The Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky (1896-1934) has been one of the central figures in the recent shift from the cognitive to the social and the cultural in educational and psychological research. A. N. Leontiev's (1903-1979) activity theory has had a similar impact in the West. A. A. Leontiev's (1936-2004) psycholinguistic theories have also started to attract increasing attention. The ideas of these scholars have also made their mark on second and foreign language learning research outside Russia. However, there is no one widely accepted, monolithic Vygotskian or Leontievian theory. Furthermore, the nature and role of language in action and activity remain open for debate. This edited volume presents 19 chapters bringing together different views from a number of disciplines for a critical analysis and reappraisal of the relationship between language and action. The topics range from theoretical and methodological issues related to sociocultural and activity theoretical views of language to empirical research reports on classroom interaction, identity, language assessment, teacher education and second and foreign language learning. The overall aim of Language in Action: Vygotsky and Leontievian Legacy Today is to shed light on the nature of human action and activity and the role that language has in mediating and shaping what we think, do, and learn. At the same time, the book serves as a showcase of different socially oriented approaches to the study of what we as human beings are and what we do with language.
About the Author: Riikka Alanen is an Adjunct Professor in Applied Linguistics at the Centre for Applied Language Studies and Lecturer in Language Pedagogy at the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland. Her research interests include secnd/foreign language learning and teaching as mediated activity and metalinguistic awareness. She has written articles in Finnish and English about children's learning of English as a Foreign Language, including A sociocultural approach to young language learner's beliefs about language learning in Beliefs about SLA, New Research Approaches (Kluwer, 2003). Sari Poyhonen is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Applied Language Studies of the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland. Her research interests mainly deal with language, culture and identity in Finnish and Russian contexts; at the moment she is carrying out research on the construction of identity of immigrant pupils in Finnish schools. She is also the coordinator of the National Project on Language Education Policies (2005-2007). She is a contributor to the book Europe. Lives in Transition edited by Bettina van Hoven 2003, Pearson.