SCT for TBLT: Exploring the Teaching and Learning Relationship During Small Group Task Implementation

Although much research in Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has focused on task types, design, and outcomes, one emerging area is the role of the teacher, which is recognized as crucial in realizing the potential of tasks. This article explores how sociocultural theory (SCT) can theoretically ground and frame the important work being done in TBLT (SCT for TBLT) and help to refine the teaching-and-learning relationship through the lens of two central constructs within the theory: obuchenie and responsive mediation. Specifically, we explore how learners are intentionally and consistently responsively mediated by the teacher in the space of small-group interactions during the main stage of a task, even when the teacher may not be “directly” involved (i.e., assumes the role of facilitator). Although the teacher is not physically present during the main task, she acts as a distant mediator. Rather than viewing the teacher as having distinct roles that they must embody in separate stages of the task cycle, with obuchenie and responsive mediation foregrounded, SCT for TBLT can help to capture the systematicity and intentionality in the teacher’s actions and reasoning, all of which emerge and evolve in accordance with changing circumstances.