandings of language and language learning.

IN THEIR 1997 MODERN LANGUAGE JOUR- learning an L2 were ignored. Firth and Wagner ar- nal (MLJ ) article, Firth and Wagner called for gued that mainstream SLA viewed acquisition as a a reconceptualization of second language ac- cognitive and individual phenomenon. Research quisition (SLA) theory, methodology, research, methodology favored experiments and quantifi- and foci. The reconceptualization they called for cation over more ethnographically oriented, qual- would place a greater emphasis on social and con- itative studies. The former were conducted in textual orientations relative to what they saw as contexts where attempts were made to control an overwhelming priority then placed on cogni- all extraneous variables, whereas the latter were tive accounts of second language (L2) acquisition. conducted in naturalistic settings. Experimental The reconceptualization would also provide an research also prioritized etic, researcher perspec- emic perspective and would broaden the tradi- tives over emic perspectives. Firth and Wagner tional database in the field of second language called for a more “holistic approach to and acquisition (SLA) research. outlook on language and language acquisition” Firth and Wagner (1997) claimed that main- (p. 296) that acknowledged the influence of so- stream SLA theory and research skewed our view cial context, identity, task, and setting on language of language users and learners, seeing them only use and acquisition. as nonnative speakers, struggling to reach the (as- Prior to the appearance of Firth and Wagner’s sumed) goal of being like a native speaker (NS) of (1997) article, the seeds for such a reconceptu- the target language. Other social identities of indi- alization of SLA research and theory had already viduals (e.g., mothers, brothers, friends, employ- been sown in other related fields, for example, ers, journalists, professors) engaged in using and anthropology, sociology, and cultural psychology, as well as in SLA. For example, Block (1996), The Modern Language Journal, 91, Focus Issue, (2007) Lantolf (1996), and van Lier (1994) had con- 0026-7902/07/820–836 $1.50/0 tributed to the discussion about theory-building
C 2007 The Modern Language Journal in SLA by suggesting that a variety of perspectives, Merrill Swain and Ping Deters 821 including those from sociocultural orientations, whoarguedthatitwasessentialtoincorporate were needed to explore the complexity of the L2 the study of human culture and history into the acquisition process. In addition, a special issue effort to understand the development of the hu- of the MLJ in 1994 (Lantolf), which focused on man mind. Vygotsky’s theory was further devel- sociocultural theory and L2 learning, as well as oped by his students and colleagues, for exam- the 1994 edited volume of SLA studies informed ple, Galperin (1969), Leont’ev (1978), and Luria by Vygotskian perspectives (Lantolf & Appel), re- (1982), and also by contemporary scholars in flected increasing interest in sociocultural per- fields such as psychology, anthropology, and edu- spectives in SLA prior to 1997. However, the cation (e.g., Cole, 1996; Holland, Lachiotte, Skin- appearance of the Firth and Wagner article un- ner, & Cain, 1998; Ratner, 1991; Robbins, 2003; doubtedly provided a stimulus for SLA research Rogoff, 1990; Wells, 1999; Wertsch, 1991, 1998), as that would incorporate an even greater diver- well as in SLA (e.g., Donato, 1994; Lantolf, 2000; sity in methodology and theoretical perspectives. Lantolf & Appel, 1994; Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; Since the appearance of the Firth and Wagner Swain, 2000, 2006a, 2006c). article, a variety of alternative perspectives have In contrast to the Cartesian dichotomy between blossomed, extending the boundaries of SLA the- mind and matter, Vygotsky’s work (see, e.g., 1978) ory, adding to and enriching its constructs and posited a dialectic relationship between the mind methodologies. and the social milieu. Physical and semiotic tools Although we recognize that the Firth and enable individuals to change their physical and Wagner (1997) article was a response to and a social environments, which in turn change the in- stimulus for much discussion and debate among dividuals and the way in which they relate to their SLA scholars over a theory of language acquisi- physical and social environments. This theory dif- tion, and although we realize that different ori- fers fundamentally from other theories of mind entations, including traditional psycholinguistics, in its stance that the social environment is not make important contributions to our understand- the context for, but rather the source of, mental ing of the complexities in the SLA process, in development.1 Whereas traditional approaches to this article, we focus on four major influences the study of mental behavior focus on the individ- on SLA theory over the past decade that priori- ual and what the individual is doing, SCT takes tize sociocultural and contextual factors in addi- into account the complex interaction between tion to the importance of individual agency and the individual acting with mediational means and the multiple identities involved in the process of the sociocultural context. That is, SCT focuses on learning and using an L2: sociocultural theory of what tools the person is acting with (mediational mind, situated learning, poststructural theories, means), where the action takes place, and why the and dialogism. In the four sections that follow, we person is acting (motives and goals).2 SCT views highlight aspects of these perspectives that have individuals as agents-operating-with-mediational- been used in SLA theory, and provide examples means (Wertsch, 1998); that is, people are not of research illustrating the richness of the con- free agents, but their behavior is enhanced or con- structs embedded in them. These perspectives, strained by the tools they have available to use and among others, address Firth and Wagner’s call for the affordances present in (or absent from) their a reconceptualization of SLA—the “new” main- environment (see e.g., van Lier, 2000, 2004). stream SLA—by offering alternative understand- A fundamental principle of SCT is mediation: ings of language and language learning that differ Humans use physical tools and socioculturally— from those found in the psycholinguistic theories and sociohistorically—constructed symbolic arti- of the 1990s, by presenting emic perspectives of facts, of which language is the most important, to the L2 acquisition process, and by acknowledging control and master nature and themselves. Ac- the complexity and importance of sociocultural cording to SCT, higher cognitive functions de- identities and human agency in L2 learning. velop from interactions with the social milieu and are mediated through language and other semi- SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY OF MIND otic artifacts. AND SLA What we wish to highlight in this section are only two of the many central concepts from SCT Over the past decade, there has been a notable that have important implications for alternative increase in SLA research that is informed by a so- conceptualizations of SLA. First, SCT views lan- ciocultural theory of mind (hereafter SCT). This guage in a manner fundamentally different from theoretical perspective is based on