Is it a line? Is it a wave? Is it a circle? No. It is a spiral. Second Language Learning is a spiral.
“Development, as often happens, proceeds here not in a circle but in a spiral, passing through the same point at each new revolution while advancing to a higher level” (Vygotsky 1978: 56).
Feel free to use it!
“When students perceived they were contributing something of value to the public arena, they put in a great deal of effort in the process and attention to the product, yielding positive results in their learning to write in a second language. When students did not see their work as having any particular social or cultural relevance, they showed little interest in Web-based publishing and the medium itself lent little extra legitimacy or authenticity to their writing assignments.” (Warshauer 1998:64)
As language teachers, simplifying grammar or culture is tempting. However, learning a second language is not easy nor simple. It takes not only effort but empathy and tolerance of ambiguity. In 1993, Claire Krasmch proposed a conflict approach. The philosophy of conflict does not imply to avoid scaffolding but, precisely, to prepare students for the linguistic and (inter)cultural blurriness of any L2.
So next time you teach, ask yourself. Is this scaffolding or saving face time?
Here is an extract from her book, Context and Culture (p. 2). 
