eng Science and Education Publishing American Journal of Educational Research 2327-6150 2013-05-12 1 1 162 167 10.12691/education-1-5-3 EDUCATION2013153 article Liang Aimin sfl_liangam@ujn.edu.cn 1 School of Foreign Languages, University of Jinan, Jinan City, China Socio-Cultural Theory, based on Vygotskian thought, is a theory about the development of human cognitive and higher mental function. The theory specially emphasizes the integration of social, cultural and biological elements in learning processes and stresses the socio-cultural circumstances¡¯ central role in human¡¯s cognitive development. Second Language Acquisition is concerned with the process of how a new language other than the native language is acquired and how much this is affected by other disciplines, among which is Socio-Cultural Theory. This theory facilitates reflection on some of the problems on second language acquisition from a new perspective. In addition, this new perspective provides some pedagogical implications for foreign language teaching. This article makes attempts to elucidate Social-Cultural Theory¡¯s constructs, its influence on second language acquisition and the pedagogical implications for foreign language teaching. http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/1/5/3/education-1-5-3.pdf socio-cultural theory second language acquisition higher mental function foreign language teaching