Without a doubt, the contribution of Mozart's psychology, Lev S. Vygotsky, is an undeniable ... more Without a doubt, the contribution of Mozart's psychology, Lev S. Vygotsky, is an undeniable fact to the field of developmental psychology. One of the most significant issues put forward by Vygotsky is the notion of ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) which is the distance between one’s actual and potential level of development. Due to the academic popularity and attribution of the ZPD concept to Vygotsky, recent discussions and contributions, either rival or complementary, seem to be marginalized. To this effect, the present paper starts with a description of the notion of ZPD and then moves to consider other contributions such as IDZ put forward by Mercer and ZFM and ZPA put forward by Valsiner. Finally, the current paper argues that the notion of ZPD is an ever-growing and developing concept thanks initially to the genius inspiration of Lev S. Vygotsky.
Without a doubt, the contribution of Mozart's psychology, Lev S. Vygotsky, is an undeniable f... more Without a doubt, the contribution of Mozart's psychology, Lev S. Vygotsky, is an undeniable fact to the field of developmental psychology. One of the most significant issues put forward by Vygotsky is the notion of ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) which is the distance between one’s actual and potential level of development. Due to the academic popularity and attribution of the ZPD concept to Vygotsky, recent discussions and contributions, either rival or complementary, seem to be marginalized. To this effect, the present paper starts with a description of the notion of ZPD and then moves to consider other contributions such as IDZ put forward by Mercer and ZFM and ZPA put forward by Valsiner. Finally, the current paper argues that the notion of ZPD is an ever-growing and developing concept thanks initially to the genius inspiration of Lev S. Vygotsky.
1.IntroductionReflective practice was originally proposed by educational philosopher John Dewey i... more 1.IntroductionReflective practice was originally proposed by educational philosopher John Dewey in the early twentieth century. Dewey (1933) makes a distinction between action that is routine and action that is reflective. Routine action is guided primarily by an uncritical belief in tradition, and an unfailing obedience to authority, whereas reflective action is started by a conscious and cautious "consideration of any belief or practice in light of the grounds that support it and the further consequences to which it leads" (Dewey, 1933, p.4).Exactly half a century after the publication of Dewey's book, Donald Schon (1983) published a book titled The Reflective Practitioner in which he expands Dewey's concept of reflection. Schon shows how teachers, through their informed involvement in the principles, practices, and processes of classroom instruction, can bring about fruitful perspectives to the complexities of teaching that cannot be matched by experts who are f...
According to many scholars, inner speech plays a role of paramount significance considering human... more According to many scholars, inner speech plays a role of paramount significance considering human cognitive development. There have been traditionally two distinctive views considering the role of inner speech known as egocentric speech popularized by Jean Piaget and his disciple and private speech put forward by Lev Vygotsky and his followers. The present study rests on the Vygotskian perspective on the role of inner speech as private speech which is socially oriented. Additionally, considering the role of private speech in L2 acquisition, Steiner (1992) provided an excellent overview of some settings in which she identifies three main contexts: thinking aloud speech, embedded private speech, and self-regulatory utterances of second language (L2) learners. Drawing on a case analysis of adult L2 learner’s private speech and making use of a qualitative content analysis, the present paper sheds more light on private speech in L2, illustrating its self-regulatory and mediating role in ...
International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 2017
It is widely accepted that reflective teaching in its purely cognitive and introspective sense ca... more It is widely accepted that reflective teaching in its purely cognitive and introspective sense cannot be responsive to the dilemmas and the problems with which teachers encounter during their teaching practice. Thus, the present study believes that the very tentative solution to this problem is introducing teacher education in general and reflective practice in particular from a sociocultural perspective where any sort of knowledge is dialogically constructed as a result of interaction among individuals. Although the shift in paradigm, i.e. moving from a cognitive position to a more situated and social epistemology in teacher education, has already been acknowledged and addressed by scholars such as Johnson (2006, 2009), Johnson and Golombek (2003), Golombek (2011), Freeman (2004), and Hawkins (2004), the current literature on teacher education reveals of no direct or serious attempt as a framework in which such a view has been put into practice in teacher education. As a result, th...
