Vygotsky and Second Language

Acquisition
HOLBROOK MAHN
The far-reaching influence that the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (18961934) has
had on second language acquisition (SLA) research is reflected in studies which emphasize
the important role played by semiotic mediation in social interaction within social, cultural,
physical, and historical contexts. While Vygotsky did not write extensively about SLA per
se, he did provide a foundation for SLA research through his analysis of the development
of mental systems as humans acquire and develop the ability to communicate through
language. His study of the interrelationship between thinking processes, those involved in
perceiving, processing, organizing, and storing information from the environment and
using it to guide action, and language processes, those involved in using signs/symbols
to make and communicate meaning in social interaction, provides a foundation for
understanding the interrelationship between thinking and language processes involved in
communicating meaning in a second language.
The system of meaning created by the unification of thinking and language processes
was at the center of Vygotskys work and constitutes the foundation upon which rise the
concepts for which he is best known, including the zone of proximal development, social
interaction, sign/symbol use to mediate activity and the consequent development of higher
psychological processes, inner and private speech, play, and the role of the social/cultural/
historical situation of development. Many researchers use these concepts to guide their
investigations into aspects of second language development. Not as well known is the fact
that Vygotsky used the concept system of meaning to study the development of the human
psyche by analyzing higher psychical processes such as logical memory, voluntary attention, and verbal perception in relationship to language use and development. Analyzing
mental systems to reveal the origins and development of human consciousness was the
central focus for Vygotskys decade-long research. He conceived of consciousness as a
system of systems, and began his investigation of consciousness by analyzing the system
of meaning created through the unification of thinking and language processes. In spite
of its centrality, the system of meaning has not been widely explored in second language
research informed by sociocultural theory, or in sociocultural studies in general. This entry
describes Vygotskys analysis of the system that results from and in turn develops language
use, and then describes how this analysis illuminates the processes involved in SLA and
development.

Internal System of Meaning

A fundamental concept for sociocultural studies is the role signs/symbols play in the
mediation of human activity. Vygotskys fundamental theoretical insight is that the higher
forms of human mental activity are always and everywhere mediated by symbolic means
(Lantolf, 1994, p. 418). Vygotsky acknowledged that mediation was central to his theoretical analysis, but at a meeting with his closest collaborators near the end of his life, he
reiterated that the focus of their work was not mediation in and of itself but rather the
internal system of meaning created through mediated social interaction. He acknowledged
The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, First Edition. Edited by Carol A. Chapelle.
2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

vygotsky and second language acquisition

their focus on sign and sign operations in earlier investigations, but added we ignored
that the sign has meaning (Vygotsky, 1997a, p. 130) and consequently they did not
study the development of meaning. We proceeded from the principle of the constancy
of meaning, we discounted meaning (1997a, p. 133). He noted that linguistic and psychological theories of his time took the development of meaning for granted, viewing it as
stable and unchanging. In those theories the constancy of meaning is given as the starting
point which terminates the process as well (p. 132) and therefore the origins and the
course of development of meaning are ignored. In that same meeting Vygotsky clarified
his conception of meaning:
Meaning is not the sum of all the psychological operations which stand behind the word.
Meaning is something more specificit is the internal structure of the sign operation. It
is what is lying between the thought and the word. Meaning is not equal to the word,
not equal to the thought. (Vygotsky, 1997a, p. 133)

Focusing on the systemic nature of consciousness, Vygotsky looked at the development

