ENGL 578 B: Colloquium in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

This graduate seminar investigates Vygotskyan Praxis—a fusion of theory and practice in teaching and research—as applied to second/foreign language research and teaching. Along with an overview of sociocultural theory (SCT) this seminar presents research in a neo-Vygotskyan approach to language teaching called “concept-based instruction” (CBI) or “systemic-theoretic instruction,” considering this approach as a merging of theory and practice. Theoretic background for this approach will be considered, along with recent research articles investigating application of CBI to foreign language teaching. Students will investigate areas in their target language(s) of interest that might be appropriate targets for CBI instruction, design materials, and implement a small pilot study, either in a classroom or using a group of volunteer language learners.