This work represents a major statement of the current research being conducted on the learning of second languages from a sociocultural perspective. Specific topics covered include: L1 mediation in the acquisition of L2 grammar; and gestural mediation in a second language.

1. Sociocultural contributions to understanding the foreign and second language classroom
2. Rethinking interaction in SLA : Developmentally appropriate assistance in the zone of proximal development and the acquistion of L2 grammar
3. Subjects speak out : How learners position themselves in a psycholinguistic task
4. The output hypothesis and beyond : Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue
5. Playfulness as mediation in communicative language teaching in a Vietnamese classroom
6. Social discursive constructions of self in L2 learning
7. Second language learning as participation and the (re) construction of selves
8. Side sffects : The strategic development of professional satisfaction
9. The appropriation of gestures of the abstract by L2 learners
10. Second language acquisition theory and the truth (s)
etc.