Group Work in the English Language Curriculum

Sociocultural and Ecological Perspectives on Second Language Classroom Learning

P. Chappell

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781137008787
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Teaching Languages

This book explores how using small groups in second language classrooms supports language learning. Chappell's experience as a language teacher equips him to present a clear, evidence-based argument for the powerful influence group work has upon the opportunities for learning, and how it should therefore be an integral part of language lessons.

Part I
Interaction in the Second Language Curriculum

Part I introduces the theoretical framework upon which the remainder of the book is based. It provides an outline of three theoretical perspectives, each contributing to accounts of interactive second language classroom activity. First, Vygotksy’s sociocultural theory is a mediational theory of mind, where social interaction is considered the source of human consciousness. Second, Halliday’s systemic functional linguistic (SFL) theory is a sociosemiotic view of language. Language is considered a functional tool which coordinates human activity and construes reality. Finally, Bernstein’s theory of Pedagogic Discourse allows for a clearer understanding of the issues of power and control that are inherent in any pedagogic event.

The theoretical framework developed to explore, describe and explain the role of group work in the second language curriculum is outlined in this first part of the book. The teaching and learning of second languages in formal classrooms is a complex affair (Tarone, 2006); (Wright, 2005); developing a robust and useful theoretical framework with which to make sense of this complexity is equally involved. In past times, especially within the confines of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research, much of the complexity of instructed second language learning has been simplified in order to focus on specific aspects of the learner and the linguistic input and output that characterise interaction in the classroom, and possibly some important other variables within the classroom context. Yet with the search for best practice in second language classroom pedagogy, SLA researchers approached this problem with a desire to prescribe what needs to be controlled in classroom situations in order to maximise the potential for second language acquisition (Ellis, 1994). It is only recently that scholars have recognised the usefulness of investigating the complexity in its entirety rather than attempting to reduce it down to its essential elements (Allwright, 2006). This has led to a number of new approaches to prying open the curtain of classroom second language teaching and learning activity and understanding its dynamics.

The approach I am introducing to enable an understanding of the role of group work in the second language classroom is very much centred on apprehending the classroom context in its entirety. In Chapter One this is introduced under the umbrella of an ecological approach, which goes beyond looking at actions ‘in’ a context to seeing them as ‘part’ of the context (Bateson, 1972). We are not interested in stripping away unnecessary parts of the context to reveal a remaining subsection at which to marvel; rather, we are interested in the full glory of human activity as it occurs in social settings such as classrooms.

Chapter One firstly presents an overview of sociocultural theory, with a specific emphasis on the theory of mediated human mind developed by Lev Vygotsky, now a familiar name to many in discussions of second language learning and teaching. What is singly most attractive about Vygotsky’s work is the fusing of the concepts of language and mind, a fusion that is seen to have its genesis in social interaction. What better theory could we apply to understanding the phenomenon of students working in small groups in the classroom to develop their proficiency in a second language than one that privileges the relations between human interaction, language and mind? There are several key constructs of sociocultural theory that will return time and again in later chapters. Semiotic mediation, interpersonal and intrapersonal mental processes, internalisation and the zone of proximal development are introduced in Chapter One, and expanded upon in later chapters in Part II.

Second, a linguistic theory is introduced in Chapter One, which I present as a complement to sociocultural theory, and which also provides a more comprehensive and detailed account of language. This is Michael Halliday’s theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics, which he has characterised as a theory of language as a social semiotic. For Halliday, the meaning ‘potential of language’ is influenced by its relation to the cultural as well as the social context. It is a cultural tool that has evolved because of its usefulness – we can explain the nature of language by investigating how it functions as a primary meaning-making cultural resource that coordinates human activity and construes reality. Just how language functions as a social semiotic to support classroom learning activity involving small group work is clearly of significance for this book, and receives its due attention in Part II. Hopefully even at this introductory stage it is clear that Sociocultural theory and Systemic Functional Linguistic theory have common roots and offer the potential to be drawn together to provide us with a richer perspective on language learning in small group interaction patterns in classrooms.

Yet there is perhaps slightly more descriptive and explanatory power that can be achieved by elaborating a little further upon this intersection of a theory of language and a mediational theory of mind. In Chapter Two, I develop an argument for viewing the roles of teachers and learners in language classroom activity through a sociological lens, enabled through reference to Basil Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic discourse. What Bernstein’s theory allows us to achieve is a clearer understanding of the issues of power and control that are inherent in any pedagogic event. The challenge here has been to wrestle with the key constructs of Bernstein’s extensive and far-reaching theory in order to distil them to suit the micro-level of classroom activity. At the heart of Bernstein’s mission was to unpack and articulate the social bases of pedagogic relations. To achieve this, he developed the dual notions of classification and framing, which are essentially principles for the control and dissemination of meaning. Classification is concerned with the domains of knowledge, the relations between these domains, and who has the power to control access to these domains in classroom settings. Framing is concerned with the management of teaching and learning activity. It addresses the question of who controls the social practices of the classroom, such as what can be talked about, when and by whom? It is also concerned with how these communications take place and what criteria are used to evaluate their pedagogic success. Framing consists of two key registers of classroom language: the regulative register, realised in language that regulates student behaviour, and the instructional register, realised in the language that builds curriculum knowledge. While it is the teacher who has the ultimate control over the pedagogic discourse, at different points of time during lessons the teacher can relax or tighten the relative strengths of the boundaries of classification and framing, which creates different dynamics in the classroom.

