OPERATIONALIZING THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE WRITING INSTRUCTION

"If we don't look, we won't see." That is the title of an Adlof & Hogan (2019) paper, in which they point out that oral language skills set the stage for the development of reading and writing skills in children, and therefore that evaluating oral skills regularly is an effective way of predicting later literacy development. Although Adlof & Hogan's research is conducted within a different theoretical framework, their words are reminiscent of the Vygotskian concept of the "buds" of development (e.g. Bozhovich, 2009), according to which instructors should look at indicators of future development rather than just focusing on currently possessed knowledge or individual, unaided performance. Most research within a Vygotskian framework has assumed that these buds cannot be observed in natural learner output, and that responses to active assistance also need to be examined. This paper suggests that that may not be necessary, and that buds and actual development alike may potentially be observable in book reviews written in a specific way, outlined in this paper. It is further suggested that this type of writing may be a suitable way of ensuring rounded or balanced language development.