Sociocultural Theory as Everyday Practice

Abstract

This chapter explores the potential and challenges of sociocultural theory (SCT) as a driver of radical change to address persistent inequalities in learning outcomes for PK-12 multilingual and multicultural learners. Historically, language, learning, and learners have been positioned as complementary but often competitive knowledge bases in the field of SLA. The ESL profession has focused too narrowly on preparing language specialists from a language perspective at the expense of preparing every teacher. Twenty-first century teachers and teacher educators will need to attend to language, learning, and learners simultaneously. SCT and critical social theory, when combined and used to define pedagogical practice, reframe schooling for multilingual and multicultural learners. Summarizing quantitative findings from original studies of instructional coaching, the chapter highlights three tiers of teacher change in how teachers take up critical SCT as everyday teaching practices. Findings suggest that radical change—individual, social, and systems—will require relentless commitment to disrupting the status quo, becoming pedagogically driven, and profoundly improving teachers’ knowledge and skills for mediating culture in learning, curriculum, and relationships.