FOREIGN-LANGUAGE EXPLANATIONS WITHIN THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT

Recently, L.S. Vygotsky's concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) has received considerable attention from foreign and second language specialists (Richard-Amato, 1988; Galloway & Labarca, 1990; Scarcella & Oxford, 1992; Schrum & Glisan, 1994). For Vygotsky, the ZPD is the instructional nexus where the expert (teacher) enters into a ''dialogue with the novice (learner) to focus on emerging skills and abilities'' (Richard-Amato, 1988, p. 33). Unfortunately, we have little research concerning the discourse strategies that occur in the ZPD, or the interactional features that the expert uses while instructing in the ZPD. This article, therefore, reports on a study that analyzes the communicative dynamics during explicit instruction of a grammatical concept (specifically the function of present tense first conjugation -er French verbs) instructed within the ZPD.