of meaning as a process, one that is shaped by its relationship with other psychological
functions, processes, structures, and systems. The system of meaning is part of larger
systemsthe human psyche and human consciousnessand therefore, The structure of
meaning is determined by the systemic structure of consciousness (1997a, p. 137). Unlike
other psychologists of his time who examined mental entities by isolating them in their
external manifestations or by conceptualizing them separately from other mental entities,
Vygotsky analyzed the systemic relationships and connections between the childs
separate mental functions in development (1987, p. 323) and conceived of the relationships
between functions as constituting a psychological system (1997a, p. 92).
In addition to conceptualizing the system of meaning created through the sign operation
as a psychological system, Vygotsky recognized other systems of meaning based on mathematics, music, art, aesthetic response, and volition and affect, among others. Because his
main focus was on the system that results from the unification of language and thinking
processes, system of meaning in this entry refers to that particular system. In describing
the system of meaning, rather than focusing on secondary sources, this entry draws on
Vygotskys writings, particularly those which explain: his methodological approach; his
analysis of predominant theories about the relationship of thinking and speaking; his
phylogenetic analysis of the development of thinking and speaking; his examination of
the structure of generalization; his description of the development of a system of concepts;
and his analysis of times of qualitative transformation in a childs development, including
the development of higher psychological processes, periods of crisis, and the development
of conceptual thinking.
In his use of the concept mental system Vygotsky emphasized that the relationships
among mental functions determine the character of the system. The functions in and of
themselves might not qualitatively change, but the relationships among them go through
transformations leading to different stages of development. Such functions as voluntary
attention, logical memory, higher forms of perception and movement, which thus far have
been studied in isolation, as separate psychological facts, now, in the light of our experiments, appear essentially as phenomena of one orderunited in their genesis and in their
psychological structure (Vygotsky, 1999, p. 38). These functions are internally connected
with the development of the symbolic activity of the child (p. 39).
Vygotsky saw a dialectical relationship between language and thinking processes, with
each process shaping and being shaped by the other in an internal mental system that
resulted from their unification. Vygotsky (1987) devoted most of his final work, Thinking
and Speech, to describing investigations into the origins and nature of this unification and

vygotsky and second language acquisition

the new entity, verbal thinking, created by thinking and language processes. In examining
the processes through which both the human species and individuals create internal
mental systems as they develop the ability to receive and produce signs to communicate
meaning, he made the analysis of the origins and nature of verbal thinking the central
focus of his investigations. He conceived of mental activity as a process that is organized
as a system with other systems, in the development of which there are times of qualitative
change during which fundamental, essential transformations in verbal thinking and its
relationship to other mental functions occur. The stage that individuals have reached in
the development of their systems of meaning will influence their SLA and development.

Methodological Approach
The methodological approach Vygotsky developed to study the relationships between
thinking and speaking processes can also help inform investigations into the processes
involved in acquiring and developing communicative capacity in a second language. To
find the essence of the unification of thinking and language processes Vygotsky sought
an aspect of this unification that was primary, basic, irreducible, essential, and yet still
maintained the essence of verbal thinking, the whole being investigated. What then is a
unit that possesses the characteristics inherent to the integral phenomenon verbal thinking
and that cannot be further decomposed? In our view, such a unit can be found in the inner
aspect of the word, its meaning [znachenie slova] (1987, p. 47). In his investigation of
znachenie slova, Vygotsky examined the social origins of the ability for both the human
species and individual to use language to communicate, as well as analyzing the origins
and development of the internal mental systems that are necessary for and result from
this communicative ability.
Because of the way znachenie slova has been translated into English, Vygotskys investigation of it is often not addressed in interpretations of his work. The Russian znachenie
translates as meaning and slova as word, but Vygotsky made clear that he was using
slova as a synecdoche (Kozulin, 1990, p. 151) to refer to language use as a whole, as in in
the beginning was the word (Vygotsky, 1987, p. 284). Because znachenie slova is translated
into English as word meaning, the focus in interpretations of Vygotskys work has generally
been on the meaning of words, on the external use and relationships of words, and on the
role of words in semiotic mediation; this causes the role of thinking processes to be overlooked. Consequently, the concepts of the internal system of meaning and znachenie slova
that Vygotsky held central to his theoretical framework, and that provided a focus for his
research, have been neglected.
In Thinking and Speech Vygotsky analyzes znachenie slova from three perspectives:
geneticallyits origins; structurallythe development of and interconnection to psychological functions and processes related to it; and functionallyits psychological activity
and motivating factors. Through this analysis, Vygotsky is able to disclose the internal
essence that lies behind the external appearance of the process, its nature, its genesis
(1997b, p. 70). This was an important part of Vygotskys approach to second language
studies as well. In his article The Question of Multilingual Children (1997b, pp. 2539)
Vygotsky writes that in setting up studies on the bilingual child a prerequisite is to
descend from the surface, from taking into account external traits and indicators, and to
penetrate deeply, to take into account internal structures of the processes that are directly
involved in the speech development of the child (p. 257).
Vygotsky examined the origins of znachenie slova in an individual as a process that has
its foundation in the infants physical brain and in the elementary thinking processes with
which humans are born and which develop in infancy, such as mechanical memory,