It is widely accepted that reflective teaching in its purely cognitive and introspective sense ca... more It is widely accepted that reflective teaching in its purely cognitive and introspective sense cannot be responsive to the dilemmas and the problems with which teachers encounter during their teaching practice. Thus, the present study believes that the very tentative solution to this problem is introducing teacher education in general and reflective practice in particular from a sociocultural perspective where any sort of knowledge is dialogically constructed as a result of interaction among individuals. Although the shift in paradigm, i.e. moving from a cognitive position to a more situated and social epistemology in teacher education, has already been acknowledged and addressed by scholars such, the current literature on teacher education reveals of no direct or serious attempt as a framework in which such a view has been put into practice in teacher education. As a result, the present study proposed a tentative framework under the rubric of 'Strategically Mediated Reflective Practice' (henceforth SMRP) framework that treats reflective practice largely as an interactive process rather than an individualistic and demonstrates how reflective practice is strategically mediated with the help of more knowledgeable others and new insights emerge resulting from dialogical thinking, highlighting the Vygotskian notion of Concept development. More importantly, examining the SMRP framework with four participants, the present study evidently reports the affirmative and constructive outcome of this framework on the utilitarian ground language teaching.
Regarding the current body of literature dealing with L2 teacher education, copious references ar... more Regarding the current body of literature dealing with L2 teacher education, copious references are made to the concept of reflective teaching for teachers to have better understanding of their careers. In most of the reflective practices, it is widely accepted that reflective practice should be started from a sort of difficulty, a state of doubt, uncertainty and puzzlement or let’s say a problem which the teachers face during their teaching practice (Dewey, 1933; Schon, 1983, 1987; Wallace, 1991). However, in general, reflective movement has been severely criticized for introducing reflection and reflective practice as an introspective process (Day, 1993; Kumaravadivelu, 2003; Lortie, 1975; Solomon, 1987; Valli, 1997; Wells, 1994; Zeichner &Liston, 1996). Besides, the present paper argues that starting a reflective practice regarding a problem as the departure point is quite limited and limiting due to a variety of reasons. Based on logical reasoning, the paper introduces the limitations under the following five rubrics: 1. Context uniqueness; 2. Unwarranted repetition; 3. Insignificant results; 4. Inefficient instrument; 5. Ideological barriers. In conclusion, the present paper suggests a more careful analysis of reflective teaching in teacher education.
First of all, the link between the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and curriculum deve... more First of all, the link between the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and curriculum development and more scrupulously syllabus design at the level of materials development is an issue which can neither be associated to any definite theory of SLA in general nor to an exact scholarly feature in particular. Special thanks to SLA scholars, it seems that all of the SLA researchers are at consensus that providing content materials for second language (L2) learners to triumph over their L2 mastery of their language is reasonably enough a prodigious and a herculean task. Therefore, each of the SLA scholars tries to rationalize their theory in relation to the materials development and consequently take away the criticism or the praise of the other critiques in that the credibility of the SLA theories has permanently been under an unanswered and enigmatic query, let alone giving false hopes to investigate their applicability in curriculum development and materials development. As a result, the present paper focuses on the following two basic and leading questions. The former investigates whether SLA has the capability of being used as a resource of the materials development, and if yes in what ways. And the latter sheds light on the unique feature of SLA which acts as the basis of materials development which is called ‘unit of analysis’.
Regarding the current body of literature dealing with second language (L2) teacher education copi... more Regarding the current body of literature dealing with second language (L2) teacher education copious references are made to the concept of reflective teaching for teachers to have better understanding of their careers. It is widely accepted that reflective practice should be started from a sort of difficulty, a state of doubt, uncertainty and puzzlement or let’s say a problem which teachers face during their teaching practice. However, in general, reflective movement has been severely criticized for introducing reflection and reflective practice as an introspective process. Having added some more factors to the inefficiency of starting a reflective process by focusing on a problem in one’s won teaching practice, the present paper goes on to argue how introducing reflective practice from a sociocultural perspective can be a remedy to the already mentioned criticisms. Although, the application of a sociocultural perspective to the field of teacher education has already been addressed and suggested, there has been no attempt to directly taking up the issue so far. As a result, the main concern of the present paper is to propose a framework under the rubric of Strategically Mediated Reflective Practice where reflective practice is strategically mediated with the help of more knowledgeable others and new insights and understanding emerge as a result of dialogical thinking highlighting the Vygotskian notion of Concept development.
