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9 Building a New Model of Second Language Acquisition In this chapter I describe a new model of SLA that is based on Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and Mikhail Bakhtin’s dialogized hetero- glossia, and I discuss its implications for SLA theory and practice. This chapter is divided into three sections: in the first I discuss some implications of this new model for SLA theory and research; in the second I address its implications for teaching; and in the third I discuss its implications for second language testing. A Dialogically Based Model of SLA and Its Implications for SLA Theory and Research As the findings of the studies described in Chapter 8 indicate, Vygot- sky’s theory holds great promise for the field of second language theory and practice. Vygotsky’s SCT, combined with Bakhtin’s dialogism, as an episte- mology for human sciences o√ers the field of second language acquisition a unique opportunity to ‘‘heal’’ the schism that currently separates the learner’s social environment from his or her mental functioning. Vygotsky’s and Bakhtin’s theories provide a bridge between the learner’s external and internal realities. They allow us to examine learning processes from a holistic perspective in which the two seemingly opposite parts of 170 Building a New Model 171 human existence, mental and social, merge together in a dialectical relation. That is, the external world a√ects and transforms the individual’s mental functioning, which, in turn, a√ects and transforms social, cultural, and in- stitutional settings. The Vygotsky framework forces us to examine the learner’s second lan- guage social environment in a di√erent light than the currently accepted one. Within this new framework,