What is Social Constructivism?

Derived from the works of Vygotsky, this theory of learning is discussed widely by other followers such as Kuhn, Greeno, Lave, Simon, and Brown (Liu and Matthews, 2005: 387; Yang and Wilson, 2006:365).This theory is elaborated extensively in many social science disciplines such as Social Psychology, Sociology, Education, and Anthropology. This learning theory claims that students do not learn as isolated individuals (intrapersonal process) but as an active member of a social group (Brown, 2007: 304; Pritchard and Woollard, 2010: 7). That is to say “learning is essentially a social process” (Gunduz and Hursen 2015: 526).

The interaction of language learners with peer group, the teachers, and other people out of classrooms plays a significant role in the development of learning a new language (Yang and Wilson, 2006: 365). Learning takes place in a socio-cultural environment and the learners are seen as active constructors of their own learning (Yang and Wilson, 2006: 365; Pritchard and Woollard, 2010: 7). Similarly, after reviewing some researches, Rust, O'Donovan, and Price (2005: 233) conclude that “knowledge is shaped and evolves

(2012: 258) adds that productive skills are constructed in a social context, where students get knowledge from their interaction with the social environment how to and when to use the language they studied individually. The effect of the socio-cultural environment on students’ learning is said to be greater than the achievements of the students doing things individually.

In relation to this idea, Vygotsky (1978: 27 & 57), Vygotsky (1986: xxxvi), and Lock and Strong (2010: 109) explain that learning occurs in two types of dialogues: intermental and intramental dialogues. Here the learner is expected to interact with the teacher, other students, and the learning materials available in the teaching and learning environment. Then the student constructs his/her own understanding independently through rethinking about the new ideas, concepts etc., by relating to the background knowledge (Ozer, 2004). This is meaning construction through meaning negotiation. In short, learning is seen as an interactive process in which the students are supposed to communicate with the source of knowledge, information, ideas, and so forth, in the given social settings, and then the learners are expected to engage in an active role of reconstructing their own knowledge, idea, etc., in their own minds.

Therefore, meaning making is not seen as a passive role of simply memorising what is presented from any source of knowledge in the learning environment. There is always an active internal mental process of negotiation of meaning. In this way, learning is seen as an active mental process that needs the active participation of the learner in the given social environment.

Moreover, Yang and Wilson (2006:365) add to the above discussion that the purpose and motivation of learners to their learning plays a great role in the learning process. As Prince and Felder (2006:5) state motivation to learn affects the amount of time students are willing to devote to learning. That is to say students are more motivated when they can see the usefulness of what they are learning and when they can use it to do something that has an impact on their lives.

Here, this concept can be considered in a context of language classroom. When the students have a great interest and motivation to learn a foreign language, they are likely to engage intensively at their own personal will in tasks and activities to achieve their desired goals. They do not study only to pass classroom tests.

Another concept of social constructivism is the issue of support available in the learning environment, labelled as “scaffolding” in Vygotsky’s term (Vygotsky ,1978:86 ; Yang and Wilson 2006:365).Accordingly, this support comes from the parents, peers, teachers, or reference materials, and all these are important for the students to work effectively in the learning situation. This theory reflects that language and interactions with others such as family, peers, and teachers play a big role in the construction of meaning from experience (Prince and Felder, 2006: 45).

As a result, meaning is not simply constructed; it is co-constructed. Using this idea, many researchers of writing theory (cognitivists) have revised and proposed their models of teaching writing (composing process) in which the socio-cultural elements are included as influential factors (Behizadeh and Engelhard, 2011: 203).The other term, the zone of proximal development, is Vygotsky’s term describing the range of activities the learners do based on their current performance level (Yang and Wilson 2006; Zhao 2010: 4).The students are presented with challenging learning tasks and this serves as a motivation to work hard. The learners seek help from the environment when they face difficulties or when they need feedback to their progress in their learning performance. Thus, the difficulty level of the learning tasks should not be too easy or too difficult to attain the tasks. And then the support is provided accordingly. This support in turn helps the cognitive development of the learners, i.e. the social element helps the individual meaning construction.

Based on the constructivist approach, the teaching and learning process is not aimed at cramming of content or rote learning; it focuses on meaningful learning. As meaning is individual as opposed to the positivist thinking that there is “only one truth”, the students are encouraged to come with divergent thinking, formulating, shaping, and redefining their concepts.

They are not forced to focus on one correct or best answer like the positivists say. For example, in reading literary texts, the reader is involved in a transaction with the writer of the text using his background knowledge, beliefs, expectations, and as a result meaning is determined based on this interaction in the text (Amer, 2003: 68; Behizadeh and Engelhard, 2011: 203). This is a constructivist approach to teaching reading skill in EFL classrooms. Meaning making is done in a self-constructed way and it is part of being reflective and active in the learning process. Most often students are encouraged to have multiple interpretations of events, ideas, concepts, etc in a given learning environment. In

this approach, students are not enforced to memorise ideas from external sources, but form their own understanding based on the given resources.

Dueraman (2012: 258) reports that speaking and writing skills are constructed socially, where people, peers, teachers and native speakers are likely to help the students improve their skills. This type of support is especially important for teaching speaking skill in EFL context, since students do not get favourable environment outside the classroom. They spend a lot of time talking in their mother tongue than using English, and do not spend enough time in practicing speaking English.

Similarly, Spolsky (1998: 28) emphasises the role of social context in learning a second language, by showing the interplay among factors such as attitude, motivation, age, personality, previous knowledge, capabilities, and learning opportunities in the learning community. Moreover, Jordaan (2011: 1) asserts that, by creating conducive environment in the classroom, social constructivism principles could be applied to teach speaking for students who faced problem to use their mother tongue.

In relation to this idea,Allahyar and Nazari (2012:86) note the following: Speaking and writing are conceived as cognitive tools that mediate internalization and externalize internal psychological activity,

re-socializing and recognizing it for the individual; tools that construct and deconstruct and regulate knowledge.

This means that they are important for meaning making and reaching consensus with others in the given environment, in which students use language for meaningful communications. This makes the students to be active participants, not passive recipients of knowledge.

Generally, as each theory of learning is not complete by itself, there is no dominance of a single theory in the actual teaching and learning process. Dueraman (2012: 260) reports that the integration of the two learning approaches in the EFL classroom has been productive in Thailand. Strengthening this idea, Hinkle ( 2006: 111) contends that nowadays teachers are expected to practice “principled eclecticism” by taking good sides from each learning theory and method of EFL teaching. Thus, the two theories of learning are taken as theoretical frameworks for this study as they are practiced in the EFL/ESL teaching contexts to teaching and learning process of the four language skills in general and the two productive skills in particular. In short, the classroom setting helps students to

get input from others and creates opportunities for students to use the language in a meaningful way (Allahyar and Nazari, 2012: 86).