the work of traditional SLA conceptions of language. Whereas the Russian psycholinguist Vygotsky (1978, 1986), traditional psycholinguistics views language as a 822 The Modern Language Journal 91 (2007) conveyor of an already formed thought, SCT views either came to an understanding of it or not. To language as a tool of the mind,3 a tool that con- further our emic perspective of what the students tributes to cognitive development and is constitu- were doing, in follow-up interviews, we asked them tive of thought. Through languaging, defined as how they felt about talking out loud about French the use of speaking and writing to mediate cog- grammar, whether they would consider doing so nitively complex activities, an individual develops by themselves, and if they thought it helped them cognitively, and as we shall see, affectively. The to learn. Most students said they found it useful act of producing spoken or written language is to talk out loud about what they were reading. As thinking in progress and is key to learners’ un- M9 told us: derstanding of complex concepts. These under- standings are reached through interacting with my sister’ll walk by and be like “are you talking to others, ourselves, and social and cultural artifacts. yourself?” And I’ll just do like I was doing with those Through languaging—a crucial mediating psy- sheets [the text on grammatical voice] when I was chological and cultural activity—learners articu- reading them ...Like where I don’t get it when read- late and transform their thinking into an artifac- ing through, I’ll say it out loud so I can hear myself tual form, and in doing so, make it available as a saying it and then I’ll, I’ll talk myself through it usu- source of further reflection (Swain, 2006a). ally. (Swain, 2006b, unpublished data) There is a growing body of research that ex- And M11 told us: amines the importance of languaging as part of the process of learning, although this particular term has not been used until recently (Kinnear, but to sort of get it sunk in, I have to sort of explain it 2006; Swain, 2006c; Thorne & Lantolf, 2007). Top- to myself. (Swain, 2006b, unpublished data) ics that have been examined include inner and In effect, for these students, languaging mediated private speech (e.g., Centeno-Cortes,´ 2003; de their comprehension of the concept of voice, and Guerrero, 1994, 1999, 2004; DiCamilla & Anton,´ made possible the internalization of their concep- 2004; Lee, 2006; McCafferty, 1992, 1998), collab- tion of this new substantive knowledge, and in orative dialogue (e.g., Belz & Kinginger, 2002, some cases, made possible the application of this 2003; Buckwalter, 2001; Nassaji & Swain, 2000; knowledge to language use. Ohta, 2001; Swain, 2000; Swain & Lapkin, 1998), In a doctoral dissertation that examined the in- language play (e.g., Bell, 2005; Broner & Tarone, terdependency of emotions, language, and com- 2001; Tarone, 2000; Tocalli-Beller & Swain, in munication in a collaborative learning context in press), and the effect of language choice on first a university English as a Foreign Language (EFL) person narratives (Steinman, 2005). course in Japan, Imai (2007) provided an example In one of our current studies (Lapkin, Swain, & in which a group of three students co-constructed Knouzi, in press; Swain, Lapkin, Knouzi, Suzuki, their emotion of anger through languaging their & Brooks, 2007), university students of French feelings of frustration. At one point in their group were asked to read aloud a lengthy passage (ap- discussion, one of the students (Tomoyo) made proximately 950 words) about the grammatical an offhand comment about how boring their EFL concept of voice (active, passive, and middle voice class was. The discussion immediately turned to sentences), one chunk of meaning at a time. Af- how disorganized their teacher was and with each ter reading each chunk, the students were asked passing turn (32 of them), the three students to explain in their own words (i.e., to language) co-constructed an increasingly negative image of the meaning of what they had just read. The stu- their teacher, creating an intense level of anger dents were both pretested and posttested on their (resulting from their frustration) among them. understanding of the concept of voice, and they The parting shot came from Naomi who con- were posttested on their ability to identify and pro- cluded angrily: duce verb forms to realize the appropriate voice of sentences embedded in a story. The test re- Not only that, I really felt that the teacher, you know, sults show that high languagers demonstrated a since that man is a teacher, he should cover expenses deeper knowledge of the concept of voice, as well for our photocopying [the material he wants us to read]. (group discussion, 4th session) as a greater ability to correctly identify the voice of a sentence and to produce the appropriate verb Based on other data from the students’ emo- form than low languagers (Swain, 2007). tion logs, emotional temperature assessment, and Furthermore, the transcripts of the students’ stimulated recalls, Imai (2007) presented an ex- languaging revealed the different ways that they cellent case for the interpretation of this conversa- grappled with this difficult concept of voice and tion as revealing the development of the emotion Merrill Swain and Ping Deters 823 of anger through languaging. That is, had the he considered it worthwhile to interact, and his students not had this discussion, they might never motivation to continue learning English declined have felt this intense level of anger. Imai also ar- over time. In contrast, another immigrant, San- gued that through this conversation, emotional dra, who considered any speaker of English (cer- intersubjectivity among the group members was tainly including other learners of English) to be created. It is interesting to note that this group a language learning resource, interacted with a finished their assignment on time and obtained a wide variety of individuals. Her L2 motivation did high grade for it; whereas in another group, where not decline. In the case of these two students, Paul the students remained relatively neutral emotion- had the goal of achieving NS abilities in English. ally, the students were unable to complete their Nevertheless, it was Sandra who performed better assignment on time. onatestofspokenEnglishattheendofthedata The second point about SCT that we wish to collection period. highlight is the importance it places on genesis, that is, on the history of a present entity or pro- SITUATED LEARNING AND SLA cess. According to Vygotsky (1978), one cannot understand the human mind without knowing Another major strand of socioculturally in- how it came to function in the way it functions. formed SLA research is framed by situated learn- This is why Vygotsky studied children—because ing models. Such models have developed in re- he wanted to understand the process of how some- cent decades as a result of increasing interest thing comes into being.4 As Hall (2002) noted, in situated cognition in diverse disciplines such traditional SLA conceptualizes learners as “stable, as cognitive science, artificial intelligence, educa- internally homogeneous, fixed entities” (p. 31). tion, and anthropology. Wilson and Myers (2000) In addition, individuals are seen as independent noted that situated cognition, which focuses on from