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【Abstract】Vygotsky’s view of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) has a profound influence on the research of second language acquisition (SLA). This article aims to provide an introduction to the background theory of the ZPD in SLA, and then give a review of the recent empirical research in regard to the ZPD. The implications of the relevant research are explored in the article, and both the advantages and the current limitations are discussed. The personal insights into the ZPD and its related research are presented at the end of the article.
【Keywords】Vygotsky,Vygotskian perspectives,scaffolded instruction,ZPD
【中圖分类号】G434【文献标识码】B 【文章编号】1001-4128（2010）12-0018-03
1 Theoretical framework
Vygotsky viewed language as a communicative tool that mediates the social interaction among interlocutors in specific social, cultural and historical contexts. He defined that learning is a socially situated activity, an evolving process of the ongoing interaction between the expert and the novice［1］.Vygotsky argued that there is difference between what an individual is able to achieve without help and what he or she can accomplish with guidance, or assistance, from other more capable individuals. Namely, there are two levels of psychological development for the learner: the actual level of development which is attained by the learner independently, and the potential level of development which is developed in collaboration with others. The difference between the two levels can be called the “zone of proximal development” (ZPD) proposed by Vygotsky ［2］.
For Vygotsky, the potential developmental level plays a more central role than the actual developmental level because it represents a window into the learners’ future mental development ［2］. That is, the ZPD is an indicator of the learner’s future development of L2 learning, which takes into account what has been developed in L2 learning, and also what is about to be developed in the near future. Thus, more emphasis must be laid on the learner’s immediate potential of development in the second language learning.
Studies have shown the ZPD has been fruitfully applied to the area of L2 development through assistance and collaboration ［3, 4］. These studies have proved that in the L2 learning context how learners perform differently with and without assistance. Scaffolding can be considered as the assistance in the ZPD ［5］. The successful scaffolding of instruction requires that the teacher performs a number of functions to help the learner to solve a problem, carry out a task or achieve a goal. Therefore, scaffolded instruction assumes an important role in the learner’s process of development; in other words, within Vygotsky’s ZPD, learners’ processes of development are connected with the application of instruction. Vygotsky argued that instruction is a necessary factor in the child’s intellectual development, and well organized instruction will result in a series of such developmental processes ［6］. As Hedegaard pointed out, the underlying assumption behind Vygotsky’s view on the relation between learners’ development and instruction is that these two factors are socially embedded, and the direction of development is guided by instruction ［7］. Hence, attention must be paid to the application of instruction for the L2 teaching within the framework of the ZPD.
Before providing instruction, it is necessary to determine the learner’s ZPD. Determining the learner’s ZPD needs the learner and the expert to engage each other in dialogic interaction to find out what the learner is able to achieve with and without help, so it is a process of negotiated discovery. Scholars argued that the help negotiated between the novice and the expert should be graduated, which means the expert should discover the learner’s ZPD to offer the appropriate level of assistance, moving from more explicit to more implicit and strategic levels; moreover, the assistance should be contingent, meaning that it should be offered when needed and withdrawn when the learner develops the ability to work independently［8］.
The ZPD is not a fixed framework, but a fluid and dynamic system which can reflect the learner’s potential development. In other words, the learner’s development is not linear, but dynamic and irregular. For Vygotsky, the learner’s development is a dialectic process, which is uneven, recursive, and entails regressive movement. Accordingly, the recursive nature of the L2 development needs to be taken into consideration when we provide instruction to the L2 learners.
