Johnson states “the purpose of this book is twofold…to introduce the reader to Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (SCT) and Mikhail Bakhtin's literary theory…. Second, … to discuss the existing cognitive bias in SLA theory and research” (p. 1). To this end, the book is divided into two parts: Part 1, which focuses on a review of traditional cognitive approaches to SLA research, and Part 2, which focuses on a more sociocultural perspective, reviewing the theories of Vygotsky and Bakhtin and culminating in Johnson's proposal for a dialogic approach to SLA research.

In chapters 1–4, Johnson reviews behaviorist, cognitivist, and information processing approaches to SLA. These chapters include both brief overviews and critiques of various theories: behaviorism, contrastive analysis, error analysis, Universal Grammar (UG), the fundamental difference hypothesis, Krashen's input hypothesis, Swain's output hypothesis, Long's interaction hypothesis, Van Patten's input processing model, and Gass and Selinker's model of SLA. Her overviews of these models are not meant to be comprehensive; rather, Johnson's focus is on critiquing the theories in order to demonstrate where each approach falls short. Although one might anticipate that these critiques would concentrate on the ways in which cognitive approaches neglect the social and cultural environments of learners, Johnson, instead, offers detailed critiques about various aspects of the theories, ranging from theoretical presuppositions to research design issues.

Although the criticisms she offers are detailed and arguably valid, it is not clear how the discussions in these initial chapters demonstrate the failing of cognitive traditions to account for the social contexts of language learning. For example, whether the UG in Van Patten's (1996) model is acting upon intake or input seems irrelevant in furthering the point that SLA research needs to be more dialogic. However, the discussion of communicative competence in chapter 5 seems to move more closely in this direction as Johnson discusses models of communicative competence and examines the extent to which each accounts for social interaction.

Part 2 of the book begins with an overview of Vygotsky's SCT, including discussion of interpersonal and intrapersonal interactions, the zone of proximal development, and the role of language in the development of mental processes. Johnson also provides an overview of activity theory and discusses how it relates to SCT.

Acknowledging the gap left by Vygotskyian theory in exploring “the characteristics of speech in a given sociocultural context” (p. 127), Johnson devotes chapter 7 to a discussion of Bakhtin's dialogized heteroglossia, emphasizing the need to unite language competence and language performance. In chapter 8, she then reviews a number of studies designed to explore features of SCT and activity theory in second language learning, including work by Donato, Lantolf, Ohta, Gillette, and McCafferty, to name a few. Interestingly, however, unlike the research examined in Part 1, these studies are not subject to criticism.

In chapter 9, Johnson puts forth her proposed dialogical approach to SLA. She emphasizes the need to explore local second language ability as influenced by social environment, institutional contexts, and local genres:

Johnson emphasizes that this dialogic perspective requires acceptance of qualitative methods of research, such as diary studies and personal narratives, and might well necessitate the development of new research methods. It also has classroom and materials implications, as a focus on local language ability requires more collaborative approaches to language learning, considerations of different language genres, and exploration of the processes involved in becoming part of a new culture. Johnson considers how assessment has to be reconsidered as well and summarizes points from her 2001 book (Johnson, 2001). However, there is no mention of the assessment of skills other than speaking.

Johnson closes with the following thought: “We have stayed for too long in the mind of the learner, and in the process we have neglected to recognize the forces that interact with the individual mind” (p. 189). This book, particularly with the focus in Part 2, certainly attempts to move us to a more socially and interactively constructed view of language learning and cognitive development.