About

Rémi A. van Compernolle joined the Department of Languages, Cultures & Applied Linguistics at Carnegie Mellon University as an associate professor in 2012 after completing his Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics at the Pennsylvania State University. His work focuses on the intersections between cognition, affect, and identity in second, foreign, and additional language development. Drawing on Vygotskian cultural-historical psychology, Dr. van Compernolle examines how opportunities for development are co-constructed between people, such as teachers and students, and how cultural artifacts like linguistic forms and semantic and pragmatic concepts are internalized and mediate cognition, affect, and identity performance. Most of his research is conducted within formal educational settings, including classroom discourse, interaction, concept-based instruction, and dynamic assessment. He teaches and advises graduate students in areas such as second language acquisition theory, qualitative research methods, interaction analysis, and Vygotskian theory. Additionally, he teaches undergraduate French courses at all levels and courses for the applied multilingual studies program, including topics like language diversity and cultural identity.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Psychology
• Natural Language Processing
• Linguistics
• Philosophy
• Programming language
• Management
• Knowledge management
• Social psychology
• Pedagogy
• Communication
• Developmental psychology
• Epistemology
• Mathematics education
• Cognitive science

Selected publications

• Technology-Enhanced Conceptual Instruction: Design Principles and First Steps

  Language and Sociocultural Theory · 2025-05-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Recent scholarship has begun enhancing concept-based language instruction (C-BLI) research and practice with the use of various digital and online technologies. In this article, exemplar studies are presented to illustrate the various design principles that have so far been used in this research. These include the use of online tutorials, mobile applications, and video analysis software for materializing complex second-language (L2) phenomena, dealing with time constraints in the classroom, scalability of C-BLI, and fostering communication in the L2. Although it may be possible to design concept-based language instruction enrichment programs in fully technology-mediated environments, the main argument presented in this article is that we need to examine how technology can enhance human-mediated instruction by providing expanded opportunities for learners to engage in conceptual instruction, problem solving, and communication.

  PublisherDOI

• Introduction to the Special Issue

  Language and Sociocultural Theory · 2025-05-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Language Learning Affordances And Constraints Among English Teachers In Japan And Korea

  L2 Journal · 2025-07-16 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Every year, many first-language (L1) English speakers move abroad to teach in international contexts. However, studies have not focused on these teachers as language learners themselves or considered how the ecology of L1 English Speaking Teachers (ESTs) workplaces may afford or constrain their access to speaking opportunities within the various communities of practice they participate in. This study attempts to fill that gap by examining the experiences of L1 ESTs in Japan and Korea to determine the roles that the workplace and co-workers play in the development of these teachers’ competence in Korean and Japanese. Quantitative survey data were collected from 40 L1 ESTs based in Korea and Japan, and qualitative interviews were conducted with a subset of 15 volunteers from the larger data set. Results show that various stakeholders such as co-workers and students as well as the physical environment serve as gatekeepers to the L1 ESTs’ legitimate peripheral participation as Japanese and Korean speakers in their workplaces. Affordances for language learning in the workplace included speaking the target language (TL) with coworkers, in the classroom, with students, in social activities with TL speakers, and situational factors like the location of their desks within their workplaces. Constraints, on the other hand, included speaking English with coworkers, social activities with other English speakers, the location of their desks, and TL speakers speaking English to them.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Mediating Concept Formation in Classroom Interaction: A Case Analysis of L2 Spanish Concept-Based Pragmatics Instruction

  Language and Sociocultural Theory · 2025-05-01

  articleSenior author

  This article traces the mediated formation of L2 pragmatics concepts as it occurred in classroom interactions during a concept-based pragmatics instruction enrichment program in a first-semester university-level Spanish class. Building on previous research documenting the outcomes of such enrichment programs, we delve into the microgenesis of pragmatic concepts through careful line-by-line analysis of interactions between students and their teacher. We focus in particular on one student, Donna, and show how classroom interaction provided an opportunity for her to pick up and reappropriate relevant conceptual language that in turn developed into new pragmatic concepts. We argue that Donna's contributions to classroom interactions were not simply evidence of what she knew about Spanish pragmatics but were constitutive of the developmental process as it occurred in real time.