2 Empirical research and the implications
Current empirical research has looked into the implications of the ZPD in the second language learning context. The study conducted by Aljaafreh and Lantolf in 1994 examined the effects of negative feedback as regulation in the ZPD. The project involved 9 students enrolled in an ESL writing and reading course offered by the English Language Institute of the University of Delaware, and the data were collected from their written texts. Aljaafreh and Lantolf found that L2 learners were able to appropriate the corrective feedback provided by an expert within the learner’s zone of proximal development ［9］. The findings indicated that the control over the learner’s linguistic performance gradually shifted from the expert to the novice. With the assistance and guidance, the novice gradually moved away from reliance on the expert to reliance on the self. The findings confirmed the view that the negotiated assistance between the expert and the novice should be graduated and contingent, which means the expert needs to adjust the instruction according to the development of the learner’s L2 knowledge, and to know when and how to offer or withdraw assistance to promote the learner’s L2 development. Aljaafreh and Lantolf also observed that after each episode of novice-expert interaction, the learner not only improved the accuracy of linguistic performance, but also required more implicit help from the expert rather than explicit help. It implies that L2 development is not simply reflected by the relative accuracy of linguistic performance, but is revealed through the kind of help negotiated between the novice and the expert. The learner who is able to produce a particular L2 feature resulting from more implicit forms of assistance is developmentally more advanced than the one who needs explicit feedback. Therefore, this study reveals that linguistic performance alone cannot reflect the learner’s developmental level. We need to consider to which extent the negotiated help reflects the learner’s developmental level, and further impacts on the learner’s L2 production.
To further explore the process of the novice-expert negotiation in the ZPD, in the year of 1995, Aljaafreh and Lantolf carried out another study based on the same data which were collected during their previous study in 1994. In the study, some evidence from L2 learning has been presented to support Vygotsky’s view that mental development is not a linear process, but a recursive process entailing forward and regressive movement［10］. Aljaafreh and Lantolf found that in the process of L2 development, learners sometimes moved from a higher to a lower developmental stage, namely, regression. It has been observed that, in the framework of the ZPD, regression is not only manifested in the linguistic performance of L2 learners, but also in the kinds of regulation negotiated between learners and experts. Accordingly, in the L2 development, regression is not an unusual phenomenon; on the contrary, it is to be expected among both beginners and advanced learners. In other words, developmental and performance-based regression is an integral part of the dialectical process of L2 learners’ development. The explanation for regression given by Aljaafreh and Lantolf is that when learners lose control over a particular language structure, they often tend to regain control through recursion to self-regulation strategies. In brief, this study makes a contribution to the L2 research on regression by investigating the process of the expert-novice negotiation in the ZPD.
Different from the previous studies examining the negotiated scaffolding between experts and learners, the study conducted by Guerrero and Villamil in 2000 probed into the mutual scaffolding among L2 learners within the framework of the ZPD. The study involved 2 male intermediate ESL college learners who were enrolled in an ESL communication skills course that emphasized the development of writing. Data were collected from a routine activity in that course, namely, the peer revision session in which pairs of students revised an essay written by one of them. By analyzing the interaction produced by the two participants in the peer revision session, Guerrero and Villamil found that both of the participants benefited from the revision task through reciprocal assistance and collaboration［11］. The revision task allowed them to recognize and consolidate the L2 knowledge in structural and rhetorical aspects, and to improve the L2 writing skills for each other. The findings showed that the effects of scaffolding were mutual in L2 peer revision. Furthermore, this study has contributed to a greater understanding of the complex mechanism of the learner-learner interaction, and has taken into consideration how mutual scaffolding facilitates L2 development within the ZPD.
In the process of expert-novice and learner-learner interaction, apart from the verbal forms of instruction, the nonverbal forms, like gesture, also need to be examined. Mccafferty investigated the role of gesture in creating the zone of proximal development for L2 learning and teaching in 2002. The participants involved in this study included a L2 learner of English who was attending a university in the United States, and an American graduate student who was an ESL teacher. The conversational interaction between the learner and the ESL teacher was video recorded and analyzed from the perspective of Vygotsky’s ZPD. Mccafferty found that gesture played an important role not only in promoting second language learning, but also in facilitating positive interaction between the learner and his teacher［12］. The proper use of gesture helped the participants to develop a sense of shared physical, symbolic, psychological, and social space, which exerted a positive influence on their interaction. Therefore, in the L2 learning and teaching context, the proper use of gesture might facilitate the expert-novice and learner-learner scaffolded instruction within the ZPD. Mccafferty pointed out that L2 learners need to become aware of the use of gesture as part of the overall process of making meaning in the L2, because it might help them to comprehend the language and to express themselves. In order to establish the awareness of the use of gesture, L2 learners need to examine the use of gesture in the L2 by watching videotaped interactions and by talking about gesture when performing role plays, scenes, and scenarios.
