Sociocultural Theory Applied to Second Language Learning: Collaborative Learning with Reference to the Chinese Context

This paper discusses the sociocultural theory (SCT). In particular, three significant concepts of Vyogtsky's theory: self-regulation, the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), and scaffolding all of which have been discussed in numerous second language acquisition (SLA) and second language learning (SLL) research papers. These concepts lay the psychological foundation for collaborative learning, the subject of this paper. This publication aims to examine SCT by assessing collaborative learning within the Chinese context. This paper focuses on teacher-student collaboration and it concludes that the perceived way of learning and teaching and teacher-student relationship should be changed in order to implement collaborative learning.