Search

Given the emergence of the use of digital tools in English teaching and learning and of sociocultural theory (SCT) in recent years, this paper sets out to introduce the concepts of tools, digital tools, and mediation in SCT. It then argues for the ground for enhancing and promoting the use of digital tools in English learning and teaching. Studies documenting evidence of technology-enhanced artefacts are reviewed to discuss how mediation of digital tools brings about cognitive, social, and linguistic changes to EFL/L2 learners. The paper concludes with implications for language education in the digital era, particularly English learning with digital tools.

Effective teaching of English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) is considered to enhance workers' performance, efficacy, and professional development. Thus, what students and teachers believe to lead to effective EOP teaching is worth exploring. This study set out to compare students' and teachers' beliefs about effective EOP teaching. It employed a sequential mixed-methods design with a questionnaire initially administered to 306 voluntary participants, including 108 teachers and 198 sophomore and junior students who participated in teaching and learning EOP. Subsequently, semi-structured interviews with 30 voluntary participants selected from the first stage sample were conducted. The findings showed that students and teachers generally indicated their high agreement with communicative language teaching strategies in EOP. However, discrepancies were found in most observed factors of EOP teaching, including language skills, communicative language teaching, content and language integrated learning, and assessment, except technology integration. From the findings, it is suggested that both EOP students and teachers should be informed of what constitutes effective EOP teaching.

Vygotsky proposed the concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) but did not elaborate the concept of "peer," leaving open the question of how capable a peer should be and how practice or outcome might differ according to a peer's level of capability. These issues were investigated in a sociocultural study of first-year Vietnamese university students learning English. The students were examined in two group settings, "unassisted" and "assisted," the first consisting of five students from the same class and the second of four from the same class and a more knowledgeable student from a higher class. The senior student made a marked difference to the organization of the assisted group's processes: she helped the other students start their discussions, explained new English words, and increased the use of English in this group setting. The results suggest that the teaching manner of the senior student contributed substantially to the group work in the current study.

This study investigated learning vocabulary in group work at university in Vietnam. The students were studied in two kinds of group settings, "unassisted" and "assisted", the first consisting of five students from the same class level and the second of four from the same class and a student from a higher class. Differences were observed in both the procedures and the outcomes of vocabulary learning in the two settings. The negotiation of word meanings and forms were collaborative in the unassisted groups and expert-novice in the assisted groups. The unassisted groups used the first language to code-mix their English utterances with Vietnamese words to express their ideas. The presence of a senior student in the assisted groups virtually eliminated the use of the first language in explaining new English words. Students in the two group settings reported that they learned new words and the group discussions helped them recall and remember English words.