3 Current limitations
The previous studies have significantly contributed to the implications of the ZPD and its related issues, such as scaffolded instruction, but there are still some limitations existing in these studies.
Firstly, the research conducted by Aljaafreh and Lantolf in 1994 has shown that the expert needs to adjust the instruction from more explicit to more implicit in the Learner’s ZPD. However, affected by various individual and social factors, such as age, gender, motivation, social and classroom environments, different L2 learners might have different ZPDs; therefore, it is difficult for the teacher to figure out every learner’s ZPD, and to provide the particular scaffolding that is suitable for each of the learners. Moreover, the research also indicates that the teacher needs to know when and how to offer or withdraw assistance to promote the learner’s L2 development, but since the ZPD is dynamic and the learner’s development is not linear, it seems impossible to know when the best time is to withdraw assistance. Consequently, further research needs to be done on the aspect of how to provide, adjust and withdraw scaffolding in the L2 learning and teaching.
Secondly, Aljaafreh and Lantolf’s research has demonstrated that within the framework of the ZPD, regression is an integral part of the dialectical process of L2 learners’ development, and provided explanation for the regression phenomenon. However, no suggestions have been offered to deal with the problems when regression happens in the process of learner’s L2 development. That is to say, more practical pedagogical solutions need to be put forward to address the problem of regression in the future studies.
Thirdly, Guerrero and Villamil’s reaseach has shown how mutual scaffolding facilitates L2 development within the ZPD, but mutual scaffolding does not always lead to advancement toward prescribed language and rhetorical forms. It has been observed that L2 learners sometime exchanged incorrect knowledge, and made bad decision in peer revision. Although Guerrero and Villamil argued that the nonlinear and dynamic process of L2 development might provide more opportunities for learners to develop their creativity and make progress, the issue whether the teacher should give corrective feedback is still under discussion. One of the concerns is that if no corrective feedback is given by the teacher, some errors of the learner might occur repeatedly and constantly. The future research needs to address the issues whether and in what ways the teacher should provide error correction in L2 peer revision.
Lastly, Mccafferty’s research has demonstrated the role of gesture in creating zones of proximal development and in facilitating positive interaction between learners and teachers. However, the research was conducted in the L2 learning context where L2 students and native English teachers were involved; the findings might be quite different in the learning context in which only non-native students and teachers are involved. L2 learning contexts are variable in different social and cultural situations. The same gesture might convey different implications in different learning contexts. In the future research, the diversity of L2 learning contexts might be an important factor that needs to be considered.
4 My insights
This review gives me an insight into the implications of the zone of proximal development in SLA and its related scaffolded instruction. The view of the ZPD leads me to realize that in second language learning and teaching, more attention should be paid to the potential development of L2 learners rather than the actual development. In other words, we need to look at the learner’s future development of L2 learning by examining what has been developed in L2 learning, and estimating what is about to be developed in the near future.
To promote the potential development, L2 learners need to get assistance from more competent individuals, and one of the forms of effective assistance might be the scaffolding of instruction. The view of the ZPD gives me a new understanding of the role of scaffolding in second language learning. Teachers should offer the appropriate level of assistance, and learn how to adjust the scaffolding from more explicit to more implicit levels according to the learner’s development; moreover, teachers need to know when to withdraw assistance, otherwise, learners’ development might be impeded by not withdrawing help when they are already able work independently. Apart from scaffolding from the teacher, mutual scaffolding between learners might be another way which is applicable to second language learning.
Within the framework of the ZPD, the learner’s development is not linear, but rather dynamic and recursive, which means that regression is natural in the process of L2 development. Hence, we should view regression as part of the process of the learner’s development, and provide proper guidance to help learners to deal with the problem of regression.
Lastly, gesture is an important factor which needs to be taken into consideration in second language learning and teaching. Gesture plays an important role not only in promoting second language learning, but also in facilitating positive interaction between the learner and the teacher, so in the near future how to use gesture might be introduced into the second language classroom.
References
［1］ Vygotsky, L. S. Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986.
［2］ Vygotsky, L. S. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978.
［3］ Ohta, A. S. Rethingking interaction in SLA: Developmentally appropriate assistance in the zone of proximal development and the acquisition of L2 grammar. In J. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000: 51-78.
［4］ Swain, M. The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000: 97-114.
［5］ Wood, D., Bruner, J. S., & Ross, G. The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 1976(17): 89-100.
［6］ Vygotsky, L. S. On the child’s psychic development. Copenhagen: Nyt Nordisk, 1982.
［7］ Hedegaard, M. The zone of proximal development as basis for instruction. In H. Daniels (Ed.), An introduction to vygotsky. London; New York: Routledge, 2005: 227-252.
［8］ Rogoff, B., & Wertsch, J. V. (Eds.). Children’s learning in the “zone of proximal development”. San Francisco: Jossy-Bass, 1984.
［9］ Aljaafreh, A., & Lantolf, J. P. Negative feedback as regulation and second language learning in the zone of proximal development. The Modern Language Journal, 1994, 78 (4): 465-478.
［10］ Aljaafreh, A., & Lantolf, J. P. Second language learning in the zone of proximal development: A revolutionary experience. International Journal of Educational Research, 1995, 23 (7): 619-632.
［11］ Guerrero, M. C. M., & Villamil, O. S. Activating the ZPD: Mutual scaffolding in L2 peer revision. The Modern Language Journal, 2000, 84 (1): 51-68.
［12］ Mccafferty, S. G. Gesture and creating zones of proximal development for second language learning. The Modern Language Journal, 2002, 86 (2): 192-203.
【Keywords】Vygotsky,Vygotskian perspectives,scaffolded instruction,ZPD
【中圖分类号】G434【文献标识码】B 【文章编号】1001-4128（2010）12-0018-03
1 Theoretical framework
Vygotsky viewed language as a communicative tool that mediates the social interaction among interlocutors in specific social, cultural and historical contexts. He defined that learning is a socially situated activity, an evolving process of the ongoing interaction between the expert and the novice［1］.Vygotsky argued that there is difference between what an individual is able to achieve without help and what he or she can accomplish with guidance, or assistance, from other more capable individuals. Namely, there are two levels of psychological development for the learner: the actual level of development which is attained by the learner independently, and the potential level of development which is developed in collaboration with others. The difference between the two levels can be called the “zone of proximal development” (ZPD) proposed by Vygotsky ［2］.
For Vygotsky, the potential developmental level plays a more central role than the actual developmental level because it represents a window into the learners’ future mental development ［2］. That is, the ZPD is an indicator of the learner’s future development of L2 learning, which takes into account what has been developed in L2 learning, and also what is about to be developed in the near future. Thus, more emphasis must be laid on the learner’s immediate potential of development in the second language learning.
Studies have shown the ZPD has been fruitfully applied to the area of L2 development through assistance and collaboration ［3, 4］. These studies have proved that in the L2 learning context how learners perform differently with and without assistance. Scaffolding can be considered as the assistance in the ZPD ［5］. The successful scaffolding of instruction requires that the teacher performs a number of functions to help the learner to solve a problem, carry out a task or achieve a goal. Therefore, scaffolded instruction assumes an important role in the learner’s process of development; in other words, within Vygotsky’s ZPD, learners’ processes of development are connected with the application of instruction. Vygotsky argued that instruction is a necessary factor in the child’s intellectual development, and well organized instruction will result in a series of such developmental processes ［6］. As Hedegaard pointed out, the underlying assumption behind Vygotsky’s view on the relation between learners’ development and instruction is that these two factors are socially embedded, and the direction of development is guided by instruction ［7］. Hence, attention must be paid to the application of instruction for the L2 teaching within the framework of the ZPD.