context, and individual actions are believed human knowledge and interaction in situ, can to be driven by internally motivated states. In con- be approached from a perspective that primarily trast, a sociocultural perspective views individuals examines individual cognitive mechanisms, such and their cognitive and emotional development as in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, as constituting and constituted by their social mi- or from a perspective that prioritizes the social lieu. From an SCT perspective, individuals have and cultural (e.g., Lave, 1988). In this section, histories that are complex and variable and that given the focus of this article on socioculturally affect their actions and motivation to engage in informed perspectives, we present examples from L2 learning. the latter perspective. Situated learning models In a recent study, Kim (2007) examined L2 have had an important impact on SLA research motivation from an SCT perspective, making in diverse learning contexts, including the area particular use of activity theory. Each month of computer-assisted language learning (see e.g., for approximately a year, Kim individually inter- Salaberry, 1996). As we noted in our introduction, viewed recently arrived Korean immigrants and and will elaborate, such research had already gar- Korean visa students living in a large metropolitan nered interest in SLA prior to Firth and Wagner’s city in Canada. Kim’s data illustrate three impor- (1997) article, and has flourished since then. tant findings informed by SCT and not evidenced The participation metaphor has increasingly in previous motivational research. First, his lon- drawn attention in SLA to complement the tra- gitudinal data demonstrate that L2 motivation is ditional acquisition metaphor (Donato, 2000; not a stable characteristic of an individual, but in- Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000; Sfard, 1998). According stead fluctuates and changes over time. Second, to the participation metaphor, learning is a the occurrence of localized specific events, which process of becoming a member of a community, have uniquely personal importance to an individ- and this process involves developing the ability ual learner, are critical in determining a learner’s to communicate through the language and be- motivational trajectory. Third, a learner’s history havior that are deemed acceptable by the com- as reflected in his or her belief systems, inter- munity. In this section, we focus on two mod- acts with his or her L2 motivational development. els that incorporate the participation metaphor For example, one Korean immigrant participant, and theoretical orientations from anthropology, Paul, believed that the only useful input for his namely, language socialization and the commu- English language learning was that which came nity of practice framework. Both of these orienta- from a NS of English. As a result, in the multilin- tions emphasize the social situatedness of learn- gual city in which he lived, there were few people ing, and conceive of learning as becoming an among his acquaintances and contacts with whom active, full participant in a particular community, 824 The Modern Language Journal 91 (2007) which necessarily involves constructing identities macro- and microlevels of the institutional, social, in relation to these communities. political, and cultural aspects of a particular con- Language socialization gained prominence text; and (d) learning as participation in commu- through the work of Heath (1983), Ochs (1988), nities of practice. Schieffelin and Ochs (1986), and Watson (1975), Contemporary language socialization theory, to name but a few. Garrett and Baquedano- especially as it is used to inform SLA research, Lopez (2002) defined socialization as “the process has evolved from its earlier form, which was based through which a child or other novice acquires on anthropological studies and which assumed the knowledge, orientations, and practices that a more unproblematic apprenticeship of novices enable him or her to participate effectively and into a particular language and culture. Watson- appropriately in the social life of a particular com- Gegeo (2004) incorporated Lave and Wenger’s munity” (p. 339) and stated that this process is (1991) framework of legitimate peripheral par- realized primarily through the use of language. ticipation into a contemporary language social- Language socialization research, then, examines ization theory. Indeed, many researchers using a how novices are socialized through the use of lan- situated learning orientation move seamlessly be- guage as well as how they are socialized to use tween concepts from language socialization and language. According to Garrett and Baquedano- the community of practice framework. However, Lopez, language socialization research seeks a we will discuss the community of practice frame- holistic and integrative perspective to understand- work separately because there are some key differ- ing human development, and is longitudinal and ences, which we will highlight with a number of ethnographic in orientation. This theoretical ori- examples. entation began to appear in SLA research over a Lave and Wenger’s community of practice decade ago, with key earlier studies by (a) Harklau framework (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) (1994) and Poole (1992), who examined the lan- has been used by a number of SLA researchers to guage socialization of students in English as a sec- inform their studies of L2 acquisition in various ond language (ESL) classes in the United States; naturalistic contexts. These studies include ear- (b) Duff (1995), who examined language social- lier works by Haneda (1997) and Toohey (1996), ization in a dual language high school in Hungary; as well as more recent studies by Leki (2001), (c) Ohta (1994), who examined Japanese as a Morita (2004), and Toohey, Waterstone, and Jule-´ foreign language learners; and (d) Willet (1995), Lemke (2000). As mentioned previously, there who examined ESL first graders in a mainstream are many similarities between language socializa- classroom. More recent research from a language tion and the community of practice framework, socialization perspective includes work by Bayley but one key difference is that the community and Schecter (2003), Duff and Uchida (1997), of practice framework is more explicit than lan- Duff, Wong, and Early (2000), Lam (2004), Li guage socialization about power differentials in (2000), Moore (1999), Ohta (1999, 2001), and learning in situ. A central concept in Lave and Schecter and Bayley (1997). These studies have Wenger’s situated learning model is that of legit- examined language socialization in a variety of L2 imate peripheral participation. Learners must be and foreign language (FL) contexts, focusing on seen as legitimate participants in order to access teachers and students in classrooms, as well as on a particular community’s resources. Peripherality adult immigrants in the workplace. is a positive term that describes the engagement In a recent MLJ article, Watson-Gegeo (2004) of newcomers in varying degrees of participation. made an argument for a language socialization Both legitimacy and peripherality are necessary in paradigm for SLA that would be consistent with order for an individual to become a full partici- new findings about mind and language