Cross-culturally Speaking, Speaking Cross-culturally (original) (raw)

Re-conceptualising Ethnography to Teach Culture in Foreign Language Classrooms

FORUM DE L’ENSEIGNANT , 2016

Ethnography in foreign language teaching is seen not as a source of material for teachers, but as a methodology to be adopted by the teachers/learners in order to learn/explore the foreign language culture. The aim of this paper is neither to emphasise the necessity to teach the target language culture nor to trace the history of teaching culture along or within a foreign language but to conceptualise an ethnographic approach to teaching culture. As a process approach to teaching culture, this approach repositions learners as researchers and researched and teachers as facilitators. Following ethnographic methodology, the learners look at culture through an ethnographer's lens. They make use of ethnographic techniques such as observations, description and interpretation of the "behavioural repertoire" of a given society to generate new knowledge.

Teaching ethnography as Modern Languages method: legacies and future practices for global citizens

Language Culture and Curriculum, 2019

Most modern languages degrees in the UK include a Residence Abroad component, the key aims of which are to help students acquire a greater understanding of a new language and culture and to develop research skills. While the acquisition of linguistic competences has been well documented, cultural learning on the year abroad is less well researched. This article is based on an innovative pedagogic project carried out at the University of Southampton, in which students were provided with training in ethnographic methods and digital skills prior to their year abroad. This training was designed to foreground the process of cultural encounter and learning that students go through in order to carry out their individual Year Abroad Research Projects (YARPs). The paper will present results based on our analysis of the 'raw data' collected by students for their individual ethnographic YARPs, as well as individual interviews, focus group discussions, and the students' reflective blog posts. It also draws on evidence from a semester long module entitled 'Learning about Culture: Introduction to Ethnography'. We will highlight the main areas of successful cultural learning, and the places in which students come up against obstacles in their ethnographic encounters.

Ethnographic Perspectives to Teaching and Learning in Multilingual Contexts

Foro de Educación, 2019

This special issue addresses the organization of teaching and learning in a variety of multilingual schooling contexts from different critical ethnographic perspectives (i.e.: critical sociolinguistic ethnography, linguistic anthropology, and language socialization). By analyzing a range of educational settings in Spain, the U.S., the U.K., Argentina, and Guatemala, the articles establish a dialogue with different ethnographically-oriented studies to understand the relationship between situated communicative practices, language policies, language ideologies, dominant discourses about bi-multilingualism, and wider social, cultural and economic processes.

Learning languages as culture critically through ethnographic interviewing: INTRODUCTION

Eighth International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence (University of Arizona, CERCLL), 2022

Note: After viewing this Introduction, see the video "Learning languages as culture critically through ethnographic interviewing: PRESENTATION" available on Academia.edu or at http://boylan.it/icc/talk/index.htm _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ENGLISH_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Results of an experimental module in English for Intercultural Communication (at Sapienza University of Rome, 2020) based on the online and classroom materials created for the EU project Picture and featuring real/virtual encounters with native speakers. Links to materials used and student results. ITALIAN________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I risultati di un modulo sperimentale di inglese per la comunicazione interculturale (presso La Sapienza Università di Roma, 2020) usando i materiali cartacei e online sviluppati per il progetto UE “Picture” e bastato su incontri reali/virtuali con nativi parlanti. Sono forniti link ai materiali e ai risultati degli studenti.

Learning languages as culture critically through ethnographic interviewing: PRESENTATION

Eighth International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence (University of Arizona, CERCLL), 2022

Note: First view the video "Learning languages as culture critically through ethnographic interviewing: INTRODUCTION" , available on Academia.edu or at http://boylan.it/icc/intro/index.htm ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ENGLISH_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Results of an experimental module in English for Intercultural Communication (at Sapienza University of Rome, 2020) based on the online and classroom materials created for the EU project Picture and featuring real/virtual encounters with native speakers. Links to materials used and student results. ITALIAN________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I risultati di un modulo sperimentale di inglese per la comunicazione interculturale (presso La Sapienza Università di Roma, 2020) usando i materiali cartacei e online sviluppati per il progetto UE “Picture” e bastato su incontri reali/virtuali con nativi parlanti. Sono forniti link ai materiali e ai risultati degli studenti.

Learners as Ethnographers, Informants and Mediators: Developing Intercultural Awareness through Language Teaching Materials

Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 2012

The article aims to present a model of materials design for the development of plurilingual intercultural competence in a secondary school setting where two foreign languages – English and German – are taught. The intended learners are native speakers of Spanish, have acquired an elementary competence in English (A2 level) and are learning German as a second foreign language (A1 level). The plurilingual activities involve the simultaneous use of both languages in the class and simulate situations to communicate about the social practice of barbecues in Argentina, and English and German-speaking settings. Learners act as ethnographers as they find out facts about barbecues in other countries through access to Internet sources and further devel-op a plurilingual competence as they get information in the two foreign languages they learn. They also get ready to transmit the information to people who do not speak one or the other foreign language, thus acting as mediators across languages and cultures.

Ethnography for Language Learners

Foreign Language Annals, 1980

ABSTRACT If language is part of culture, there is also a sense in which culture is a component of language. When going abroad to learn or practice a foreign language, students should have some awareness of the target society's ethnography. If they adopt the role of ‘foreign tourist,’ they may be treated as outsiders, whereas a basic acquaintance with proxemics, kinesics, and sociology will help them play a more profitable role. The move from one society to another may not simply be horizontal, but may also involve diagonal change from one class or status to another, without the subject's realizing it. Some familiarity with elicitation techniques, especially in distinguishing implicit background information from the surface messages in which it is embedded, can help in learning how a language is used.

Reviving the ‘moments’: from cultural awareness and cross‐cultural mediation to critical intercultural language pedagogy

Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 2011

In the field of modern language education, the discourse of intercultural communication has experienced three ‘moments’: cultural awareness, cross‐cultural mediation, and critical intercultural language pedagogy. The first refers to the equation between culture and country. The second concerns the development of intercultural competence through acts of tolerance while the third aims to enable a more promising sense of agency within wider political contexts. Despite progression to the third ‘moment’, many intercultural theorists are sceptical of the shifting nature of this discourse. Drawing from cultural and intercultural theory, this paper challenges the first two ‘moments’ through discussion of the notions of imagined communities and communities of shared meanings. It argues in favour of critical intercultural language pedagogy by proposing that the latter be informed from the Habermasian Theory of Communicative Action where acquisition of knowledge depends on the meeting of the S...