| In order to emphasize metalinguistic output, Swain coined the term "languaging". Framed within Vygotsky’s cultural-historical psychology, she defined languaging as "the process of making meaning and shaping knowledge and experience through language". The concept characterizes language as a process rather than a product. Swain suggested that speaking and writing are themselves language production activities that mediate remembering, attending, and other aspects of higher mental functioning. That is, languaging refers to the activity of mediating cognitively complex ideas using language. It is not just communicating. The construct of languaging reinvests the meaning of communication with the power of language to mediate attention, recall, and knowledge creation.Researchers have argued that languaging plays a crucial role in learning a second language. The effects of languaging, especially oral languaging (e.g., collaborative dialogue, private speech and think aloud), have been identified as contributing to second language acquisition. Compared with oral languaging, written languaging (the written modality of languaging) has been less explored. The paucity of empirical research on written languaging in second language acquisition,despite its theoretical importance for learning and the empirical evidence documented in non-L2 knowledge domains, prompted the present study.The study aimed to explore the mediation of written languaging on EFL learning from sociocultural psychology perspective. The study involved 80 Chinese college non-English majors. They were assigned to four different groups (EGi, CGi, EG2 and CG2) because the present study featured two experimental treatments and two control conditions. The main experiment included four stages, lasting for six weeks. In Week One, participants of EG1 and EG2 participated in written languaging training. In Week Two, all participants wrote an essay in English in 30 minutes. Then the researcher made copies of the essay and asked two instructors to provide direct corrective feedback on the copies. In Week Three, all participants received a copy of their essay with direct corrective feedback. The participants of EGi and EG2 were asked to perform a written languaging task (writing out their own explanations on the corrections) in Chinese on another sheet. After 30 minutes, the written languaging sheets were collected along with the copy of their original essay with the direct corrections. The participants of CGi and CG2 took 20 minutes to review the direct correction by themselves without any assistance. Then all participants were required to take 15 minutes to fill out background questionnaire. Immediately after completing the questionnaire, the participants of EGi and CGi received their original essay (without direct correction) and were asked to revise the original essay on a separate sheet of paper in 20 minutes. The participants of EG2 and CG2 performed a delayed revision two weeks later.By analyzing the type and quality of written languaging episodes (participants produced in reaction to direct correction during written languaging activity) with the respect of writing revision performance, the main findings are summarized below. First, written languaging about direct correction on linguistic errors in the first essay helped learners to successfully correct these errors during the immediate and the delayed revision. Second, written languaging were associated with improved accuracy both in lexis and grammar as measured by the immediate and the delayed revision and reduction of errors. Third, written languaging in combination with direct correction mediated self-regulation (internalization and application of new linguistic knowledge) during writing revision. Overall, these findings supported Swain’s statement that providing learners with the opportunity to language about their developing linguistic knowledge mediates L2 learning and development.The present study also highlighted several implications for L2 pedagogy. For students, written languaging may help to deepen their understanding about L2 linguistic knowledge. That is, engaging in expressing their understanding about linguistic knowledge in writing can promote their language learning. Following these lines of investigation, L2 teachers may wish to have their students reflect in diaries, journals, or portfolios, on the linguistic problems they have encountered during classroom activities. Teachers can have languaging as the access to learn learners’ struggling in L2 learning. They can hear collaborative dialogue and private speech or investigate students’ written languaging that may offer them insights into what learners know and what they do not know, and what they need to know to move forward developmentally. An important role of written languaging is to help teachers to learn about their students’ affective reactions and cognitive challenges as they struggle to accomplish classroom activities. This may be a good clue that it is a teachable moment, or an opportunity for guidance.Constraints on the generality of the study are described in the last chapter. The discussion also includes recommendations for further research in this area. |