from the pant in a particular community. Newcomers must cognitive sciences. Watson-Gegeo identified the be accepted by others in a community of practice key premises of language socialization theory as in order to gain access to resources and opportu- including (a) the dialectic relationship between nities for socialization. Access is key and crucial. As the acquisition of language and culture, and the we shall see later, individuals in L2 or FL contexts importance of human agency in the acquisition do not necessarily have unproblematic access to process; (b) the inherent social, cultural, and the learning community. political nature of all contexts in which learn- The community of practice framework empha- ers interact with others and which affects the sizes learning as involving the whole person with linguistic forms that are available to learners; (c) a sociocultural history and focuses on “activity the complexity, multidimensionality, and historic- in and with the world” and on the view that ity of contexts and the need to examine both “agent, activity, and the world mutually constitute Merrill Swain and Ping Deters 825 each other” (Lave & Wenger, 1991, p. 33). An- community of peers. Another observation was other central concept is that learning involves that identities were contextually and temporally the (re)construction of identities. Furthermore, bound. For example, Amy’s identity was quite rather than reproducing the existing commu- different when she was interacting in Cantonese nity, the participation of newcomers also entails with her Cantonese-speaking peers. In this con- changes and transformation of the community. text, she was assertive and talkative. This study In Wenger’s (1998) more recent elaboration of showed that the process of learning an L2 in a this framework, issues of identity take centre stage: classroom setting is much more complex than “our membership constitutes our identity, not just previously thought, and that, contrary to common through reified markers of membership but more belief, L2 learning for a young child is not an easy fundamentally through the forms of competence task. that it entails” (p. 152). Wenger also introduced A more recent SLA study that used the com- issues of nonparticipation in addition to partici- munity of practice framework is Morita’s (2004) pation: one-year ethnographic study that examined the experiences of six female Japanese graduate stu- We not only produce our identities through the prac- dents in a Canadian university. Morita found that tice we engage in, but we also define ourselves through the students faced major challenges in negotiat- practices we do not engage in. Our identities are con- ing competence and identities, and power rela- stitutednotonlybywhatwearebutalsobywhatwe tions, which were necessary for them to be rec- are not. (p. 164) ognized as legitimate peripheral participants in Thus, a community of practice perspective views their classroom communities. The methods of ne- the negotiation of identities as potentially con- gotiation depended on the context, and the par- flictual as learners move across the boundaries of ticular classroom community, as well as on the different communities. student’s personal history, values, and goals. A Toohey’s (1996) study of kindergarten ESL number of interesting findings emerged from this learners was one of the first SLA studies that was study. informed by a community of practice framework. The data clearly showed the contingent nature This ethnographic study examined the communi- of the students’ identities because their identi- ties in which two Asian newcomer children, Har- ties could change in different contexts or in the vey and Amy, participated peripherally. Toohey same context over time. For example, in one class, focused on the identities of these children, the Nanako felt like a legitimate peripheral partici- social practices and resources that were available pant because the instructor acknowledged that for newcomer children, and the power relations there are different learning styles and that it was in each community’s social structure that deter- normal for international students to take some mined the conditions for legitimate peripheral time to get accustomed to the North American participation. Toohey found that various commu- style of classroom interaction. The instructor also nities existed within this kindergarten class: the of- told Nanako that as an outsider, she had a valuable ficial class community, which included the teacher perspective to contribute. However, in another and all of the pupils, and a number of commu- course, when Nanako appealed to the instructor nities formed by children with a common first for help, the instructor “did not seem to care” and language (L1), for example, Chinese and Polish. “offered no constructive advice” (Morita, 2004, Regarding social practices, Toohey observed the p. 589). As a result, Nanako’s limited participa- interaction between identity and access to a com- tion was not peripheral but marginalized. This munity’s resources, which in this context included example is also important in showing the value social play and toys. of learners’ perspectives. To an outside observer, Toohey (1996) found a two-way relationship be- Nanako appeared to exhibit similar behavior in tween identity and participation, and that iden- both courses, that is, limited participation. But tity and access to participation and resources are Nanako’s narrative shows that her identity as a historical, dynamic, and problematic for the chil- member of the classroom community was quite dren. For example, Harvey was constructed as pol- different in these two contexts. luting byhispeers,andasaresult,hadmuch This study, as in the work by Lantolf and difficulty accessing the social and material re- Genung (2003) and Norton (2001), revealed the sources in the classroom. Amy, however, had a importance of learners’ agency in shaping their constructed identity of cute little girl who was com- own learning and participation. As mentioned pliant, quiet, and welcomed by the classroom previously, Wenger (1998) maintained that issues 826 The Modern Language Journal 91 (2007) of nonparticipation are indicative of identity and Unfortunately for the first half a year I ended up in a agency. For example, Rie, another participant Polish area, where everyone speaks Polish and I hated ... in Morita’s (2004) study, actively resisted being it . Because my attitude and my understanding was marginalized in a course where the instructor I’m here, I have to learn English in order to survive. I could survive in a little Polish area or little Poland or and other students whose L1 was English posi- whatever you call it. But that wasn’t my goal. (Deters, tioned the international students as deficient. As 2006, unpublished data) a result of the unsupportive atmosphere in the class, Rie consciously decided not to become a In contrast to the forms of nonparticipation dis- full participant as a way of “coping and exercis- cussed previously in the studies by Morita (2004), ing her personal agency” (p. 594). Lantolf and and Lantolf and Genung (2003), which involved Genung’s study, although framed by an activity withdrawal from and resistance to the target- theoretical perspective rather than a community language learning community, Peter’s nonpartic- of practice perspective,5 also demonstrated a