Vygotsky, bernstein and halliday: Towards a unified theory of L1 and L2 learning

Three points of view on the learning of L1 and L2 are examined, those associated with the names of Vygotsky, Bernstein, and Halliday. The purpose of bringing together ideas from psychology, sociolinguistics, and linguistics is to attempt an integration of some contemporary developments in language pedagogy and syllabus design, in particular the change to functional‐notional syllabi and communicative teaching methods. The themes of socialisation and self‐regulation are central to the discussion and help to draw attention to some problems of L2 learning which are still largely unresolved despite apparently sweeping changes in language pedagogy. Special attention is given to the role of the school programme of L1 learning and its relevance for subsequent L2 learning and the problem that the latter poses because of the necessity for the learner to map new systemic knowledge onto existing schematic knowledge.