Critical pedagogy with the aim of theorizing practice and practicing theory has proved itself to ... more Critical pedagogy with the aim of theorizing practice and practicing theory has proved itself to be of great value; but the application of critical pedagogy is an issue which has to be handled and scrutinized with meticulous care. Throughout the present paper, first a definition of critical pedagogy with its theoretical underpinnings is given. Afterwards, the application of critical pedagogy in classroom context and the ways through which critical pedagogy can be recognized in classroom context are brought into consideration. Some techniques of applying critical pedagogy in the classroom are also introduced. Finally, the present paper argues that how the selection of topics which are both socially and individually of great value and importance and also meaningful to students can function as a strategy for the realization of critical pedagogy in the classroom context.
According to many scholars, inner speech plays a role of paramount significance considering human... more According to many scholars, inner speech plays a role of paramount significance considering human cognitive development. There have been traditionally two distinctive views considering the role of inner speech known as egocentric speech popularized by Jean Piaget and his disciple
and private speech put forward by Lev Vygotsky and his followers. The present study rests on the Vygotskian perspective on the role of inner speech as private speech which is socially oriented. Additionally, considering the role of private speech in L2 acquisition, Steiner (1992) provided an excellent overview of some settings in which she identifies three main contexts: thinking aloud speech, embedded private speech, and self-regulatory utterances of second language (L2) learners. Drawing on a case analysis of adult L2 learner’s private speech and making use of a qualitative content analysis, the present paper sheds more light on private speech in L2, illustrating its self-regulatory and mediating role in cases such as: 1) finding a point to start, 2) commitment and internal locus of control, 3) decision making, 4) self-addressed questions and guiding behavior.
One of the most controversial issues in language acquisition is the notion of poverty of stimulus... more One of the most controversial issues in language acquisition is the notion of poverty of stimulus which led the greatest intellectual and linguist of the century, Noam Chomsky to conclude in favor of an innate ability for human being to pick up a language. But according to the connectionists in general, Chomsky somehow jumped to conclusion in that poverty of stimulus argument is not only not disadvantageous but also facilitative from a connectionist view. As a result, the present paper demonstrates that how Jeffrey Elman reasons that poverty of stimulus is an absolute advantage from a connectionist perspective in general and from an incremental connectionist point of view in particular considering a phenomenon such as language acquisition.
The present paper puts forth that most of the theories born in the last three decades are revital... more The present paper puts forth that most of the theories born in the last three decades are revitalization of old vocabulary; they are more or less assumption-based. Revitalization of old vocabulary should not be at the expense of discordance but corroboration of each other. In fact, the divergent epistemic orientations in SLA give a competitive nature to SLA. What the authors insist is that second language acquisition (SLA), though a young field, needs to be considered seriously. SLA, as software, can contribute changes in the brain, for instance. Enhancing the corroborating nature of SLA needs a comprehensive understanding of the same phenomenon.
Without a doubt, the contribution of Mozart's psychology, Lev S. Vygotsky, is an undeniable fact ... more Without a doubt, the contribution of Mozart's psychology, Lev S. Vygotsky, is an undeniable fact to the field of developmental psychology. One of the most significant issues put forward by Vygotsky is the notion of ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) which is the distance between one’s actual and potential level of development. Due to the academic popularity and attribution of the ZPD concept to Vygotsky, recent discussions and contributions, either rival or complementary, seem to be marginalized. To this effect, the present paper starts with a description of the notion of ZPD and then moves to consider other contributions such as IDZ put forward by Mercer and ZFM and ZPA put forward by Valsiner. Finally, the current paper argues that the notion of ZPD is an ever-growing and developing concept thanks initially to the genius inspiration of Lev S. Vygotsky.
Without a doubt, the contribution of Mozart's psychology, Lev S. Vygotsky, is an undeniable ... more Without a doubt, the contribution of Mozart's psychology, Lev S. Vygotsky, is an undeniable fact to the field of developmental psychology. One of the most significant issues put forward by Vygotsky is the notion of ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) which is the distance between one’s actual and potential level of development. Due to the academic popularity and attribution of the ZPD concept to Vygotsky, recent discussions and contributions, either rival or complementary, seem to be marginalized. To this effect, the present paper starts with a description of the notion of ZPD and then moves to consider other contributions such as IDZ put forward by Mercer and ZFM and ZPA put forward by Valsiner. Finally, the current paper argues that the notion of ZPD is an ever-growing and developing concept thanks initially to the genius inspiration of Lev S. Vygotsky.