stu- ipation involved withdrawal from his own ethnic dent’s agency to direct her learning in her FL community. course. In this case, the Chinese as a foreign lan- Peter’s narrative throughout reflected his guage student changed her goal from learning an strong motivation to learn and his agency in learn- FL successfully to merely passing the course to ful- ing English: fill her doctoral program requirements when her values about language learning practices clashed And then again I was very highly motivated. I was like with those of her instructor. okay, I have to learn. I have to learn another word. I One of our current research studies (Deters, in have to learn another rule, blah, blah, blah. And I will preparation) also uses the community of practice get somewhere with that, because I was very pleased framework to examine the professional accultur- when my diploma, university degree was evaluated ation experiences of highly educated immigrants by (the local university). I was extremely pleased with in Canada. We present excerpts from the narrative that and it was like thank God. It means that my knowl- edge, my university degree will be recognized in this of one of the participants to illustrate the dialectic country .... That was the biggest point and I thought and co-constructed nature of identity and agency. okay, because the (university), which is a huge insti- Peter, a chemist from Poland, arrived in Canada tution, said okay, we agree with you, you have your with a handful of phrases in English. Because Master’s degree, I thought okay, I will get somewhere he had to work full time to support himself, with that. I will use it. Sooner or later I will use it. he learned English on his own and through his (Deters, 2006, unpublished data) interactions with people, for example, with co- workers and customers in the coffee shop where These excerpts reflect the relation between he worked for the first year and a half. At the time Peter’s identity and his agency to become a mem- of the interview, Peter had been in the country for ber of a new community, which also involved non- 17 years and had achieved professional success, participation in his former community, as shown first as a chemist in the food industry, and later in the second excerpt. The last excerpt reveals as a full-time faculty member in the Department how Peter’s identity as an educated professional of Chemical Engineering at a college. Peter’s nar- was affirmed when the local university officially rative reflected issues of identity and agency in recognized his previous education, and how this learning the language and culture of his adopted reification of academic membership contributed country. First of all, when asked why he decided to his perception of his identity as a professional, to move to Canada, he stated: and contributed to his agency to learn English in order to reach his goal of entering his pro- It was a very personal reason. I’m gay. So Poland is a fessional community in Canada. Thus, issues of very Catholic country. ...This kind of behavior and identity and agency, and the dialectic relationship lifestyle is not accepted in Poland .... So that was a between them, are highlighted in the community very personal reason. That’s why I am here. (Deters, of practice framework. 2006, unpublished data) In summary, the findings from these various studies reveal that L2 learning is a highly complex Thus, Peter’s identity was the main reason for his and socially situated process that is dynamic and migration. In Peter’s case, his desire to learn En- involves the negotiation of access, participation, glish led to his withdrawal from the Polish com- and above all, identity. An important contribu- munity in Canada. He had been sponsored by tion of the community of practice framework to a Polish Canadian couple who lived in a Polish SLA is its focus on the contingent and dialectic neighborhood. Peter said: nature of language learning, learner identity, and Merrill Swain and Ping Deters 827 learner agency. This framework also draws atten- forms of subjectivity and the meanings and val- tion to power relations in socially situated learn- ues which it proposes and acting upon them” ing, which affect a newcomer’s access to a com- (p. 34). This statement is significant because it munity’s resources. gives agency to individuals, and thus, implies the possibility of change. POSTSTRUCTURALISM AND SLA Poststructural perspectives have also emerged in SLA, including the oft-cited earlier works of Poststructuralism refers to a range of theoretical Norton Peirce (1995), who examined the lan- approaches that focuses on the role of language guage learning experiences of immigrant women in the construction of reality and identity. As the in Canada, of McKay and Wong (1996), who exam- term indicates, these approaches developed in ined the experiences of ethnic Chinese immigrant reaction to structuralism, which is attributed to students in a U.S. middle school, and of Siegal the structural linguistics of Saussure (1916/1974). (1996), who examined Western women learning Saussure argued that language is an abstract sys- Japanese. More recent works that are informed tem of signs, and that each sign has a signifier (the by poststructural perspectives include those by sound pattern of a word) and a signified (concept Blackledge and Pavlenko (2001), Kubota (2001), or meaning of a word), and that these are related Miller (2004), and Pavlenko (2001). Another re- in an arbitrary way. Saussure’s conception of lan- lated branch of study is that of critical theory and guage was radically different from previous under- pedagogy, including earlier works by Canagarajah standings of words and their direct relationship to (1993, 1999), Cummins (2001), Morgan (1997, objects in the world. 1998), Pennycook (1998, 2001), and Phillipson Poststructural theories, which are often asso- (1992). Worth’s (2006) study of resistance in an ciated with the work of Barthes (1977), Derrida Italian as a foreign language classroom is a re- (1976), Foucault (1978, 1980), Kristeva (1984), cent study that is informed by a critical pedagog- and Lacan (1977), were a response to struc- ical perspective. In this section, we will highlight turalist theories of language. A key concept in briefly the studies by Norton, Miller, and Worth. poststructural theories is that meaning is not Norton’s (2000; Norton Peirce, 1995) study of fixed, but created through social discourses and the social identity and language learning experi- practices. ences of five immigrant women in Canada drew According to Weedon (1997), who developed upon Weedon’s (1997) feminist poststructural a feminist poststructural theory, poststructural theory of subjectivity to highlight the dialectic re- theorists share fundamental assumptions about lationship between language learning and a lan- language, meaning, and subjectivity. Meanings guage learner’s identity: “When language learners are socially produced and constituted within lan- speak, they are not only exchanging information guage; thus, language constructs “our sense of with target language speakers, but they are con- ourselves, our subjectivity” (p. 19). The term sub- stantly organizing and reorganizing a sense of who jectivity is used by poststructural theorists to refer they are and how they relate to the social world” to the concept of identity, to emphasize the con- (Norton, 2000, p. 