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In this volume, co-authors Lantolf and Thorne expand the exploration of sociocultural theory as inspired by Vygotsky into its most comprehensive treatment to date. Because Lantolf, in particular, has long spearheaded Vygotskian approaches to the link between communication, cognition, and meaning, readers will appreciate the elaboration and contextualization of familiar themes such as mediation, internalization, and the zone of proximal development. At the same time, careful reading should uncover considerable intellectual and professional challenges to a number of positions in SLA, in general, and to how Vygotsky's insights have been received, in particular. Therein lies the special contribution of the volume beyond its obvious value as a single source, a contribution that is the richer for the transdisciplinary connections it boldly sets forth and the yet-to-be-cultivated theoretical and research landscape toward which it points.
The volume's wide-ranging and differentiated theoretical arguments, along with reinterpretations of seemingly settled SLA research findings, should invite (re)consideration of the extent to which a Vygotskian stance is much more than a simple extension of familiar constructs and interpretations and much less a validation of extant pedagogical recommendations. Interactionist, constructivist, collaborative, and learner-centered arguments, even treatments of the discursive construction of identity as...