Without a doubt, the contribution of Mozart's psychology, Lev S. Vygotsky, is an undeniable f... more Without a doubt, the contribution of Mozart's psychology, Lev S. Vygotsky, is an undeniable fact to the field of developmental psychology. One of the most significant issues put forward by Vygotsky is the notion of ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) which is the distance between one’s actual and potential level of development. Due to the academic popularity and attribution of the ZPD concept to Vygotsky, recent discussions and contributions, either rival or complementary, seem to be marginalized. To this effect, the present paper starts with a description of the notion of ZPD and then moves to consider other contributions such as IDZ put forward by Mercer and ZFM and ZPA put forward by Valsiner. Finally, the current paper argues that the notion of ZPD is an ever-growing and developing concept thanks initially to the genius inspiration of Lev S. Vygotsky.
1.IntroductionReflective practice was originally proposed by educational philosopher John Dewey i... more 1.IntroductionReflective practice was originally proposed by educational philosopher John Dewey in the early twentieth century. Dewey (1933) makes a distinction between action that is routine and action that is reflective. Routine action is guided primarily by an uncritical belief in tradition, and an unfailing obedience to authority, whereas reflective action is started by a conscious and cautious "consideration of any belief or practice in light of the grounds that support it and the further consequences to which it leads" (Dewey, 1933, p.4).Exactly half a century after the publication of Dewey's book, Donald Schon (1983) published a book titled The Reflective Practitioner in which he expands Dewey's concept of reflection. Schon shows how teachers, through their informed involvement in the principles, practices, and processes of classroom instruction, can bring about fruitful perspectives to the complexities of teaching that cannot be matched by experts who are f...
According to many scholars, inner speech plays a role of paramount significance considering human... more According to many scholars, inner speech plays a role of paramount significance considering human cognitive development. There have been traditionally two distinctive views considering the role of inner speech known as egocentric speech popularized by Jean Piaget and his disciple and private speech put forward by Lev Vygotsky and his followers. The present study rests on the Vygotskian perspective on the role of inner speech as private speech which is socially oriented. Additionally, considering the role of private speech in L2 acquisition, Steiner (1992) provided an excellent overview of some settings in which she identifies three main contexts: thinking aloud speech, embedded private speech, and self-regulatory utterances of second language (L2) learners. Drawing on a case analysis of adult L2 learner’s private speech and making use of a qualitative content analysis, the present paper sheds more light on private speech in L2, illustrating its self-regulatory and mediating role in ...
International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 2017
It is widely accepted that reflective teaching in its purely cognitive and introspective sense ca... more It is widely accepted that reflective teaching in its purely cognitive and introspective sense cannot be responsive to the dilemmas and the problems with which teachers encounter during their teaching practice. Thus, the present study believes that the very tentative solution to this problem is introducing teacher education in general and reflective practice in particular from a sociocultural perspective where any sort of knowledge is dialogically constructed as a result of interaction among individuals. Although the shift in paradigm, i.e. moving from a cognitive position to a more situated and social epistemology in teacher education, has already been acknowledged and addressed by scholars such as Johnson (2006, 2009), Johnson and Golombek (2003), Golombek (2011), Freeman (2004), and Hawkins (2004), the current literature on teacher education reveals of no direct or serious attempt as a framework in which such a view has been put into practice in teacher education. As a result, th...
It is widely accepted that reflective teaching in its purely cognitive and introspective sense ca... more It is widely accepted that reflective teaching in its purely cognitive and introspective sense cannot be responsive to the dilemmas and the problems with which teachers encounter during their teaching practice. Thus, the present study believes that the very tentative solution to this problem is introducing teacher education in general and reflective practice in particular from a sociocultural perspective where any sort of knowledge is dialogically constructed as a result of interaction among individuals. Although the shift in paradigm, i.e. moving from a cognitive position to a more situated and social epistemology in teacher education, has already been acknowledged and addressed by scholars such, the current literature on teacher education reveals of no direct or serious attempt as a framework in which such a view has been put into practice in teacher education. As a result, the present study proposed a tentative framework under the rubric of 'Strategically Mediated Reflective Practice' (henceforth SMRP) framework that treats reflective practice largely as an interactive process rather than an individualistic and demonstrates how reflective practice is strategically mediated with the help of more knowledgeable others and new insights emerge resulting from dialogical thinking, highlighting the Vygotskian notion of Concept development. More importantly, examining the SMRP framework with four participants, the present study evidently reports the affirmative and constructive outcome of this framework on the utilitarian ground language teaching.
