Theories in Second Language Acquisition by James P....

Introduction Acquiring second language has its impact on the social and cultural knowledge. One of the theories that concern with that knowledge is the sociocultural theory that was originated by the Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky. The theory explains how individual mental functioning is related to cultural, institutional, and historical context. SCT has three main areas. These are: interaction, ZPD, and scaffolding. Summary In chapter (11) of James P. Lantolf and Steven L. Thorne’s book â€Å"Theories in second language acquisition† they expounded sociocultural theory in depth. It starts with a brief introduction about the theory then some detailed information. SCT focuses on how language(s) learned through mediated process on human†¦show more content†¦Private speech regulates second language learners, and in social communication this speech become meaningful through mental activity mediation. Another core concept of SCT is internalization, which is the relationship of the individual social environment and the actual performs in future activities. The key to internalization for Vygotsky resides in imitation, which does not just refer to physical behavior but also includes symbolic mediation. It relies on our ability to understand the intentional acts. It also has an important part in acquiring the language. Response As an English student who is yet in the process of learning about language acquisition, I found Lantolf and Thorne writing is hard to perceive. It needs a pre-understanding of the topic and its aspects, and a deep look into it to attain a great reading and compose a proper response paper. Firstly when I saw the article I saw a block of words. They were overlapped, which makes the reader-like my self- less interested in reading. After I read it thoroughly. It starts to make sense, but the information that I have about the topic from what I had been learning in the class was quite different. It is more complicated and profound, and the written examples were more misleading. Also I found some points that are not important which could be the reason why I felt bored. Finally, my response to Lantolf and Thorne article is not negative at all but I think my level of understanding is not completed and not as