1. Applied Linguistics (Language Teaching and Learning)
James P. Lantolf
Abstract
I am pleased to have been afforded the opportunity to offer my reflections on the articles included in the special issue of JALDA on what I will call “pre-paradigm” research. I borrow the concept from Kuhn (2012), which I believe appropriately describes the current state of affairs in SLA. ...
Read More
I am pleased to have been afforded the opportunity to offer my reflections on the articles included in the special issue of JALDA on what I will call “pre-paradigm” research. I borrow the concept from Kuhn (2012), which I believe appropriately describes the current state of affairs in SLA. Each article compares different aspects of SCT with other frameworks and methodologies in the field. An appealing aspect of the overall project is that contributions have adopted different perspectival lenses. In what follows, I will address each article individually. In some cases, I will expand upon what the authors argue and in others I will critique their arguments to encourage the authors to think more deeply about their proposal(s) and perhaps to bring to bear additional theoretical insights. For convenience, I have organized the seven articles into what I see as a coherent grouping. The criterion used was whether an article reflected more of a theoretical, empirical, or practical orientation.
1. Applied Linguistics (Language Teaching and Learning)
Enrico Grazzi
Abstract
The main focus of this article is on the controversial issue of integrating English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) into English Language Teaching (ELT). Particularly, the plurilithic nature of English as an international language in the age of Globalization challenges the long sedimented native-speakerism ...
Read More
The main focus of this article is on the controversial issue of integrating English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) into English Language Teaching (ELT). Particularly, the plurilithic nature of English as an international language in the age of Globalization challenges the long sedimented native-speakerism in the English classroom. Nevertheless, in spite of the extensive academic literature in the area of ELF research, it seems that a balanced pedagogical approach has not yet been developed by applied ELF scholars. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to show how Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (SCT) and Gal’perin’s Systemic Theoretical Instruction (STI) (which informed the L2 teaching approach called Concept-based Language Instruction, C-BLI) may provide the appropriate scientific framework to bridge the gap between the mainstream English as a Foreign Language (EFL) syllabus, that is based on the native-speaker Standard English model, and the emergent use of non-native-speaker ELF, which results from the contact of learners’ L1 and English. In conclusion, this research intends to propose an integrated approach to teaching English that combines ELF, SCT, and C-BLI. This is expected to give language teachers a conceptual framework and theoretical orientation to carry out the paradigm shift in ELT that most ELF scholars advocate.