Regarding the current body of literature dealing with L2 teacher education, copious references ar... more Regarding the current body of literature dealing with L2 teacher education, copious references are made to the concept of reflective teaching for teachers to have better understanding of their careers. In most of the reflective practices, it is widely accepted that reflective practice should be started from a sort of difficulty, a state of doubt, uncertainty and puzzlement or let’s say a problem which the teachers face during their teaching practice (Dewey, 1933; Schon, 1983, 1987; Wallace, 1991). However, in general, reflective movement has been severely criticized for introducing reflection and reflective practice as an introspective process (Day, 1993; Kumaravadivelu, 2003; Lortie, 1975; Solomon, 1987; Valli, 1997; Wells, 1994; Zeichner &Liston, 1996). Besides, the present paper argues that starting a reflective practice regarding a problem as the departure point is quite limited and limiting due to a variety of reasons. Based on logical reasoning, the paper introduces the limitations under the following five rubrics: 1. Context uniqueness; 2. Unwarranted repetition; 3. Insignificant results; 4. Inefficient instrument; 5. Ideological barriers. In conclusion, the present paper suggests a more careful analysis of reflective teaching in teacher education.
First of all, the link between the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and curriculum deve... more First of all, the link between the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and curriculum development and more scrupulously syllabus design at the level of materials development is an issue which can neither be associated to any definite theory of SLA in general nor to an exact scholarly feature in particular. Special thanks to SLA scholars, it seems that all of the SLA researchers are at consensus that providing content materials for second language (L2) learners to triumph over their L2 mastery of their language is reasonably enough a prodigious and a herculean task. Therefore, each of the SLA scholars tries to rationalize their theory in relation to the materials development and consequently take away the criticism or the praise of the other critiques in that the credibility of the SLA theories has permanently been under an unanswered and enigmatic query, let alone giving false hopes to investigate their applicability in curriculum development and materials development. As a result, the present paper focuses on the following two basic and leading questions. The former investigates whether SLA has the capability of being used as a resource of the materials development, and if yes in what ways. And the latter sheds light on the unique feature of SLA which acts as the basis of materials development which is called ‘unit of analysis’.
Regarding the current body of literature dealing with second language (L2) teacher education copi... more Regarding the current body of literature dealing with second language (L2) teacher education copious references are made to the concept of reflective teaching for teachers to have better understanding of their careers. It is widely accepted that reflective practice should be started from a sort of difficulty, a state of doubt, uncertainty and puzzlement or let’s say a problem which teachers face during their teaching practice. However, in general, reflective movement has been severely criticized for introducing reflection and reflective practice as an introspective process. Having added some more factors to the inefficiency of starting a reflective process by focusing on a problem in one’s won teaching practice, the present paper goes on to argue how introducing reflective practice from a sociocultural perspective can be a remedy to the already mentioned criticisms. Although, the application of a sociocultural perspective to the field of teacher education has already been addressed and suggested, there has been no attempt to directly taking up the issue so far. As a result, the main concern of the present paper is to propose a framework under the rubric of Strategically Mediated Reflective Practice where reflective practice is strategically mediated with the help of more knowledgeable others and new insights and understanding emerge as a result of dialogical thinking highlighting the Vygotskian notion of Concept development.
Critical pedagogy with the aim of theorizing practice and practicing theory has proved itself to ... more Critical pedagogy with the aim of theorizing practice and practicing theory has proved itself to be of great value; but the application of critical pedagogy is an issue which has to be handled and scrutinized with meticulous care. Throughout the present paper, first a definition of critical pedagogy with its theoretical underpinnings is given. Afterwards, the application of critical pedagogy in classroom context and the ways through which critical pedagogy can be recognized in classroom context are brought into consideration. Some techniques of applying critical pedagogy in the classroom are also introduced. Finally, the present paper argues that how the selection of topics which are both socially and individually of great value and importance and also meaningful to students can function as a strategy for the realization of critical pedagogy in the classroom context.
