‘We’re just fillin’ in the blanks’

We propose an alternative view to the metaphor ‘access to the linguistic system’ for the study of early stage adult L2 learning, drawing on a sociocultural theoretic perspective and taking a microgenetic analytic approach to our data. We believe a reciprocal process called internalization/externalization aptly describes the performance of L2 learners during problem-solving tasks, and has explanatory potential for theory-building in L2 learning. Our data come from transcriptions of videotaped task performance by two of very early stage L2 Swahili learners. Our tasks required them to jointly identify the direction of Point B from Point A on a map of a fictitious East African village. They found the task very challenging, despite its conceptual simplicity. Our questions are: • What evidence exists of the internalization/externalization process cycle in carrying out the map tasks? • How does this cycle better capture the processes underlying learners’ task performance than the term access? We begin with an overview of the theoretical framework, then explain relevant concepts and describe the background, data collection and analysis. The findings section portrays the two learners’ performance in terms of ways they successfully enacted the task. The discussion and conclusions sections follow with implications for theory building in Second Language Learning.