ABSTRACT
Since the 1990s, there has been increasing interest in extending Vygotskian cultural-historical psychology (CHP), or sociocultural theory (SCT), to second language (L2) research (see Lantolf & Poehner, 2014; Lantolf & Thorne, 2006). Concepts borrowed from Vygotsky and his later interpreters such as zone of proximal development (ZPD), mediation, and microgenesis have become commonplace as part of the vocabulary of ‘new mainstream’ L2 acquisition theory (Swain & Deters, 2007). In the L2 pragmatics literature, Vygotsky’s ideas have been used as an analytic lens for understanding processes of L2 socialization into appropriate language use and, more recently, as the basis for designing pedagogical arrangements aimed at fostering and assessing pragmatic growth.