Before providing instruction, it is necessary to determine the learner’s ZPD. Determining the learner’s ZPD needs the learner and the expert to engage each other in dialogic interaction to find out what the learner is able to achieve with and without help, so it is a process of negotiated discovery. Scholars argued that the help negotiated between the novice and the expert should be graduated, which means the expert should discover the learner’s ZPD to offer the appropriate level of assistance, moving from more explicit to more implicit and strategic levels; moreover, the assistance should be contingent, meaning that it should be offered when needed and withdrawn when the learner develops the ability to work independently［8］.
The ZPD is not a fixed framework, but a fluid and dynamic system which can reflect the learner’s potential development. In other words, the learner’s development is not linear, but dynamic and irregular. For Vygotsky, the learner’s development is a dialectic process, which is uneven, recursive, and entails regressive movement. Accordingly, the recursive nature of the L2 development needs to be taken into consideration when we provide instruction to the L2 learners.
2 Empirical research and the implications
Current empirical research has looked into the implications of the ZPD in the second language learning context. The study conducted by Aljaafreh and Lantolf in 1994 examined the effects of negative feedback as regulation in the ZPD. The project involved 9 students enrolled in an ESL writing and reading course offered by the English Language Institute of the University of Delaware, and the data were collected from their written texts. Aljaafreh and Lantolf found that L2 learners were able to appropriate the corrective feedback provided by an expert within the learner’s zone of proximal development ［9］. The findings indicated that the control over the learner’s linguistic performance gradually shifted from the expert to the novice. With the assistance and guidance, the novice gradually moved away from reliance on the expert to reliance on the self. The findings confirmed the view that the negotiated assistance between the expert and the novice should be graduated and contingent, which means the expert needs to adjust the instruction according to the development of the learner’s L2 knowledge, and to know when and how to offer or withdraw assistance to promote the learner’s L2 development. Aljaafreh and Lantolf also observed that after each episode of novice-expert interaction, the learner not only improved the accuracy of linguistic performance, but also required more implicit help from the expert rather than explicit help. It implies that L2 development is not simply reflected by the relative accuracy of linguistic performance, but is revealed through the kind of help negotiated between the novice and the expert. The learner who is able to produce a particular L2 feature resulting from more implicit forms of assistance is developmentally more advanced than the one who needs explicit feedback. Therefore, this study reveals that linguistic performance alone cannot reflect the learner’s developmental level. We need to consider to which extent the negotiated help reflects the learner’s developmental level, and further impacts on the learner’s L2 production.
To further explore the process of the novice-expert negotiation in the ZPD, in the year of 1995, Aljaafreh and Lantolf carried out another study based on the same data which were collected during their previous study in 1994. In the study, some evidence from L2 learning has been presented to support Vygotsky’s view that mental development is not a linear process, but a recursive process entailing forward and regressive movement［10］. Aljaafreh and Lantolf found that in the process of L2 development, learners sometimes moved from a higher to a lower developmental stage, namely, regression. It has been observed that, in the framework of the ZPD, regression is not only manifested in the linguistic performance of L2 learners, but also in the kinds of regulation negotiated between learners and experts. Accordingly, in the L2 development, regression is not an unusual phenomenon; on the contrary, it is to be expected among both beginners and advanced learners. In other words, developmental and performance-based regression is an integral part of the dialectical process of L2 learners’ development. The explanation for regression given by Aljaafreh and Lantolf is that when learners lose control over a particular language structure, they often tend to regain control through recursion to self-regulation strategies. In brief, this study makes a contribution to the L2 research on regression by investigating the process of the expert-novice negotiation in the ZPD.
