Sociocultural Perspective in Terms of Three Aspects

Abstract

In the field of L2 acquisition, the psycholinguistic perspective has been the major approach in understanding language learning. However, the nature of L2 language learning can be re-conceptualized very differently through a sociocultural approach. From this perspective, it can be said that individuals learn language by extended participation in goal-oriented practical communicative social activities with a variety of mediations (Vygotsky, 1978; Vygotsky, 1981; Vygotsky, 1986). This statement on language-learning can mean that the development of language competence may be located in the social context in which various linguistic signs are created, used, borrowed, and/or interpreted by the individual for the purposeful actions in which he or she is engaged (Kramsch, 2000). In this respect, this article examines how sociocultural perspectives have been implicated in research studies by scholars and their reflection on speech, anthropological elements, and phenomenology.