PENGGUNAAN ARTIFAK DALAM ZON PERKEMBANGAN PROKSIMAL SEMASA PROSES MENSTRUKTUR AYAT BAHASA SEPANYOL

Abstract

Most studies which explored the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) from the tradition of Socio-Cultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978) including those in Second Language Acquisition and education, focus on the concept of 'interaction' which can enhance learner ability. Many of these studies (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; Ohta & Foster, 2005; Siti Hamin & Abdul Hameed, 2006; Swain & Lapkin, 2011, among others) were conducted on learners who had the assistance of experts or were engaged in collaborative activities with peers. The potential development is revealed by documenting or measuring the improvement in the learner’s ability to perform. The effectiveness of this collaborative interaction is often measured by a pre-post test research design (Aljaafreh & Lantolf, 1994). On the other hand, the mental activities within the ZPD itself (the use of artifacts and regulation, for example) that lead to production of the final text as a result of this interaction are rarely examined. Further, in most contexts of foreign language classrooms, expert assistance is often limited. Hence, this study examined the language learners’ activities during the process of writing in Spanish and without the presence of an expert. In particular, the use of artifacts was examined closely by employing the Think Aloud Protocol (TAP) on 72 beginner-level students of Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE). This study found several patterns of artifact use to solve the lexical and syntactic problems faced during construction of a sentence in Spanish. Learners use language (English and Bahasa Melayu and a combination of both) and social artifacts. Additionally, the study also found that, in the absence of an expert, the social artifact, particularly Google Translate, takes over the role of an 'expert’. These findings have important pedagogical implications in the teaching of a foreign language such as Spanish.