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Second language literacy and communicative activity.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

This article presents the development of critical literacy in English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) learners as contingent upon interaction in communities of practice, rather than based solely on the acquisition of linguistic forms in the classroom. In light of sociocultural theory, this paper argues that classroom teachers need to adopt a sociocognitive view of literacy and provides suggestions for its implementation through the development of response, revision, and reflection.

Introduction

The present work provides ESL and EFL teachers of adolescents and adults with a view of communication that is multi-faceted whose usefulness and implications are revealed through goal-directed, language use. Arguing from within a socioculturally-inspired framework, past notions of literacy are discussed in an effort to present strategies for second language acquisition that are cognitively focused, and socially realized through response, revision, and reflection Moreover, the traditional objective of teaching towards and attaining a monolingual-based view of literacy is examined as the practice of emergent inquiry is introduced in order to promote critical literacy in ESL and EFL students. This piece proposes an approach to instruction, activity, and communication that permits adolescent and adult ESL /EFL students to become co-inquirers in the situated discourses of the language classroom and the community. This focus permits us to view English language literacy as being constructed through the interconnected arenas of our student's daily experiences presents teachers with insights into how to effectively 'teach literacy'.

Literacy and Cultural Historical Activity Theory

Cultural historical activity theory (CHAT), also known as sociocultural theory, offers ESL / EFL teachers with a view of literacy as dependant on the construction of social activity throughout which an individual's mind becomes engaged within communities of practice (Lave and Wegener, 1991; Wells, 1999; Wells and Claxton, 2002). Literacy, in other words, is not the product of individual action, but part of the process of human interaction where students use language to work together in goal-directed activity settings (Tharp and Gallimore, 1988). Within these settings, one objective of classroom talk is task completion and this assists learning a second language (Brooks and Donato, 1994). Literacy, in this light, is task based and cognitively oriented and not exclusively dependent on the acquisition of linguistic skills and forms. Instructors, though, do need to be aware of their students' linguistic knowledge and competence in order to be able to assist students through the process of scaffolding. Knowledge of the student's zone of actual development (ZAD) allows teachers to incorporate language learning objectives within task based activities so that skills are not only transferred from one language to another,...

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