Designing Inclusive Chinese Language Pedagogy

Throughout this volume, CSL education has been progressively repositioned away from a transmissive model of language learning and toward a mediation-centered paradigm. This repositioning draws upon a range of theoretical traditions that converge on the relational nature of learning. Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory emphasizes that higher psychological functions originate in social interaction before becoming internalized by the individual learner. Lantolf and Thorne (2006) extend this insight to second language development, demonstrating that linguistic knowledge emerges through mediated participation in culturally organized activity systems. From this perspective, learning is not simply the accumulation of linguistic forms but a process through which individuals appropriate symbolic tools within collaborative contexts.