Foreign language as a tool of transformation: A transformative mediation perspective in language education

Abstract

Contemporary foreign language education increasingly treats mediation not only as the transfer of information but also as the collaborative construction of meaning. Less attention has been paid to how such activity shapes learners’ agency and their recognition of others’ perspectives. This article investigates how Bush and Folger’s model of transformative mediation can illuminate these relational dimensions of classroom interaction. The study presents a secondary qualitative analysis of material from a case study involving nineteen eighth-grade learners of German as a second foreign language. The learners designed and played a board game to revise previously covered language material. Classroom observations, learner statements and an interview with the teacher were analysed through the concepts of empowerment and recognition. The findings indicate that transformative potential did not arise from group work alone. It became visible when learners exercised influence over joint activity, negotiated divergent proposals, drew on one another’s resources and revised decisions in response to their consequences for others. Transformation is therefore understood as a situational change in participation rather than a lasting change in attitudes. The framework extends research on cooperation and autonomy in language education by foregrounding the relational character of learner agency.