The Peer Effect: A Framework for Socially Mediated Language Learning

This preprint introduces the Peer Effect, a theoretical framework describing socially mediated language learning. The framework proposes that peer relationships regulate the learner’s cognitive-affective state, thereby influencing attention, memory consolidation, and language production. The work integrates perspectives from applied linguistics, educational neuroscience, and classroom practice. It outlines relational learning conditions, mechanisms of co-regulation, and their instructional operationalization through collaborative tasks illustrated by a film-making project. This document constitutes the initial theoretical formulation of the framework and serves as a foundation for subsequent empirical research and book-length development.