Chapter published in:

Cross-theoretical Explorations of Interlocutors and their Individual Differences
Edited by Laura Gurzynski-Weiss
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 53] 2020
► pp. 80–97

Chapter 4. I ~ You > I ~ Me

The hidden other in L2 development

James P. Lantolf | Xi'an Jiao Tong University/The Pennsylvania State University

An often-unquestioned assumption regarding psychological and linguistic development is that the interesting and relevant processes occur inside the head of the individual. It is a position that “fetishizes” the fact that development necessarily entails social relations as a component. Vygotsky, on the other hand, proposes that uniquely human forms of mental behavior, including language development, arise as a result of social relations: “I relate to myself as others relate to me” (1997). In other words, “I ~ You” interactions become, over time, “I ~ Me” interactions in which the voices of others are appropriated and transformed into my voice. This paper fleshes out the theoretical argument underlying the hidden or “fetishized” social other and considers the implications of this stance for second language development.

Keywords: interaction, social other, L2 development, social relations

Published online: 21 January 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.53.04lan

References

Agar, M.

(1994) Language shock. Understanding the culture of conversation. New York, NY: Quill.

Arievitch, I. M.

(2017) Beyond the brain. An agentive activity perspective on mind, development, and learning. Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Back, M.

(this volume). Interlocutor differences and the role of social others in a Spanish peer tutoring context. In L. Gurzynski-Weiss Ed. Cross-theoretical explorations of interlocutors and their individual differences (pp. 99–123). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Bakhurst, D.

(1991) Consciousness and revolution in Soviet philosophy. From the Bolsheviks to Evald Ilyenkov. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Choi, S., & Lantolf, J. P.

(2008) Representation and embodiment of meaning in L2 communication: Motion events in the speech and gesture of advanced L2 Korean and L2 English speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 30, 191–224.

Chomsky, N.

(1966) Cartesian linguistics. A chapter in the history of rationalist thought. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

Courtin, C.

(2000) The impact of sign language on the cognitive development of Deaf children. The case of theories of mind. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 5, 266–276.

Danziger, K.

(1997) Naming the mind. How psychology found its language. London, UK: Sage.

Feuerbach, L.

(1854/1957) The Essence of Christianity / Translated from the German by George Eliot (Marian Evans). New York, NY: Harper & Row.

(1966) Principles of the philosophy of the future. Translated, with an introduction, by Manfred H. Vogel. Indianapolis IN: The Bobbs-Merrill Company.

Geeslin, K.

(this volume). Variationist perspective(s) on interlocutor individual differences. In L. Gurzynski-Weiss Ed. Cross-theoretical explorations of interlocutors and their individual differences (pp. 127–157). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Gibson, J. J.

(1979) The ecological approach to visual perception (revised ed.). New York, NY: Houghton-Mifflin.

Harris, R.

(2003) Critique of orthodox linguistics. In H. G. Davis & T. J. Taylor (Eds.), Rethinking linguistics (pp. 16–26). London, UK: Routledge.

Harvey, D.

(2010) A companion to Marx’s Capital. London: Verso.

Hoffman, E.

(1989) Lost in translation. A life in a new language. New York, NY, Dutton.

Lantolf, J. P., & Poehner, M. E.

(2014) Sociocultural theory and the pedagogical imperative in L2 education: Vygotskian praxis and the research/practice divide. New York, NY: Routledge.

Larsen-Freeman, D.

(this volume). Complexity Theory: Relational systems in interaction and in interlocutor differences in second language development. In L. Gurzynski-Weiss Ed. Cross-theoretical explorations of interlocutors and their individual differences (pp. 189–208). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Mayer, M.

(1969) Frog, where are you? New York, NY: Dial Books.

McNeill, D.

(1992) Hand and mind. What gestures reveal about thought. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

(2005) Gesture and thought. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

(2016) Why we gesture. The surprising role of hand movements in communication. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Meristo, M., Falkman, K. W., Hjelmquiest, E., Tedoldi, M., Surian, L., & Siegal, M.

(2007) Language access and theory of mind reason: Evidence from deaf children in bilingual and oralist environments. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1156–1169.

Pawlak, M.

(this volume). In L. Gurzynski-Weiss Ed. Cross-theoretical explorations of interlocutors and their individual differences (pp. 51–75). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Peter, K.

(2017) “What is absolutely impossible for one person, is possible for two” – A historical-methodological study concerning Feuerbachian elements in the later works of L. S. Vygotsky. История российской психологии в лицах: Дайджест [The History of Russian Psychology in Individuals: Digest], 3, 179–211.

Philp, J., & Gurzynski-Weiss, L.

(this volume). On the role of the interlocutor in second language development: A cognitive-interactionist approach. In L. Gurzynski-Weiss Ed. Cross-theoretical explorations of interlocutors and their individual differences (pp. 19–50). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Serafini, E. J.

(this volume). The impact of learner perceptions of interlocutor individual differences on learner possible selves during a short-term experience abroad. In L. Gurzynski-Weiss Ed. Cross-theoretical explorations of interlocutors and their individual differences (pp. 209–243). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Slobin, D. I.

(1996) From “thought and language” to “thinking for speaking.” In J. Gumperz & S. Levinson (Eds.), Rethinking linguistic relativity (pp. 70–96). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

(2006) What makes manner of motion salient? Explorations in linguistic typology, discourse, and cognition. In M. Hickmann & S. Robert (Eds.), Space in language: Linguistic systems and cognitive categories (pp. 59–81). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Stam, G.

(2015) Changes in thinking for speaking: A longitudinal case study. Modern Language Journal, 99, 83–99.

Stam, G., Lantolf, J. P., Smotrova, T., & Buescher, K.

(2017) Thinking for speaking CAN be explicitly taught in a second language. Presentation at the Annual Conference of the American Association for Applied Linguistics. Portland, OR. March 19.

Talmy, L.

(2000) Towards a cognitive semantics. Volume II: Typology and process in concept structuring. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Tomasuolo, E., Valeri, G., Di Renzo, A., Pasqualetti, P., & Volterra, V.

(2013) Deaf children attending different school environments: Sign language abilities and theory of mind. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 18, 12–29.

Vocate, D.

(1994) Self-talk and inner speech: Understanding the uniquely human aspects of intrapersonal communication. In D. Vocate (Ed.), Intrapersonal communication. Different voices, different minds (pp. 3–32). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Voloshinov, V. N.

(1973) Marxism and the philosophy of language. New York, NY: Seminar Press.

Vygotsky, L. S.

(1978) Mind in society. The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

(1987) The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky. Volume 1: Problems of general psychology, including the volume Thinking and speech. New York, NY: Plenum.

(1990) The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky. Volume 2: The fundamentals of defectology. New York, NY: Plenum.

(1994) The problem of the environment. In R. van der Veer & J. Valsiner (Eds.), The Vygotsky reader (pp. 338–354). Oxford: Blackwell.

(1997) The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky. Volume 4: The history of the development of higher mental function. New York, NY: Plenum.

Wertsch, J. M.

(1991) Voices of the mind. A sociocultural approach to mediated action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Zavershneva, E.

(2016) Vygtosky the unpublished: An overview of the personal archive (1912–1934). In A. Yasnitsky & R. van der Veer (Eds.), Revisionist revolution in Vygotsky studies (pp. 94–126). New York, NY: Routledge.