Language Learners in SLA Theories: From Good Language Learners to Mediated Investors

This paper examines how Second Language (L2) learners have been ‘named’ in different Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories and propose an alternative name, mediated investors, adopting sociocultural and critical approaches to L2 learners and SLA. This paper is divided into two main parts. The first section begins with questioning of prevalent theoretical assumptions on L2 learners in terms of two constructs, ‘language’ and the ‘individual.’ Following this, various SLA studies, which are often referred to as mainstream, are critically reviewed in order to understand specifically how those dominant SLA theories have conceptualized the roles of L2 learners in SLA. In the second section, I integrate theories of Vygotsky, Bourdieu, and Norton and re-name L2 learners ‘mediated investors’ through emphasizing the mediating role of cultural tools, situatedness, power relations, and learner agency. To explore the names of L2 learners in relation to various perspectives to SLA will help conjecture how L2 learners have been viewed in the SLA field and in tum, why certain types of L2 education have received more attention than others have. Furthermore, the new naming of L2 learners as mediated investors will expand understandings of L2 pedagogy as well as of L2 learners.