EXAMINING SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING: TAKING A SOCIOCULTURAL STANCE

Vygotsky s sociocultural theories have been widely referred to in the field of second language learning (SLL) research (e.g. see Donato, 1994; Gutiérrez, 2003; Haas, 1996;Ohta, 2000; Swain, 2000; Warschauer & Kern, 2000). Adopting sociocultural theories offers researchers theoretical perspectives with which to examine language learning as a social practice, consider students as active participants in constructing learning processes, and investigate the interaction between different factors involved. To achieve this, this literature review aims to explore the central concepts of sociocultural theories and how such perspectives assist researchers in examining the interaction involved in the field of second language research.