Second and Foreign Language Learning through Classroom Interaction (review)

This collection of twelve papers looks at the issue of second and foreign language learning from a Vygotskyan perspective and identifies classroom practices conducive to language development. The volume covers a variety of levels and different target languages, but all the studies view language as a social endeavor. They also use ethnographic and discourse analytic methods for collecting and analyzing data, mainly through audio or video recordings, field notes, and interviews. The volume has two parts and is introduced by an overview of the sociocultural model and the importance of interaction in second language acquisition.

The six chapters in Part 1 focus on the role of interaction in foreign language learning. In Ch. 2 Celeste Kinginger studies the effect on language development of computer-mediated communication between American University students of French and their French e-pals. She concludes that the interpersonal relationships that grow between the groups foster language learning. Amy Snyder Otah, in Ch. 3, studies university students of Japanese and shows the benefits of teacher interactions even to students who are not actively participating in those interactions. Chs. 4 and 5 deal with English as a foreign language classrooms in Vietnam and Brazil respectively. In Ch. 4 Patricia N. Sullivan challenges the traditional definition of natural and authentic language and shows how wordplay can promote language acquisition by creating a sense of community that encourages learners to produce more output. Douglas Altamiro Consolo explores in Ch. 5 the difference between native English-speaking teachers and non-natives on the kind of classroom discourse that they generate. He suggests that individual teaching style is a more significant factor than mother tongue. In Ch. 6 Patricia A. Duff studies the role of repetition in the construction of discourse in the classroom. She emphasizes the difference in the role of repetition in high school immersion and college foreign language teaching. The study shows the positive scaffolding effect of repetition as well as its role in creating solidarity among the students. Etsuko Takahashi, Theresa Austin, and Yoko Morimoto present in Ch. 7 a longitudinal study of elementary school children learning Japanese as a foreign language. They show how ‘instructional conversations’ not only teach language content but also help students learn about the process of communication.

In Part 2 the setting switches to the second language classroom. The first three chapters deal with English as a second language at the university level. In Ch. 8 Maureen Boyd and Valerie Miller Maloof discuss the ways in which teacher practices shape student engagement. Their findings support the potential of literature classes to promote opportunities for ‘exploratory epistemic talk’ particularly in a context in which the teacher helps make the students’ contributions socially significant. The following two chapters underscore the role of the teacher in furthering language learning. Dawn E. McCormick and Richard Donato explore, in Ch. 9, the role of teachers’ questions as a scaffolding technique and their relationship to teachers’ goals. In Ch. 10 Diana Boxer and Florencia Cortés-Conde illustrate how the teacher can play the role of facilitator by affirming student contributions and therefore forming community within the classroom. The next three chapters deal with second language acquisition in content-based classrooms. Lorrie Stoops Verplaetse highlights, in Ch. 11, the positive consequences of a particular teacher’s habit of wondering aloud and paraphrasing to encourage student interaction. In Ch. 12 Resi Damhuis reports on the effects of a technique called ‘Small Circle With Teacher’. This practice allows the teacher to assume not the role of an expert but that of a partner in the interaction and appears to be particularly helpful to students at the lower levels of proficiency. Maaike H...