11). In contrast to mainstream tingent nature of identity. Whereas the individual SLA conceptions of learner identity as critiqued by was previously essentialized as “unique, fixed and Firth and Wagner (1997), Norton argued that the coherent” (p. 32), a poststructural perspective social identities of language learners are multiple, “proposes a subjectivity which is precarious, con- a site of struggle, and subject to change. Norton’s tradictory and in process, constantly being recon- work also examined the crucial role of power rela- stituted in discourse each time we think or speak” tions in the social interactions between language (p. 32). Of particular significance for SLA is the learners and target language speakers, which was relationship between the acquisition of language a topic that had not been addressed in main- and subjectivity. Weedon stated: “As we acquire stream SLA, nor in other areas of SLA research, language, we learn to give voice—meaning—to for example, in conversational analysis (see e.g., our experience and to understand it accord- Markee, 2004). Following Bourdieu’s (1977) use ing to particular ways of thinking, particular dis- of economic metaphors, that is, cultural, social, courses, which pre-date our entry into language” and symbolic capital, Norton developed the con- (p. 32). cept of investment, which conceives of learners However, Weedon (1997) also noted that lan- as having a complex social history and multiple, guage cannot have “social and political effectivity sometimes conflicting, desires, thus, problematiz- except in and through the actions of the indi- ing the traditional notion of motivation in SLA viduals who become its bearers by taking up the theory. 828 The Modern Language Journal 91 (2007) One of Norton’s (2000) participants was Eva, by, users of the dominant discourse” (p. 291). an immigrant from Poland. Through Eva’s narra- Audibility requires the collaboration of speaker tives of her experiences at her workplace, Norton and listener. Miller also highlighted the ideas that demonstrated the intersections between invest- identity is represented and negotiated through ment, identity, and language learning. Eva was speaking and hearing. Findings from this study well aware of the symbolic and cultural capital revealed the difficulties the students faced in en- afforded by fluency in English, which would help tering the mainstream school community. her to pursue her career goals in Canada. Nor- The transition from the supportive commu- ton described Eva’s initial social and linguistic ex- nity at the ESL high school to the mainstream clusion from the Anglophone community at her high school, where monolingual Australian stu- workplace, and how Eva was eventually able to dents and some teachers were often unwilling gain access to social interactions with co-workers. to provide attentive and sympathetic listening, Eva gained entry into this community by claiming made it difficult for these students to be audible. spaces to speak and to be heard, and by showing This was especially the case for the students from her co-workers that she was able to make a posi- Chinese backgrounds. The Mandarin-speaking tive contribution to their lives. For example, dur- students often connected with the many other ing a lunch break, Eva’s co-workers started talking Mandarin speakers in their schools, which fur- about places they liked in Canada. Because Eva ther limited their opportunities to speak English. had not traveled in Canada, she shared her knowl- Miller (2004) described how the negotiation of edge of Europe, and was able to participate in the identity through language use was different for conversation. students from Bosnia. For example, immediately On another occasion, Eva was able to share her upon arriving at a mainstream high school, one knowledge of other European languages by teach- student was able to convince her teacher to move ing some Italian to her manager. Thus, through her up to Grade 11 even though her previous ESL her discourse, Eva was able to challenge her initial teachers had recommended that she be placed positioning by her co-workers as someone who was in Grade 10. Miller argued that this student’s sym- unworthy of speaking and listening to, and made bolic and linguistic capital prior to arriving in Aus- her co-workers aware of her skills and experience. tralia gave her the agency to be audible. Miller Eva’s identity as a multilingual European helped also suggested that visible difference or ethnic- her to assert herself as an educated person. As ity was salient to the students’ language learning a result of Eva’s participation in conversations at and use, and to their negotiation of their iden- her workplace, her co-workers saw her in a dif- tity. Thus, the nonvisible minority student with a ferent light. Thus, her discourse both came from European accent and an assertive personality was and formed her social identity. more audible than the Asian students. Using a critical perspective, Norton’s work has Whereas most of the critical pedagogists cited made a significant contribution to the social turn previously deal with English language learning in SLA research (Block, 2003) by drawing atten- contexts, Worth (2006) examined resistance in tion to the complexity of social identities, and an Italian as a foreign language context. The highlighting the issue of power relations in the study was primarily a critical ethnographic mi- real world of L2 learners. A key point that Norton croanalysis of classroom and student discourse made through this example is that access to Anglo- gathered through observations, videorecordings, phones does not necessarily mean access to oppor- interviews, and documents. Nevertheless, Worth tunities to use English. Eva had to challenge the also conducted pre- and postcourse surveys of stu- discourses about immigrants in dominant, main- dents’ attitudes, for example, their attitudes to- stream society in order to resist marginalization ward learning Italian, their desire to learn Italian, and to access the social network at her workplace. their interest in FLs, their instrumental orien- It was only then that she had opportunities to use tation, and their motivational intensity. Worth and improve her English skills. found statistically significant changes in the stu- Miller’s (2004) three-year ethnographic study dents’ attitudes over one academic semester. A also used a poststructural perspective to examine disturbing finding was that many of the students’ the experiences of 10 immigrant students from attitudes changed from positive to negative. This Asia and Europe in their transition from an inten- quantitative finding confirms the qualitative find- sive program at an ESL high school to a main- ings of student resistance. Worth identified sev- stream high school. Miller used the notion of eral types of resistance, including (a) the use audibility,whichshedefinedas“thedegreeto of codeswitching from Italian to English to re- which speakers sound like, and are legitimated sist the instructor’s strict enforcement of the Merrill Swain and Ping Deters 829 target-language-only policy, which had the effect and integrated with those of Vygotsky (see e.g., of threatening the students’ identity of compe- Cheyne & Tarulli, 1999; Marchenkova, 2005; Sul- tence; (b) the students’ playing dumb to protect livan & McCarthy, 2004; Wertsch, 1991). Indeed, their