Second Language Development and Cognitive Mediation
L2 Development and Mediation of Psychological Activity
One of the most interesting questions in SCT (Sociocultural Theory) research on L2 development is whether individuals who learn a new language as late adolescents or adults can use this language to mediate their psychological activity. Ushakova argued that although L2 speakers can use their new language for social communication, they cannot use it as a psychological artifact to mediate their thinking.
Early research, however, does not support this claim. This research showed that when encountering difficulties in narrating a picture story, recalling a fairy tale, or explaining the content of an expository text, English as a Second Language (ESL) learners externalized their private speech exclusively in the L2 to mediate and organize their thinking. The research by Centeno-Cortés and Jiménez-Jiménez involved L1 and L2 speakers to clarify these problems to some extent.
It presented cognitively challenging problems focused on math, logic, spatial manipulation, and kinship (afinidad). The instructions and problems were presented in the same language, and participants had to decide in which language they would respond.
Generally, intermediate L2 speakers tend to use their L1 for private speech. Reading the task aloud in the L2 can serve to clarify the task; however, they often switch to their L1 to complete the work.
Advanced L2 speakers also read aloud in L2 and are able to sustain more spontaneous private speech in the L2. Despite sustaining L2 private speech, they often cannot reach a solution; correct solutions were only achieved when they switched to L1.
Frawley argued that private speech serves cognition by bringing into focus those features that the person sees as relevant to a particular problem, and intermediate speakers relied on their L1 for this strategy.
Key Insights on L2 Private Speech and Problem Solving
- Vygotsky’s Insights:
- Externalizing private speech in any language does not guarantee a successful solution to a problem.
- Using the formal features of an L2 is not the same as using L2 meanings.
- Participants who sustained L2 private speech were often unsuccessful at solving the relevant problem.
- Swain and Lakin Study: A study by Swain and Lakin found that the language of a task influences the language that speakers access to control their thinking in the task.
It is important to recall the ability to use a language to mediate mental activity, according to Vygotsky.
Meaning and L2 Mediation
In L2 mediation, meaning plays a central role in the mediation process.
Gesture and Mediation in L2 Learning
There are two general areas concerning gesture in L2 mediation:
- The extent to which L2 learners are able to appropriate gestures that are specific to particular cultures.
- The interface (interrelación) between speech and gesture.
McCafferty argued that there is a close connection between speech and gesture that goes beyond social communication. Gesture can contribute to the development of thinking and can function as a separate spatio-motoric mode of thinking. Indeed, Vygotsky recalled that speech is at first “a conventional substitute for the gesture.” He saw a close connection between gesture and symbolic play in children.
Gesture is generally understood as manual movements that frequently occur in the absence of speech. McNeil referred to these as emblems, or gestures whose meaning can be interpreted independently of speech. Gesture also includes pantomime, in which the entire body might be used to express meaning.
However, there are other types of gestures that co-occur with speech, especially: