Review of Mediation from the Social Constructivist Perspective and Its Implications for Secondary School EFL Classrooms in China

Abstract

This paper critically highlights the survey of the body of literature in favor of social constructivism to look at the changing views of teacher classroom performance, from which it seems more challenging for a teacher to help students construct knowledge than to instruct directly. The history of mediation is discussed with Feuerstein’s 12 mediated learning experience features incorporated into Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development on the basis of social constructivism. To address the proposed question, a methodological triangulation (i.e., observations & interviews) was applied for data collection regarding language teacher mediative practices. Based on the findings, a conclusion is drawn that most English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers among secondary schools in China are unable to mediate students’ learning due to the deficiency of mediation and the fact that most Chinese EFL learners are weak at communicative competence in the target language. An EFL teacher’s command of mediation knowledge plus his/her abilities to overcome situational constraints might result in the successful implementation of mediation strategies.