The Forum Teachers as Learners: Incorporating Sociocultural Theory into L2 Teacher Education

Since Frawley and Lantolf (1984) first brought to light the importance of utilizing sociocultural theory in second language research, numerous studies regarding the sociocultural influence in the acquisition of language have been conducted. One common trend throughout the different perspectives within the theoretical framework of sociocultural theory in applied linguistics is the notion of learning. Although the different sociocultural perspectives (Vygotskyan, Bakhtinian, language socialization, situated language learning, and critical theory) have all defined learning slightly differently, one common trend has been the belief that learning occurs through social interaction with others within specific contexts and communities.1 One question that remains, though, is if these perspectives of sociocultural theory are brought into more mainstream second language classrooms, how can L2 teachers be more prepared to take on this relatively new idea. As both a practicing English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) educator, I find sociocultural theory a fascinating way to view language acquisition, but also one with which an uphill battle is attached. Most students in TESOL masters programs are introduced to second language acquisition (SLA) from the dominant tradition of cognition (Firth & Wagner, 1997). While trying to grapple with linguistic terminolog