The Applied Linguistics Department at Umass Boston hosted The Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning Research Working Group Meeting 2023 from October 11 to October 13. The Sociocultural Theory Second Language Learning Working Group includes scholars from all over the world who are interested in Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory and second language learning. Every year this group of outstanding scholars, researchers, and graduate students gather to discuss new perspectives on the theory and present their work in progress in order to receive feedback from their peers.
Many doctoral students presented their work at the SCT Conference 2023. On the first day, Tina Randall doctoral student and Kimberly Urbanski Associate Professor presented their work Inclusivity and Spanish as a Heritage Language Learner Subjectivities: Perezhivanie in the SFL Classroom. The next day, Ghadah Noorelahi doctoral student presented Promoting Saudi Learners’ Coherence and Cohesion Writing Development Using Dynamic Assessment: An Approach for IELTS Preparation. Finally, Minh Nghĩa-Nguyễn presented part of her dissertation When Emotion Prevails: Storytelling Literacy Development of Vietnamese-English Emergent Bilingual Adults. Congratulations!
The Applied Linguistics Department was honored to be selected as a host this year. Kimberly Urbanski Associate Professor and Corinne Etienne Department Chairman together with the group of doctoral students Aram Ahmed, Jacqui Campo, Iuliia Fakhrutdinova, Ghadah Noorelahi, Minh Nghia Nguyen, Nasiba Norova, Tina Randall, and Vannessa Quintana Sarria organized the conference that attracted scholars from all over the United States, Spain, Finland, Brazil, and many others. Such prominent scholars of the Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory as Jim Lantolf, Kyoko Masuda, Ben White, Marília Mendes Ferreira, and Steve McCafferty opened the conference with an SCT Panel Discussion on AI and Chat GPT use in Second Language. Apart from fruitful discussions and debates, this year SCT Working Group was lucky to see the reading of the play Talking Matters by Marina Engelking and Merrill Swain. Our professors Kimberly Urbanski Associate Professor, Corinne Etienne Department Chairman, and doctoral student Vannessa Quintana Sarria tried new roles as actors.