Once readers are familiar with the theoretical framework developed in Chapters One and Two, they should be better equipped to follow the analyses and commentaries in Part II: Chapters Three to Eight. Each chapter develops aspects of the theoretical framework further through reference to data analyses from second language classrooms. Part I is written in such a way that the reader can return to the key constructs at any stage in the book, and indeed, there is signposting throughout to facilitate this.

1

An Ecological Perspective on the Interactive Second Language Classroom

Chapter One begins with an outline of an ecological approach, based on the notion that all living things in the world are interconnected. Social context is presented as a fundamental aspect of human social activity, following a Vygotskyan, sociocultural line of reasoning. This maintains a holistic view of language and mind, both having their origins in social interaction. Language is presented as a functional cultural tool that is sensitive to social contexts. Systemic Functional Linguistic theory provides a comprehensive view of social semiotic activity. The relations between human interaction, language and mind allow for understandings of student interaction in the classroom.

Theoretical approach: language development in context

This chapter introduces the theoretical underpinnings of the approach to second language learning which give direction to the remainder of the book. The underlying theme, the irreducible constituent of the theoretical approach, is the centrality of context. In the footsteps of van Lier (2004), I take an ecological perspective on theories relevant for language and language learning. I elaborate upon this in much greater detail in Chapter Seven; however, the crucial point to make at this stage is that the study of relationships between living phenomena in context is of overriding concern. An ecological view holds that all living things are an integral part of the world order. To reduce or to background context reduces or backgrounds the essential nature of the object of study. This book is concerned with questions about language learning in every day classroom contexts where small groups are a main part of classroom activity. It goes without saying, then, that ‘the wonders of language and language development are very closely tied to the ways in which we use language every day’ (van Lier 2002, p. 160).

Drawing upon sociocultural theory, systemic functional linguistic theory and Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic discourse, the approach I outline in this chapter is a principled, ecological one with which to view teaching and learning activity in second language classrooms. As will be seen, each of these three theoretical areas complements the other, creating the opportunity to distinguish this from other approaches through the name Language Development in Context, or LDC for short. In developing LDC, I have been guided by three principles. First is the essentiality of context. Second, following Basil Bernstein (1977, p. 171), my overriding concern is ‘less allegiance to an approach, and more of a dedication to a problem’. Thus, the theoretical framework described in this chapter should be seen as a tool with which to address the central question of the role of small group work in language classroom learning. Third, this resonates with the thinking of Kurt Lewin (1964, p. 169), a psychologist interested in social action, who claims ‘there is nothing so practical as a good theory.’ As will be seen, the LDC approach offers opportunities for language teachers, researchers and language teacher educators interested in extending their understandings of the theory and practice of classroom interaction involving small groups.

Sociocultural theory

We become ourselves through others. (Vygotsky, 1989)

Vygotskian theory, which in second language studies has been recontextualised as sociocultural theory (Lantolf and Thorne, 2006), has been shaped from the assumption that social interaction and interaction with culturally constructed artefacts are essential processes for human learning. As the epigraph above suggests, for Vygotsky, the self and the other are highly interdependent, suggesting a rather different perspective on how individuals learn than is often taken in contemporary thinking in language learning. Rather than viewing the learner as an individual organism acquiring knowledge directly from the outside world, Vygotskian theory prefers the view of an individual systematically learning knowledge and skills through specific forms of interaction with others. That is, an essential part of learning is the intervention, or mediation, of an expert other between the knowledge and skills to be learned, and the learner. These socially mediated learning and teaching occasions, together with the mediation of artefacts constructed in social and cultural settings, such as computers, a table and chairs, mathematical formulae, and most importantly for our purposes, spoken and written language, provide the fertile ground for learning to occur. The concept of mediation is an extremely important one for what we are looking at in this book. Figure 1.1 serves to illustrate the basic structure of this theory.

The direct subject–object relationship can be thought of as the unmediated relationship between a learner and his or her environment. A reaction to an environmental stimuli such as the reflex dodging of a classmate’s pen projecting across the classroom exemplifies an elementary, or ‘natural’ (Cole, 1996) function; these are functions that are shared with primates, where there is no involvement of a physical, cultural artefact. On the other hand indirect or mediated human behaviour involves the deployment of a culturally constructed tool or artefact which extends the capabilities of the person beyond...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Part I Interaction in the Second Language Curriculum
• Part II Group Work and the Second Language Curriculum
• References
• Index