An Overview of Vygotsky's Language and Thought for EFL Teachers

Abstract

In the past ten years, references to “Vygotsky” have multiplied in the ELT profession. Many practicing teachers, long out of university and preoccupied with the demands of teaching, are not familiar with his writings and are intimidated by some of the terms that are associated with him: ZPD and scaffolding, to name the two most frequent ones. This article attempts to demystify Lev Vygotsky by explaining who he was, what his terms mean, and how they can be seen in a language classroom. Described as a “sociocultural theorist” by Second Language Acquisition (SLA) specialists, Vygotsky has had a significant impact on general education theory as well. The article briefly addresses his theories and concludes with some implications for EFL teachers and SLA researchers. The aim of the article is to better inform EFL teachers so that they may

remain up-to-date in the profession.