  PublisherDOI

• English as an instructional resource for optimizing L2 Chinese use in the classroom

  Applied Pragmatics · 2025-11-04

  articleSenior author

  Abstract Adopting an applied conversation analysis (CA) perspective, this study explores the sequential organization of English used by a Chinese as a foreign language instructor, the actions projected and achieved through the instructor’s use of English, and how the instructor’s use of English influences students’ use of English and Chinese. We draw on video-recorded data of an advanced-level business Chinese class and conduct a micro-analysis of the instructor’s use of English in sequence-initiating, sequence-expanding, and sequence-closing positions. Contrary to pedagogical concerns that an instructor’s use of English may encourage students to use English to the detriment of L2 learning, the data support the idea that L2 use and learning can be optimized when L1 resources (e.g., English) are used judiciously to advance the instructor’s pedagogical agenda. Thus, while English is an omnipresent potential resource in the classroom, the instructor and students orient to it as one tool among several that can enhance the main business of their interactions: learning Chinese for business purposes.

  PublisherDOI

• Action Ascription and Mediation in Interaction : A CA-for-SCT Perspective

  Language Teaching Research Quarterly · 2024-10-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  This article presents the use of conversation analysis (CA) in the context of sociocultural theory (SCT) driven research on L2 development, or CA-for-SCT. I focus specifically on the CA concept of action ascription as it applies to understanding the nature of mediation in interaction. I begin with an overview of the concept of action ascription before discussing the CA-for-SCT approach, and in particular Jim Lantolf’s contribution to our understanding of the dialogic nature of graduated and contingent assistance in interaction. I then present several examples of interactions from SCT-based pedagogical enrichment programs to illustrate how mediation in interaction can be understood as action ascription. The discussion and conclusion then center on developing future research in this important domain.

  PublisherDOI

• Researching L2 interactional repertoires in Zoom-mediated environments

  2024-10-14

  book-chapterSenior author

  In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, videoconferencing software has become an omnipresent tool for mediating educational and research activities. In this chapter, we examine the possibilities and challenges of using Zoom for researching second language (L2) interactional competence and profiling learners’ interactional repertoires. We draw on a study of the development of L2 interactional repertoires that was conducted during the spring 2020 semester, which captured the pivot from traditional in-person to Zoom-mediated instruction and research (Ballesteros Soria, 2022). We focus on methodological adaptations for researching interactional repertoires in an environment where embodied resources were no longer relevant interactional practices for 1) turn allocation, 2) repair initiation, 3) task initiation, and 4) active listening. Following the presentation of a limited number of empirical examples, we turn our attention to the methodological possibilities that videoconferencing software offers for research on L2 interactional competence and interactional repertoires.

  PublisherDOI

• Technology-enhanced Approaches to Researching SLA Processes

  2022-01-04

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This chapter reviews the use of technology to enhance research practices in SLA from the perspective of Vygotskian sociocultural theory. While early work focused on using communication and text-authorship technologies, current research has harnessed technology as tools for examining collaborative activity, collecting SLA process data, mediating learners and learning processes, and documenting inner and private speech. Recommendations for research practice are made, centering on using emerging technologies to expand access to a wider range of language learners in diverse contexts and to document SLA processes as they unfold in real time.

  PublisherDOI

• A Sociocultural Theory Perspective on Sociolinguistic and Pragmatic Variation in L2 Development

  2022-01-28

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This chapter provides an up-to-date synthesis of research on L2 sociolinguistics from the perspective of Vygotskian sociocultural theory. Following a review of work initiated in the 1990s, the chapter reviews current research into the relationship between awareness and language use; the roles of self, identity, and agency; and the impact of pedagogy (e.g., concept-based instruction, dynamic assessment) on learner development. The chapter concludes with recommendations for research design, data collection, and data analysis, as well as a discussion of directions for future research.

  PublisherDOI

• It’s Beyond Our Group ZPD

  Language and Sociocultural Theory · 2021-02-24 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This study is a replication of Upper (1974). Our results are identical. We too have been unable to focus and accomplish our writing goals since the beginning of the global pandemic. We are certainly not alone, and we would like to recognize all of our colleagues who have also had to take on additional responsibilities at work and at home over the past year that have made writing nearly impossible.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Lawrence Williams

  University of North Texas

  17 shared

• Matthew E. Poehner

  6 shared

• Celeste Kinginger

  Pennsylvania State University

  4 shared

• Janice McGregor

  University of Arizona

  3 shared

• Ashlie Henery

  California University of Pennsylvania

  3 shared

• Daniel Walter

  Emory University

  2 shared

• Haomin Zhang

  2 shared

• James P. Lantolf

  2 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Applied Linguistics

  The Pennsylvania State University

• M.A., French Studies

  University of North Texas

• B.A., French Studies

  University of North Texas