Glass half full 2

From: Phil Chappell (phil_chappell@access.inet.co.th)
Date: Sun Oct 20 2002 - 00:55:37 PDT


I found the +ACI-half full/half empty+ACI- discussion in James Wertsch's Mind as
Action (p. 39), who puts Vygotsky in the +ACI-half full+ACI- category and Kenneth
Burke in the +ACI-half empty+ACI- category.

In case anyone was wondering (?) I was thinking about second language users
and the constraints placed on their meaning making potential when using the
second language as opposed to their first (especially in a foreign language
environment such as in Thailand). From my perspective, SFL theory allows us
to think of language as a system that empowers people to act in the world
(i.e. an affordance). However a second language in one sense can do that by
providing access, but it also imposes constraints on people as they attempt
to use it to mediate their way through social encounters. Just what this
mediation entails brings me back to my main problem - thinking and speaking
in a foreign language - what is the relationship between inner speech as
developed in the mother tongue and a possible +ACI-second inner speech+ACI- which is
the antecedent of speech in the second language...the medium for the
development of an utterance. Second language acquisition research does not
provide many answers as many researchers try to investigate forces within
the individual's mind rather than viewing language use as developing in
social interaction - mediated action.

Phil



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