2.1.2 Sociocultural theories of SLA In contrast to interactionist research, Block (2003) proposed the “social turn” taken by the field of SLA, and variations of socially based theories and approaches have flourished. For example, socio-cognitive paradigms (Kern & Warschauer, 2000), which view language as social and place emphasis on the role of cultural context and discourse, are often used in the research on telecollaboration. Many studies have been influenced by sociocultural theory (Belz, 2002; Thorne, 2003; Ware, 2005). In the Vygotskian perspective, language is viewed as a mediating tool for learning, and the entire language learning process must by necessity be a dialogic process (see, e.g., Basharina, 2007; Blin, 2012, who rely on Activity Theory and Cultural Historical Activity Theory, respectively, for their analyses of telecollaboration). Other studies make visible the development of linguistic, pragmatic, and intercultural competence in both intra-class telecollaboration (e.g., Abrams, 2008) and inter-class interactions (e.g., Belz & Thorne, 2006; Jin & Erben, 2007). Chun (2011) reports on advanced German learners in the United States engaging online with advanced English learners in Germany, as they used different types of speech acts to indicate their pragmatic ability and to show their developing ICC. Specifically, some learners realized that they could exhibit curiosity and interest (a component of ICC) by engaging in multi-turn statements and did not need to use questions to convey their intent.

Sociocultural Approaches to SLA and Technology (Steven Thorne): Sociocultural approaches (SCT) to second language acquisition draw from a tradition of human development emphasizing the culturally organized and goal-directed nature of human behavior and the importance of external social practices in the formation of individual cognition. This paper describes the principle constructs of the theory, including mediation, internalization, and the zone of proximal development, and will describe technology-related research in these areas. Vygotskian SCT shares foundational constructs with distributed and situated cognition, usage-based models of language acquisition, language socialization, and ecological approaches to development, all of which have contributed to new applications of SCT in the areas of language research and pedagogical innovation. A discussion of methodological challenges and current practices will conclude the presentation.