identities and to create solidarity among the compatibility of, as well as the differences classmates; and (c) resistance to the instructor’s in, Bakhtinian and Vygotskian theories of lan- discourses of Italy Is the Best and When You guage and learning have recently garnered con- Go There, which clashed with the students’ own siderable attention, as revealed by a number of views and experiences as well as with their diverse studies that address concepts from both theoret- goals for taking the course. Worth concluded that ical perspectives. Cumming-Potvin (2004) used such findings can be used to improve practice concepts from SCT and Bakhtin’s (1981, 1986) through critical pedagogies, for example, rethink- concept of voicing to examine a fourth-year stu- ing the appropriateness of the communicative lan- dent’s learning of French in Australia. Curdt- guage teaching approaches in FL contexts and Christiansen (2006) drew upon Vygotskian and also target-language-only policies. Bakhtinian perspectives of language as a media- tional tool to examine the discourse in Chinese DIALOGISM AND SLA as a heritage language classrooms in Montreal. Dufva and Alanen (2005) used SCT concepts and The work of Russian literary theorist and dialogism to examine the metalinguistic aware- philosopher Bakhtin (1981, 1986) has captured ness and FL learning of Finnish primary school the attention of some SLA researchers in re- children. Iddings, Haught, and Devlin (2005) cent years (e.g., Hall, Vitanova, & Marchenkova, incorporated Bakhtin’s and Vygotsky’s views on 2005; Kramsch, 2000; Savignon & Sysoyev, 2002; meaning-making to examine third graders’ learn- Toohey et al., 2000). Compared to the other three ing of English in an American classroom. Lee’s perspectives discussed previously, to our knowl- (2006) study of Korean students at an American edge, SLA research that is informed by Bakhtin’s university focused on the dialogic nature of pri- theories has appeared more recently. Central to vate speech. Yi and Kellog (2006) examined the Bakhtin’s conception of language, thought, and English diaries of Korean primary school chil- meaning is the utterance, which reflects the spe- dren to explore the concepts of other- and self- cific conditions and goals of various areas of hu- mediation, and the dialogic nature of utterances. man activity (Bakhtin, 1986). Bakhtin’s work has also been discussed in Utterances are both individual and belong to relation to poststructuralism and is viewed as speech genres, which are relatively stable types of preceding it. The common thread that connects utterances. According to Bakhtin (1981), all ut- Vygotskian, Bakhtinian, and poststructural per- terances are dialogic; that is, all utterances have spectives is the acknowledgment of the social and an addressor and addressee. Furthermore, dial- historical construction of language and the cre- ogism holds that all language, and indeed, hu- ation of meaning through discourse. However, a man consciousness, is dynamic, interactional, and key difference between SCT and poststructural- context-dependent. Bakhtin introduced the term ism is that according to SCT, languaging leads to heteroglossia to describe the co-existence of mul- internalization, which implies a degree of stabil- tiple meanings, perspectives, and values in lan- ity in an individual’s psyche, whereas according guage. As Holquist stated in the introduction to to poststructuralism, the subjectivity of an individ- Bakhtin’s (1981) work, “this extraordinary sen- ual is always in progress and is reconstituted in sitivity to the immense plurality of experience discourse. A commonality between a Bakhtinian more than anything else distinguishes Bakhtin and a poststructural view of language is that both from other moderns who have been obsessed with acknowledge the plurality and heterogeneity of language” (p. xx). Hall et al. (2005) argued that language (Vitanova, 2002). However, although di- Bakhtin’s conceptualization of language has im- alogism and poststructuralism share some simi- portant implications for SLA, given that language, lar assumptions, they are also different in sig- from a Bakhtinian perspective, is seen as struc- nificant ways. One difference is that Bakhtin’s tured and emergent, and is learned through so- (1981, 1986) dialogic perspective creates a greater cial interaction. When learning a language, we space for human agency. For example, Sullivan appropriate the meanings that have been histori- and McCarthy (2004) argued that a dialogic per- cally and socially constructed, but we are also able spective takes into account the lived, felt experi- to add our own voice. ences of agency, that is, feelings and emotions, The theories of Bakhtin, who was Vygotsky’s that are downplayed in the approaches of other contemporary, have been compared, contrasted, systems, such as activity theory and community 830 The Modern Language Journal 91 (2007) of practice. Two recent studies that examine lan- like a child in kindergarten because of her lack guage through a dialogic perspective are those by of English proficiency. The loss of language not Lee (2006) and by Vitanova (2005). only affected the participants’ professional status Lee’s (2006) study of L1 Korean students at and identity, but all aspects of existence. Boris, an American university is an example of a grow- who was an architect before immigrating to the ing body of research that incorporates theoret- United States stated, “without know the language, ical constructs from Vygotsky (1978, 1986) and you don’t know anything, you cannot understand Bakhtin (1981, 1986). This study focuses on learn- how people communicate with each other, their ers’ private speech and private writing to explore relations” (p. 159). Vitanova explained that ac- how oral and written language/speech is used cording to Bakhtin (1981), “one becomes a sub- as a mediational tool by learners during their ject only by participating in dialogue. There is solitary activity of preparing for their examina- nothing more frightening than not being under- tion. In relation to this question, Lee examined stood, heard, and answered by another, yet this the self-regulatory function of private speech and is exactly what happened to these immigrants” writing and the use of language alternation, that (p. 159). is, the mixed use of L1 and L2. Lee’s second Vitanova (2005) showed how narrative con- research focus in this study was to find empir- sciousness includes the presence of others ical evidence for the dialogic nature of private in the narrator’s emotional-volitional tone. speech, based on Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism. Emotional-volitional tone refers to feelings, desires, Using techniques from conversation analysis, Lee and moral evaluations. According to Vitanova, found examples of interactional structures such emotional-volitional tone is a “key aspect of au- as question–answer sequences, repair sequences, thoring selves because it makes one’s responses and reactive expressions in the participants’ pri- to ordinary social realities unique and inher- vate speech, thus demonstrating the structural ently moral” (p. 158). Furthermore, emotional- parallels between private and social speech. Lee’s volitional tone is “constructed by a particular dis- study makes an important contribution to ongo- cursive situation” (p. 158). For example, Dimitri ing work on Vygotskian