vygotsky and second language acquisition

involuntary attention, and perception. These elementary mental functions are shaped by
the sociocultural situation of development into which children are born and by their social
interactions in those situations. An infants developing perception, attention, and memory
lead to communication between the child and caregivers, with the latter ascribing communicative intent to the infants gestures and sounds. Through this early social interaction
children develop communicative intentionality and the initial use of symbols to convey
meaningkey elements in the acquisition of language. A qualitative transformation in
social interaction takes place as communication of meaning is accomplished through signs
and the development of language use, and through the ability to generalize in the creation
and the use of signs (Vygotsky, 1997b, p. 55).
It turns out that just as social interaction is impossible without signs, it is also impossible
without meaning. To communicate an experience of some other content of consciousness
to another person, it must be related to a class or group of phenomena. As we have
pointed out, this requires generalization. Social interaction presupposes generalization and the
development of verbal meaning; generalization becomes possible only with the development
of social interaction. (Vygotsky, 1987, p. 48)

Two basic functions of speech, reflection of reality in a generalized way and communicative social interaction, are important components of the system of meaning and thus
of verbal thinking. The ability to generalize, which is developed through play and communicative social interaction, is manifest internally in the structure of generalization that
a child develops, a structure that provides the foundation for the system of meaning.
In Thinking and Speech, Vygotsky (1987) describes the development of this structure of
generalization as the child acquires language, focusing on the different modes of thinking
that create the formation of connections, the establishment of relationships among different concrete impressions, the unification and generalization of separate objects, and the
ordering and the systematization of the whole of the childs experience (p. 135). Vygotsky
emphasizes the processes necessary to acquire these modes of thinkingvoluntary
attention, partitioning, comparison, analysis, abstraction, and synthesisessential for the
development of verbal thinking and the structure of generalization.
In his analysis of the development of conceptual thinking, Vygotsky focuses on the
origins and development of the pseudo-concept, which occurs when a child and an adult
both focus on an object designated by a word, and in that shared interactive contact they
are able to communicate; however, they use different forms of thinking to arrive at the
point where they are using the same word for an object. The child thinks the same
content differently, in another mode, and through different intellectual operations (1987,
p. 152). The child and the adult have different modes of thought as the foundation for
their systems of meaning. The child and adult understand each other with the pronunciation of the word dog because they relate the word to the same object, because they
have the same concrete content in mind. However, one thinks of the concrete complex
dog [the pseudo-concept] and the other of the abstract concept dog (p. 155).
Vygotsky claims that children develop their own sense of a word as it is internalized,
with sense both developing and being developed by the system of meaning. Sense (smysl)
is an important component in the system of meaning, with the more stable lexical meaning as an essential but subordinate part of sense. In inner speech, we find a predominance
of the words sense over its meaning (1987, p. 274). Vygotsky describes the process of
social interaction through which meaning is internalized into an individuals sense with
the meaning of the word in inner speech as an individual meaning, a meaning understandable only in the plane of inner speech (p. 279). There are always going to be degrees
of divergence among meanings that have developed in a particular social setting and the

vygotsky and second language acquisition

sense of words or concepts incorporated into an individuals system of meaning. Vygotsky

