Abstract
This chapter examines instances of material mediation that arose in the interaction of five bilingual students of an English as a second language (ESL) writing classroom. An analysis of the interaction between the learners and their teacher and among the learners reveals the importance of how materials mediate and are mediated by others within the learners’ zone of proximal development (ZPD). ZPD is at the heart of Vygotsky’s (Mind in society. Harvard University Press, 1978) sociocultural theory (SCT), which underscores the importance of providing assistance to learners to help develop abilities that are in the process of developing and are presently beyond their independent performance. It provides a framework to understand how humans internalize forms of mediation through socially, culturally, and historically situated contexts. Examples of collaborative dialogue shed light on theory in practice, offering a basis to guide further research in the area of material use and mediation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Material use is defined as “the ways that participants in language learning environments actually employ and interact with materials…. Material use occurs in the moment that language teachers and/or learners engage with the materials themselves within the context of a language environment such as the classroom” (Guerrettaz et al., 2018, p. 38).
- 2.
As gleaned from their reflections on classroom teaching and assessment.
References
Advani, S. (2009). Schooling the national imagination: Education, English, and the Indian modern. Oxford University Press.
Agnihotri, R. K., & Khanna, A. L. (1997). Problematizing English in India. Sage Publications.
Bleich, D. (2003). Materiality, genre, and language use: Introduction. College English, 65(5), 469–475. https://doi.org/10.2307/3594247
Brown, D. (2014). The power and authority of materials in the classroom ecology. The Modern Language Journal, 98(2), 658–661. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12095
Canagarajah, S. (1993). Critical ethnography of a Sri Lankan classroom: Ambiguities in student opposition to reproduction through ESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 27(4), 601–626. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587398
Eisner, E. W. (2017). The enlightened eye: Qualitative inquiry and the enhancement of educational practice. Teachers College Press.
Garton, S., & Graves, K. (2014). Identifying a research agenda for language teaching materials. The Modern Language Journal, 98(2), 654–657. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12094
Graddol, D. (2010). English next: India. British Council.
Guerrettaz, A. M., & Johnston, B. (2013). Materials in the classroom ecology. The Modern Language Journal, 97(3), 779–796. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2013.12027.x
Guerrettaz, A. M., Grandon, M., Lee, S., Mathieu, C., Berwick, A., Murray, A., & Pourhaji, M. (2018). Materials use and development: Synergetic processes and research. Folio, 18(2), 37–44.
Hedegaard, M. (2017). ZPD as the basis of instruction. In H. Daniels (Ed.), An introduction to Vygotsky (2nd ed., pp. 227–251). Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.
Holzman, M. (1984). Teaching is remembering. College English, 46(3), 229–238. https://doi.org/10.2307/377030
Kozulin, A. (2004). Vygotsky’s theory in the classroom: Introduction. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 19(1), 3–7. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173233
Lantolf, J. P. (2009). Dynamic assessment: The dialectic integration of instruction and assessment. Language Teaching, 42(3), 355–368. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444808005569
Lantolf, J., & Poehner, M. (2011). Dynamic assessment in the classroom: Vygotskian praxis for second language development. Language Teaching Research, 15(1), 11–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168810383328
Li, Z., & Harfitt, G. J. (2017). An examination of language teachers’ enactment of curriculum materials in the context of a centralised curriculum. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 25(3), 403–416. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2016.1270987
Malini, S. (2011). English language teaching in India: A critical evaluation of ELT in India. International Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 1(7), 52–54. https://updatepublishing.com/journal/index.php/imrj/article/view/1494
Meganathan, R. (2009). English language education in rural schools of India: The situation, the policy and the curriculum. Teaching English. Accessed 20 Aug 2020 at https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/rama-meganathan/english-language-education-rural-schools-india-situation-policy-curriculum
Meganathan, R. (2011). Language policy in education and the role of English in India: From library language to language of empowerment. In H. Coleman (Ed.), Dreams and realities: Developing countries and the English language (pp. 59–87). British Council.
Mohanty, A. K. (2006). Multilingualism of the unequals and predicaments of education in India: Mother tongue or other tongue? In O. Garcia, T. Skutnabb-Kangas, & M. E. Torres-Guzman (Eds.), Imagining multilingual schools: Languages in education and glocalization (pp. 262–283). Orient Blackswan.
Narayanan, R., Nair, N. R., & Iyyappan, S. (2009). English language teaching in India: A theoretical study. The Modern Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(1), 2–15.
National Knowledge Commission. (2007). Report to the nation 2007. Government of India. Accessed 6 Oct 2020 at https://epsiindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Knowledge-Commission-Report-20071.pdf
NCERT Publication Department. (2005). National curriculum framework. https://ncert.nic.in/pdf/nc-framework/nf2005-english.pdf
Ottley, K. (2017). Why one-size-fits-all is not fit for purpose. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), SLA research and materials development for language learning (pp. 268–279). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Poehner, M. E. (2008). Dynamic assessment: A Vygotskian approach to understanding and promoting L2 development. Springer.
Poehner, M. (2009). Group dynamic assessment: Mediation for the L2 classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 43(3), 471–491. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1545-7249.2009.tb00245.x
Poehner, M. E., & Lantolf, J. P. (2005). Dynamic assessment in the language classroom. Language Teaching Research, 9(3), 233–265. https://doi.org/10.1191/1362168805lr166oa
Ramanathan, H. (2008). Testing of English in India: A developing concept. Language Testing, 25(1), 111–126. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532207083747
Reddy, P. (2012). Problems in teaching learning English as a second language. Language in India, 12(2), 781–790.
Samuel, N. (2019). Social inclusion and the role of English language education: Making a transition from school to higher education in India. In S. Douglas (Ed.), Creating an inclusive school environment (pp. 175–185). British Council. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/creating-inclusive-school-environment
Scollon, R. (2001). Mediated discourse: The nexus of practice. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Tully, M. (1997). English: An advantage to India? ELT Journal, 51(2), 157–164. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/51.2.157
van Lier, L. (2004). The ecology and semiotics of language learning: A sociocultural perspective. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society. Harvard University Press.
Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and language. The MIT Press.
Wajnryb, R. (1992). Classroom observation tasks: A resource book for language teachers and trainers. Cambridge University Press.
Wertsch, J. V. (1991). Voices of the mind: A sociocultural approach to mediated action. Harvard University Press.
Wertsch, J., & Sohmer, R. (1995). Vygotsky on learning and development. Human Development, 38(6), 332–337. https://doi.org/10.1159/000278339
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Samuel, N. (2022). Mediating Materials: Contextualizing Language Learning in an ESL Classroom. In: LaScotte, D.K., Mathieu, C.S., David, S.S. (eds) New Perspectives on Material Mediation in Language Learner Pedagogy. Educational Linguistics, vol 56. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98116-7_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98116-7_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-98115-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-98116-7
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)