Exploring adult EFL learners' language learning potential: A sociocultural approach

Close scrutiny of the research on language aptitude reveals that it has been considered a quintessentially cognitive construct. No studies, to the researcher's knowledge, have examined language learning ability from a sociocultural perspective. Therefore, this study seeks to reconceptualize the cognitively oriented concept of language aptitude by looking at it through a sociocultural lens. This reconceptualization is achieved first, by reframing language aptitude and offering a new term, language learning potential , and second, by analyzing the dialogic interactions between an EFL teacher (i.e., the author of this dissertation) and two adult learners in a foreign language context in Turkey.;Two specific research questions were addressed: (1) What are the verbal tools that reflect adult EFL learners' reciprocity and transcendence pertaining to their language learning potential? (2) How are these verbal indicators manifested in dialogic interactions between learners and the teacher in an adult EFL classroom?;This study utilized a staged, nested case study design. I selected fourteen participants who volunteered to learn English for twelve weeks in a small university in Turkey. Utilizing Communicative Language Teaching and Dynamic Assessment as pedagogical tools, I offered EFL instruction twice a week during the data collection period. Forty-four videotaped classroom hours, 22 individual interviews, one focus group interview, and my researcher journal constituted the data sources for this study. I analyzed the data using Boyatzis' thematic approach.;The findings of the rigorous, longitudinal data suggested that language learning potential rests on two mutually constitutive elements: learner reciprocity and transcendence. Seven themes emerged vis-a-vis learner reciprocity: learner agency, using the teacher and peers as a resource, responding to the teacher and peers, affective dimensions of the interactions between the teacher and peers, self-regulating attention, reacting to challenge, and seeking opportunities for improvement. For transcendence, linking current learning to past learning, relating current learning to other contexts, and extending experience beyond "now" were found to be pertinent.;The findings of this study can provide new insights to four communities in the field of second and foreign language studies: researchers, teachers, students, and language teacher educators.;Keywords: Language aptitude, language learning potential, learner reciprocity, transcendence, EFL instruction, sociocultural theory...