EFL literacy learning as socially situated practice: The case of six undergraduate students at a university in Taiwan

This paper explores some aspects of the relations between English language learning and the social situations in which it occurs. The paper aims to illustrate the theoretical concepts of the New Literacy Studies (NLS) and Vygotskian approaches to language, and apply them in the field of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), I use a diagram to portray my analytical framing. The specific examples of six undergraduate students who studied in the English Department at a university in Taiwan are used to show the importance of juxtaposing the theoretical concepts of the NLS and Vygotskian approaches to language and considering EFL literacy lemming as socially situated practice. Finally, this paper suggests that EFL literacy teachers should consider the use of an ecological approach to pedagogy, adopting a learning-centered, reflective approach to course design. Such an approach will provide the teachers with a more complete understanding of students' needs and thereby may assist the teachers in designing appropriate curricula.