Young learners and imitation: How they use linguistic support during L2 writing

Imitation is central to Vygotsky’s construct of the zone of proximal development. Accordingly, a learner is able to imitate only the activity that is within his or her developmental level. The present study examines the element of imitation amongst young ESL learners when they utilised linguistic support that was provided to them during collaborative writing. Linguistic support was presented to them in the form of short paragraphs of text outlining the introduction and beginning of a plot for a story, and they were asked to select and use words or expressions that they themselves feel were most useful in helping them narrate their story in the L2. Two dyads of Year 5 learners (aged 10) of different L2 proficiency levels were selected for qualitative analysis as they participated in an 8-week classroom-based intervention. The findings revealed that while all participants shared some similarities in their selection of words to support their oral and written narration, there was a tendency for the high-high proficiency dyad to select expressions rather than individual words. The high-high and low-low proficiency dyads also displayed differences in terms of the quantity and quality of imitation in their written work.