The Effect of Mediation by Self through Private Speech Versus Artifacts on Writing Proficiency of EFL Learners

There has been a considerable interest in sociocultural accounts of interaction in L2 acquisition. In Sociocultural Theory (SCT), mediation involves (1) by others in social interaction (2) by self through private speech (3) by artifacts (tasks and technology), which incorporate brilliant insights for EFL contexts (Lantolf, 2000). Considering the sociocultural accounts of interaction and L2 acquisition, the present study aimed at examining the use of pictures as an artifact versus private speech in improving the EFL learners’ writing proficiency. Sixty pre-universitystudents participated in this study and theywere homogenized throughNelson test and randomly assigned into three equal experimentalandcontrol groups. They were all asked to take the pre- test to test their initial writing proficiency. Their writing samples were scored by three raters in order to make the process more reliable. The experimental groups received private speech and pictures as a treatment but the control did not. The Inter- rater reliability and Paired Samples t-test were the data analysis techniques performed in this study. Their results signified the different performance of the experimental groups on the posttest. Whereas, the effect of pictures proved to be more effective than private speech on writing accuracy and the related null hypotheses were rejected.

Keywords:

Artifact , Mediation , Private Speech , Sociocultural Theory