explains that [t]o some extent, [sense] is unique for each consciousness and for a single
consciousness in varied circumstances (p. 276). The sense of a word is never complete,
but evolves with the system of meaning of which it is a part through activity in the social
situation of development. Sense as the aggregate of all the psychological facts that arise
in our consciousness as the result of the word (pp. 2756) is a key component in the
system of meaning. Ultimately, the words real sense is determined by everything in
consciousness which is related to what the word expresses . . . [and] ultimately sense
depends on ones understanding of the world as a whole and on the internal structure of
personality (p. 276).
Connected to an individuals system of meaning is an individuals system of concepts. The
generalization and abstraction needed to acquire conceptual thinking can only be accomplished through the process of developing a system of concepts, concepts that are introduced
externally, primarily through school, concepts that are organized into systems and interconnected with multiple other systemswhat Vygotsky refers to as scientific concepts.
These are internalized in a system of concepts, which becomes similar to the system of
meaning during this transition from complexive to conceptual thinking. [P]sychologically,
the development of concepts and the development of znachenie slova are one and the same
process (1987, p. 180). Recognizing that the development of meaning and concepts takes
place through the interrelationships of systems within systems, and understanding where
a student is in that process, are important for teachers, whether working with school-aged
or with adult second language learners. The recognition that an adult learner has developed
a system of meaning in their native language as described above by Vygotsky is an important initial step when working with adults learning a second language.

Vygotsky, SLA, and Development

Vygotsky argues that learning a second language must be studied in all its breadth and
in all its depth as it affects the whole mental development of the childs personality taken
as a whole (1997b, p. 259). Studies of second language learners must take into account the
whole aggregate of social factors of the childs intellectual development, and must use
the genetic method both to trace this development with all of its multifaceted qualities
(p. 257) and to explore the complexity of this process, which depends on the age of the
children, on the nature of the meeting of the one language with the other and finally, what
is most important, on the pedagogical effect on the development of the native and the
foreign language (p. 257). His aim was to take into account internal structures of the processes that are directly involved in speech development of the child (p. 257). Even though
he laid out key criteria for studying SLA, he did not conduct research in this area himself.
Vygotsky does use the processes involved in learning a second or a foreign language to
draw an analogy with the processes involved in the development of concepts in systems,
what he called scientific concepts, as both are marked by a level of conscious awareness not
present in learning ones native language or acquiring everyday, spontaneous concepts.
The development of scientific concepts begins in the domain of conscious awareness and
volition. It grows downward into the domain of the concrete, into the domain of personal
experience (1987, p. 220). Everyday concepts develop in the opposite direction, from the
concrete to the more abstract, toward conscious awareness and volition. Scientific concepts restructure and raise spontaneous concepts to a higher level, forming their zone of
proximal development (p. 220). Vygotsky compares the relationship between the paths
of development of concepts in systems (scientific) and of spontaneous concepts with the
relationship that exists between the acquisition of a native language and a second language:

vygotsky and second language acquisition

The child learns a foreign language in school differently than he learns his native language.
He does not begin learning his native language with the study of the alphabet, with
reading and writing, with the conscious and intentional construction of phrases, with
the definition of words, or with the study of grammar. Generally, however, this is all
characteristic of the childs first steps in learning a foreign language. The child learns his
native language without conscious awareness or intention; he learns a foreign language
with conscious awareness and intention. (1987, p. 221)

The level of conscious awareness that children have of their own thinking processes will
affect their acquisition of a second language. In drawing a comparison between learning
to write and learning a second language, Vygotsky argues that both processes involve a
level of conscious awareness that is not present when children learn their native language.
When they enter school, children begin to develop a conscious awareness of their attention
and memory, but they do not have a conscious awareness of their own thinking processes,
an ability that they acquire in adolescence. Where children are in the process of development of their internal systems of meaning is related to the level of conscious awareness
they have developed.
Vygotsky outlines a number of other differences between the processes of learning a
native language and learning a foreign language including affective and emotional concerns,
and concludes by stating, The child already possesses a system of meanings in the native
language when he begins to learn a foreign language. This system of meanings is transferred to the foreign language (1987, p. 221). He acknowledges that children who acquire
two languages from infancy develop two relatively distinct systems of meaning through
each language. Citing a study by Ronget, he states, The result of the experiment showed
that the child acquired both languages in parallel and almost completely independently
of each other (1997b, p. 255).
Vygotskys writings on the development of the system of meaning, and the concomitant
formation of concepts, are useful in looking at second language learners. In analyzing both,
he examines ways in which changes in internal relationships between mental processes
also affect childrens experiences of their sociocultural environment and the meaning
that they make of these experiences. He calls this experience of meaning one of the most
complex problems of contemporary psychology and psychopathology of the personality
(1998, p. 290). Understanding the nature of the structure of generalization is key to the
development of meaning. Thus, in concept development, the movement from the general
to the specific or from the specific to the general is different for each stage in the development of meaning depending on the structure of generalization dominant at that stage
(1987, p. 226). Understanding where children are in their concept development can help
in understanding their processes of acquiring a second language.

