Abstract:

The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) has introduced new concepts that reflect current trends in language teaching and acquisition research. According to Socio-cultural Theory (SCT), language is used to mediate meaning. Language is seen as a semiotic tool to facilitate both thought and co-construction of meaning and concepts. SCT provides an innovative view of learning in order to enable the process of language learning to be better understood. This has enriched the concept of four modes of communication introduced in the CEFR.

The CEFR Companion Volume presents the views on language as a vehicle to co-construct meaning while collaborating/co-operating with others in collaborative dialogues, which resulted in the elaboration of the concept of mediation. The strategies that need to be developed are related to the ability to link new information to previous knowledge, adapt the language that is used to make the content of the texts more accessible or to break down complicated information to more comprehensible parts in order to allow the others to get the whole picture of the concepts. Texts can be simplified by the amplification of a dense text or by streamlining any text.

Our study refers to the survey, in which student teachers of English who had been explained the concept of mediation were asked a number of questions and expected to answer them either by choosing options being provided by closed-end items or by describing the teaching processes in open-ended items. All the answers, supported by a number of discussions during which the students could provide some evidence in relation to their statements presented in the questionnaire, have been analysed and summarised with the intention to achieve as many data as possible,. An analysis of the responses contributed to drawing some conclusions concerning the intensity of traditional teaching and its impact on the introduction of innovative approaches into teaching English.

Keywords:

Mediation strategies, Socio-cultural theory, teaching English, conventional language teaching.