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The Growing Participator Approach (GPA) is an alternative paradigm for second language acquisition created by Greg Thomson. For GPA, the goal is not language acquisition, but participation in the life of a new community, which is constantly growing over time. Thus, GPA uses the terminology of a 'growing participator' instead of a language learner, and a 'nurturer' instead of a teacher. Theoretically, GPA draws upon James Wersch's sociocultural theory and concepts of mediated learning, along with Lev Vygotsky's zone of proximal development. In the language of pedagogy, GPA involves an approach, a method, and techniques.

Approach
Thomson suggests three dimensions of language learning (or participation) which are important for GPA.

Sociocultural Dimension
GPA views language as inseparable from the culture which supports it and the people who live in that culture and their relationships. This sociocultural dimension is fundamental. Thus, instead of learning language in isolation, the goal is to learn a new way of life (languaculture). Hence, GPA uses the terminology of "growing participators" rather than "language learners". The goal of a growing participator is to learn and grow into a new "languacultural world". This happens most effectively when a learner is operating within their growth zone (ZPD).

Cognitive Dimension
Drawing on fields of psycholinguistics, and noting that good comprehension of English speech requires a listening vocabulary of over 10,000 words, GPA emphasizes "massive comprehension vocabulary." However, instead of rote memorisation, GPA advocates for continual exposure, "encountering a massive amount of understandable speech over a long period of time", in order to slowly internalize vocabulary without trying to memorise one by one. Thus, GPA emphasises comprehension and listening far ahead of speech in the host language.

Temporal Dimension
All language programs emphasize time, but in GPA the focus is not on quantity of time, but on quality. GPA aims for at least 15 hours/week during which "people interact with me in my growth zone in their languacultural world." As a result, because a beginning learner's growth zone is that of a child, in order for GPA to be put into practice a dedicated native speaker must be hired in the early stages.

Language Acquisition in GPA
Based on these three dimensions, GPA's approach can be summarised as follows:

Method
The Six-Phase Program (SPP), created by Thomson, is "an idealised program to guide a growing participator into deep involvement with a community." It involves 1,500 hours of special-growth activities, assisted (initially) by a dedicated native speaker - who does not need to be a teacher. It is "structured in such a way that the activities become increasingly advanced as the user grows, and the activities are "keyed to the sociocultural/human-relationship changes and cognitive changes that the growing participator (GP) undergoes."

Techniques
GPA and the SPP utilise a wide array of techniques, such as TPR activities (in silence for the first 30-40 hrs), back and forth storytelling, wordless picture books, discussing speech acts with the use of resources such as Lexicarry, input/output flooding, ethnographic interviews, and extensive recording and playback for revision.