and Bakhtinian theoreti- andNataliarecountedanincidentinarestau- cal constructs by providing empirical evidence of rant where some clients attributed Dimitri’s lack the dialogic nature of private speech. According of comprehension to his lack of English language to Lee, these findings support Vygotsky’s claim ability rather than to the loud noise in the restau- about the social origin of private speech. rant. Vitanova stated that when Natalia recounted Vitanova (2005) used Bakhtin’s (1981) dialogic this incident, she re-accented it with her own philosophy to examine how five Eastern European emotional-volitional tone and evaluative stance, adult immigrants to the United States authored that is, with anger and indignation. themselves in a new language and environment. Vitanova (2005) also highlighted the transfor- According to the dialogic theory of language, “it mative power of personal narratives: “By evaluat- is impossible to voice oneself without appropriat- ing and naming the world around them, the par- ing others’ words ...linguistic forms have already ticipants in this study have claimed their voices been used in a variety of settings, and language and signed their own acts of authoring” (p. 156). users have to make them their own, to popu- Furthermore, through their narratives, the partic- late them with their own accents” (p. 154). Fur- ipants were able to understand and analyze their thermore, according to Bakhtin, dialogue is not situations better, which provides the foundation merely a medium that reveals a ready-made char- for agency. Last, Vitanova showed how her partici- acter: “in dialogue a person not only shows himself pants also demonstrated their agency through acts outwardly, but he becomes for the first time what of resistance. For example, some participants re- he is” (Bakhtin, 1984, p. 252, as cited in Vitanova, sisted authoritative voices, oppressive utterances, 2005, p. 154). Thus, to speak is to create oneself. and their positioning by others through laughter Through the narratives, Vitanova (2005) and irony. showed how language was central to positioning Vitanova (2005) maintained that a dialogic the- the participants. First, because none of the partic- ory of language can further our understanding of ipants was fluent in English, all initially lost their how adult immigrants are able to reestablish their ability to reveal themselves, and consequently lost voices in a new language, and that through discur- their previous status as intelligentsia. For exam- sive practices and narratives, individuals are able ple, Vera, who was a journalist in her country of to exert their agency and to author themselves. origin, worked as a kitchen manager upon her ar- This idea brings us full circle to the initial sec- rival in the United States. Vera said that she felt tion of this article on SCT and the concept of Merrill Swain and Ping Deters 831 languaging, the process through which the social and, perhaps most of all, by listening to the sto- is internalized, and the internal self is expressed ries of the learners, and by observing them as they to the external milieu. move through their complex worlds. A challenge to the field is whether the issues raised by the CONCLUSION broadening of our understanding of the L2 ac- quisition process through such sociocultural per- Our review and discussion of a diverse range spectives will find their way into current models of socioculturally informed approaches to SLA of communicative performance (e.g., Bachman, research demonstrate that incorporating a social 1990; Canale & Swain, 1980) that affect L2 learn- perspective of learners and language learning can ing through pedagogy, teacher education, and make a significant contribution to furthering our assessment of proficiency. Thus, much work lies understanding of the complexity of the L2 learn- ahead as we seek ways to incorporate our broad- ing process. Such approaches have enlarged the ened understanding of L2 acquisition to benefit ontological and empirical parameters of SLA, as and empower learners. called for by Firth and Wagner (1997) a decade ago, and have drawn attention to the importance of individuals’ identities, agency, and the situated ACKNOWLEDGMENTS nature of their language learning. Such research addresses Firth and Wagner’s call for an emic perspective to the L2 acquisition process by the We would like to thank Tae-Young Kim, Penny Kinn- use of qualitative methods such as verbal proto- ear, Jim Lantolf, Sharon Lapkin, Linda Steinman, and cols, ethnography, and first-person narratives. Al- Wataru Suzuki for their insightful comments and feed- though the range of perspectives were diverse in back on earlier versions of this manuscript. We are also many ways, all emphasize L2 learning as a highly grateful for the thoughtful and helpful comments from complex activity in which human cognition and the three anonymous reviewers and from the editors. human agency develop and multiple identities are co-constructed through interaction with oth- ers, the self, and the cultural artifacts of our en- NOTES vironments. Drawing from disciplines other than cognitive psychology, we have seen how SLA has 1 However, the theory does not ignore human biology, taken in a variety of theoretical perspectives and see Vygotsky (1987). applied them to create, expand, and enrich its 2 We are subsuming activity theory within this descrip- theory and research. Participation has found its tion of SCT. 3 place alongside acquisition; individuals are seen In SCT, language is viewed as a tool of the mind as agents-operating-with-mediation-means as well that is genetically related to egocentric speech (Vygot- sky, 1986). as agents with will; and the struggle to develop and 4 Vygotsky (1987) discussed four genetic domains of maintain a single identity sits uneasily alongside importance to understanding the human mind: (a) phy- the acceptance of multiple identities. logenesis (the development of primates), (b) sociocultural Some scholars will claim that the balance be- history (the development of a society), (c) ontogenesis tween the cognitive and social that Firth and Wag- (the development of an individual), and (d) microgenesis ner (1997) argued for has already shifted too far (the development of a specific process during ontogen- in the direction of the social. Some will argue esis). it should never have moved that way at all. Al- 5 There are similar elements in these frameworks: though we have focused on social/sociocultural Wenger (1998, p. 282) acknowledged that her under- perspectives in this article, we believe that in our standing of the concept of practice has been influenced by activity theorist Engestrom¨ (1987) and by psycholo- goal to understand L2 learning, we must pay bal- gist Vygotsky, among others. anced attention to social, cognitive, and affective aspects that bear on the ways we learn an L2. Also, both etic and emic perspectives are important. We must try to understand learners from their REFERENCES own perspectives, but as theorists and researchers we must add our own interpretations guided by Bachman, L. F. (1990). Fundamental considerations in lan- our theories. “New” SLA theory insists that we will guage testing. New York: Oxford University Press. have a more complete understanding of L2 learn- Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). 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