According to many scholars, inner speech plays a role of paramount significance considering human... more According to many scholars, inner speech plays a role of paramount significance considering human cognitive development. There have been traditionally two distinctive views considering the role of inner speech known as egocentric speech popularized by Jean Piaget and his disciple
and private speech put forward by Lev Vygotsky and his followers. The present study rests on the Vygotskian perspective on the role of inner speech as private speech which is socially oriented. Additionally, considering the role of private speech in L2 acquisition, Steiner (1992) provided an excellent overview of some settings in which she identifies three main contexts: thinking aloud speech, embedded private speech, and self-regulatory utterances of second language (L2) learners. Drawing on a case analysis of adult L2 learner’s private speech and making use of a qualitative content analysis, the present paper sheds more light on private speech in L2, illustrating its self-regulatory and mediating role in cases such as: 1) finding a point to start, 2) commitment and internal locus of control, 3) decision making, 4) self-addressed questions and guiding behavior.
One of the most controversial issues in language acquisition is the notion of poverty of stimulus... more One of the most controversial issues in language acquisition is the notion of poverty of stimulus which led the greatest intellectual and linguist of the century, Noam Chomsky to conclude in favor of an innate ability for human being to pick up a language. But according to the connectionists in general, Chomsky somehow jumped to conclusion in that poverty of stimulus argument is not only not disadvantageous but also facilitative from a connectionist view. As a result, the present paper demonstrates that how Jeffrey Elman reasons that poverty of stimulus is an absolute advantage from a connectionist perspective in general and from an incremental connectionist point of view in particular considering a phenomenon such as language acquisition.
The present paper puts forth that most of the theories born in the last three decades are revital... more The present paper puts forth that most of the theories born in the last three decades are revitalization of old vocabulary; they are more or less assumption-based. Revitalization of old vocabulary should not be at the expense of discordance but corroboration of each other. In fact, the divergent epistemic orientations in SLA give a competitive nature to SLA. What the authors insist is that second language acquisition (SLA), though a young field, needs to be considered seriously. SLA, as software, can contribute changes in the brain, for instance. Enhancing the corroborating nature of SLA needs a comprehensive understanding of the same phenomenon.
Without a doubt, the contribution of Mozart's psychology, Lev S. Vygotsky, is an undeniable fact ... more Without a doubt, the contribution of Mozart's psychology, Lev S. Vygotsky, is an undeniable fact to the field of developmental psychology. One of the most significant issues put forward by Vygotsky is the notion of ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) which is the distance between one’s actual and potential level of development. Due to the academic popularity and attribution of the ZPD concept to Vygotsky, recent discussions and contributions, either rival or complementary, seem to be marginalized. To this effect, the present paper starts with a description of the notion of ZPD and then moves to consider other contributions such as IDZ put forward by Mercer and ZFM and ZPA put forward by Valsiner. Finally, the current paper argues that the notion of ZPD is an ever-growing and developing concept thanks initially to the genius inspiration of Lev S. Vygotsky.
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and private speech put forward by Lev Vygotsky and his followers. The present study rests on the Vygotskian perspective on the role of inner speech as private speech which is socially oriented. Additionally, considering the role of private speech in L2 acquisition, Steiner (1992) provided an excellent overview of some settings in which she identifies three main contexts: thinking aloud speech, embedded private speech, and self-regulatory utterances of second language (L2) learners. Drawing on a case analysis of adult L2 learner’s private speech and making use of a qualitative content analysis, the present paper sheds more light on private speech in L2, illustrating its self-regulatory and mediating role in cases such as: 1) finding a point to start, 2) commitment and internal locus of control, 3) decision making, 4) self-addressed questions and guiding behavior.
and private speech put forward by Lev Vygotsky and his followers. The present study rests on the Vygotskian perspective on the role of inner speech as private speech which is socially oriented. Additionally, considering the role of private speech in L2 acquisition, Steiner (1992) provided an excellent overview of some settings in which she identifies three main contexts: thinking aloud speech, embedded private speech, and self-regulatory utterances of second language (L2) learners. Drawing on a case analysis of adult L2 learner’s private speech and making use of a qualitative content analysis, the present paper sheds more light on private speech in L2, illustrating its self-regulatory and mediating role in cases such as: 1) finding a point to start, 2) commitment and internal locus of control, 3) decision making, 4) self-addressed questions and guiding behavior.