Different from the previous studies examining the negotiated scaffolding between experts and learners, the study conducted by Guerrero and Villamil in 2000 probed into the mutual scaffolding among L2 learners within the framework of the ZPD. The study involved 2 male intermediate ESL college learners who were enrolled in an ESL communication skills course that emphasized the development of writing. Data were collected from a routine activity in that course, namely, the peer revision session in which pairs of students revised an essay written by one of them. By analyzing the interaction produced by the two participants in the peer revision session, Guerrero and Villamil found that both of the participants benefited from the revision task through reciprocal assistance and collaboration［11］. The revision task allowed them to recognize and consolidate the L2 knowledge in structural and rhetorical aspects, and to improve the L2 writing skills for each other. The findings showed that the effects of scaffolding were mutual in L2 peer revision. Furthermore, this study has contributed to a greater understanding of the complex mechanism of the learner-learner interaction, and has taken into consideration how mutual scaffolding facilitates L2 development within the ZPD.
In the process of expert-novice and learner-learner interaction, apart from the verbal forms of instruction, the nonverbal forms, like gesture, also need to be examined. Mccafferty investigated the role of gesture in creating the zone of proximal development for L2 learning and teaching in 2002. The participants involved in this study included a L2 learner of English who was attending a university in the United States, and an American graduate student who was an ESL teacher. The conversational interaction between the learner and the ESL teacher was video recorded and analyzed from the perspective of Vygotsky’s ZPD. Mccafferty found that gesture played an important role not only in promoting second language learning, but also in facilitating positive interaction between the learner and his teacher［12］. The proper use of gesture helped the participants to develop a sense of shared physical, symbolic, psychological, and social space, which exerted a positive influence on their interaction. Therefore, in the L2 learning and teaching context, the proper use of gesture might facilitate the expert-novice and learner-learner scaffolded instruction within the ZPD. Mccafferty pointed out that L2 learners need to become aware of the use of gesture as part of the overall process of making meaning in the L2, because it might help them to comprehend the language and to express themselves. In order to establish the awareness of the use of gesture, L2 learners need to examine the use of gesture in the L2 by watching videotaped interactions and by talking about gesture when performing role plays, scenes, and scenarios.
3 Current limitations
The previous studies have significantly contributed to the implications of the ZPD and its related issues, such as scaffolded instruction, but there are still some limitations existing in these studies.
Firstly, the research conducted by Aljaafreh and Lantolf in 1994 has shown that the expert needs to adjust the instruction from more explicit to more implicit in the Learner’s ZPD. However, affected by various individual and social factors, such as age, gender, motivation, social and classroom environments, different L2 learners might have different ZPDs; therefore, it is difficult for the teacher to figure out every learner’s ZPD, and to provide the particular scaffolding that is suitable for each of the learners. Moreover, the research also indicates that the teacher needs to know when and how to offer or withdraw assistance to promote the learner’s L2 development, but since the ZPD is dynamic and the learner’s development is not linear, it seems impossible to know when the best time is to withdraw assistance. Consequently, further research needs to be done on the aspect of how to provide, adjust and withdraw scaffolding in the L2 learning and teaching.
Secondly, Aljaafreh and Lantolf’s research has demonstrated that within the framework of the ZPD, regression is an integral part of the dialectical process of L2 learners’ development, and provided explanation for the regression phenomenon. However, no suggestions have been offered to deal with the problems when regression happens in the process of learner’s L2 development. That is to say, more practical pedagogical solutions need to be put forward to address the problem of regression in the future studies.