Conclusion
The fundamental concept that all mental activity is part of an interconnected system of
systems is central to all of Vygotskys work. In approaching second language research, he
stressed the importance of studying the interconnectedness of the processes of SLA with
processes involved with acquiring ones native language and with the processes at play
in the development of the human brain/mind unitythe development of the human
psyche. Although he did not write about SLA extensively, he did provide a theoretical
framework and a methodological approach to guide research into SLA. Unfortunately,
an essential aspect of Vygotskys theoretical frameworkthe system of meaning that is
created through the unification of thinking processes and language processeshas often
been overlooked by researchers who rely on his work.

vygotsky and second language acquisition

Mahn (2008) gives an overview of this essential concept, znachenie slova, that provided
the focus for Vygotskys investigation of the relationships between thinking and language
use in the development of human consciousness. Without exploring the essence of
Vygotskys workmeaning as a system within systems in the thinking bodythere
has been a tendency in SLA research to extrapolate a concept of Vygotskys from his
overall theoretical framework and use it to study some aspect of human development.
This isolation is problematic because it leads to overlooking an essential aspect of his work:
his investigation of human development as a system within dynamic, physical, social,
cultural, natural, and historical systems at the center of which are the processes and
interactions through which language is acquired and a system of meaning is created.
Vygotsky continually emphasized the need to go beyond appearance, beyond the surface
manifestations of a phenomenon, and to look at its interconnectedness with other systems
and its process of development from its beginnings to its end. That advice aptly applies
to the study of his work. In critiquing Vygotskys theoretical framework, sociocultural
researchers have often relied more heavily on interpretations of his work than on his actual
writings. Understanding his central concepts is essential if his theoretical framework is
used to guide investigations of SLA, and can best be achieved by reading Vygotskys major
work, Thinking and Speech, in its most complete form (1987) (translation issues notwithstanding) rather than abridgements of that work (1962, 1986). His work is complex and
challenging, but his theoretical framework and the methodological approach that constructs
it can make a significant contribution to the analysis of language acquisition and its role
in the development of the human mind/psyche.
SEE ALSO: Methodological Foundations of Sociocultural Theory

References
Kozulin, A. (1990). Vygotskys psychology: A biography of ideas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press.
Lantolf, J. (1994). Sociocultural theory and second language learning. Modern Language Journal,
78(4), 41820.
Mahn, H. (2008, September). Vygotskys analysis of the system of meaning. Paper presented at the
2008 ISCAR Conference, San Diego, CA.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). Problems of general psychology (including the volume Thinking and speech).
In The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky. Vol. 1 (pp. 39285). New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1997a). Problems of the theory and history of psychology. In The collected works of
L. S. Vygotsky. Vol. 3. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1997b). The history of the development of higher mental functions. In The collected
works of L. S. Vygotsky. Vol. 4. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1998). Child psychology. In The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky. Vol. 5. New York,
NY: Plenum Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1999). Scientific legacy. In The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky. Vol. 6. New York,
NY: Plenum Press.

Suggested Readings
van der Veer, R., & Valsiner, J. (Eds.). (1994). The Vygotsky reader. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1993). The fundamentals of defectology (abnormal psychology and learning disabilities).
In The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky. Vol. 2. New York, NY: Plenum Press.