Thirdly, Guerrero and Villamil’s reaseach has shown how mutual scaffolding facilitates L2 development within the ZPD, but mutual scaffolding does not always lead to advancement toward prescribed language and rhetorical forms. It has been observed that L2 learners sometime exchanged incorrect knowledge, and made bad decision in peer revision. Although Guerrero and Villamil argued that the nonlinear and dynamic process of L2 development might provide more opportunities for learners to develop their creativity and make progress, the issue whether the teacher should give corrective feedback is still under discussion. One of the concerns is that if no corrective feedback is given by the teacher, some errors of the learner might occur repeatedly and constantly. The future research needs to address the issues whether and in what ways the teacher should provide error correction in L2 peer revision.
Lastly, Mccafferty’s research has demonstrated the role of gesture in creating zones of proximal development and in facilitating positive interaction between learners and teachers. However, the research was conducted in the L2 learning context where L2 students and native English teachers were involved; the findings might be quite different in the learning context in which only non-native students and teachers are involved. L2 learning contexts are variable in different social and cultural situations. The same gesture might convey different implications in different learning contexts. In the future research, the diversity of L2 learning contexts might be an important factor that needs to be considered.
4 My insights
This review gives me an insight into the implications of the zone of proximal development in SLA and its related scaffolded instruction. The view of the ZPD leads me to realize that in second language learning and teaching, more attention should be paid to the potential development of L2 learners rather than the actual development. In other words, we need to look at the learner’s future development of L2 learning by examining what has been developed in L2 learning, and estimating what is about to be developed in the near future.
To promote the potential development, L2 learners need to get assistance from more competent individuals, and one of the forms of effective assistance might be the scaffolding of instruction. The view of the ZPD gives me a new understanding of the role of scaffolding in second language learning. Teachers should offer the appropriate level of assistance, and learn how to adjust the scaffolding from more explicit to more implicit levels according to the learner’s development; moreover, teachers need to know when to withdraw assistance, otherwise, learners’ development might be impeded by not withdrawing help when they are already able work independently. Apart from scaffolding from the teacher, mutual scaffolding between learners might be another way which is applicable to second language learning.
Within the framework of the ZPD, the learner’s development is not linear, but rather dynamic and recursive, which means that regression is natural in the process of L2 development. Hence, we should view regression as part of the process of the learner’s development, and provide proper guidance to help learners to deal with the problem of regression.
Lastly, gesture is an important factor which needs to be taken into consideration in second language learning and teaching. Gesture plays an important role not only in promoting second language learning, but also in facilitating positive interaction between the learner and the teacher, so in the near future how to use gesture might be introduced into the second language classroom.
References
［1］ Vygotsky, L. S. Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986.
［2］ Vygotsky, L. S. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978.
［3］ Ohta, A. S. Rethingking interaction in SLA: Developmentally appropriate assistance in the zone of proximal development and the acquisition of L2 grammar. In J. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000: 51-78.
［4］ Swain, M. The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000: 97-114.
［5］ Wood, D., Bruner, J. S., & Ross, G. The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 1976(17): 89-100.
［6］ Vygotsky, L. S. On the child’s psychic development. Copenhagen: Nyt Nordisk, 1982.
［7］ Hedegaard, M. The zone of proximal development as basis for instruction. In H. Daniels (Ed.), An introduction to vygotsky. London; New York: Routledge, 2005: 227-252.
［8］ Rogoff, B., & Wertsch, J. V. (Eds.). Children’s learning in the “zone of proximal development”. San Francisco: Jossy-Bass, 1984.
［9］ Aljaafreh, A., & Lantolf, J. P. Negative feedback as regulation and second language learning in the zone of proximal development. The Modern Language Journal, 1994, 78 (4): 465-478.
［10］ Aljaafreh, A., & Lantolf, J. P. Second language learning in the zone of proximal development: A revolutionary experience. International Journal of Educational Research, 1995, 23 (7): 619-632.
［11］ Guerrero, M. C. M., & Villamil, O. S. Activating the ZPD: Mutual scaffolding in L2 peer revision. The Modern Language Journal, 2000, 84 (1): 51-68.
［12］ Mccafferty, S. G. Gesture and creating zones of proximal development for second language learning. The Modern Language Journal, 2002, 86 (2): 192-203.