Reflections of Own Vs. Other Culture

Author(s):  
Eiko Gyogi ◽  
Vivian Lee

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine Byram's Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) model (Byram, 1997), one of the most influential models particularly in language education in Europe, from a pedagogical perspective. Although the model has opened up various innovative and creative teaching practices beyond a model that uses the native speaker as a goal in language learning (e.g. Byram, Nichols & Stevens, 2001; Coperías Aguilar, 2007, 2009), his conceptualization of “culture” has been criticized by various scholars as being a rather static and discrete entity, particularly as it is based on national boundaries (Block, 2007; Dervin, 2010). This study examines the conceptualization of “own” and “other” cultures in Byram's model from local pedagogical practices based on the data obtained from two different foreign language classrooms, an English classroom in a Korean university and a Japanese classroom in a UK university. The data from both classrooms show some degree of both fixity and fluidity in the illustration of “own” and “other” cultures. This study argues that, despite the pedagogical contributions of Byram's model, the categorization of “own” and “other” cultures can pose problems in interpreting fluidity and ambiguities identified in both classrooms. This study also points to the risk that the continuous use of his current model could result in reproducing fixed categories of “own” and “other” cultures by the teachers themselves. While acknowledging the ICC model's pedagogical contributions, this study argues the need for a pedagogically viable model that does not rely on binary distinction between “own” and “other” cultures.

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 189-198
Author(s):  
Manuela Derosas

Since the early ’80s the adjective "intercultural" in language learning and teaching has seemed to acquire a remarkable importance, although its meaning is strongly debated. As a matter of fact, despite the existence of a vast literature on this topic, difficulties arise when applying it in the classroom. The aim of this work is to analyze the elements we consider to be the central pillars in this methodology, i.e. a renewed language-and culture relation, the Intercultural Communicative Competence, the intercultural speaker. These factors allow us to consider this as a new paradigm in language education; furthermore, they foster the creation of new potentialities and configure the classroom as a significant learning environment towards the discovery of Otherness.


Author(s):  
Emily Hellmich ◽  
Kimberly Vinall

Machine translation (MT) platforms have gained increasing attention in the educational linguistics community. The current article extends past research on instructor beliefs about MT by way of an ecological theoretical framework. The study reports on a large-scale survey (n=165) of FL university-level instructors in the U.S. Findings indicate strong lines being drawn around acceptable MT use (e.g., in relation to text length and skill, policies), an acknowledgement of widespread student use driven by diverse motivations, and the Janus-faced nature of MT's potential threat to the profession. These findings reveal several salient tensions in how MT mediates relationships in language education (e.g., constructions of students, the nature of language and language learning, goals of the profession) that shed new light on the impact of MT technologies on the field. Implications for future research and the development of pedagogical practices anchored in digital literacies conclude the piece.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 516
Author(s):  
Maria Zenaide Farias de Araújo ◽  
Janete S. Santos ◽  
Elbia Haydée Difabio

  RESUMEN Las autoras sitúan esta investigación dentro de los presentes cambios educativos que involucran la práctica del maestro-pedagogo, en lo que concierne a la educación lingüística, a partir de los siguientes problemas: 1) ¿Cómo incorporan o incorporaron conceptos de enseñanza de lengua como conjunto de variedades los maestros de la 4ª serie del nivel primario? 2) ¿Cómo usarían ellos un léxico específico sobre el habla amapaense, para tratar la noción de lengua como conjunto de variedades, considerando el paradigma de sustentabilidad en la educación lingüística? Para dar solución a estos problemas se elaboró el siguiente objetivo general: - Analizar el discurso docente sobre la práctica de enseñanza de lengua, concerniente a variación lingüística, en la 4ª serie del nivel fundamental, a partir del uso de un léxico específico sobre el habla local, considerando el paradigma de sustentabilidad en la educación lingüística. Para alcanzar tal objetivo, se realizó una investigación exploratorio-analítica, de metodología cualitativa y de cuño interpretativo. La especificidad del objeto requiere, en este caso, que se utilice la contribución teórico-metodológica de la Sociolingüística Variacional (SV) y Sociolingüística Educacional (SE), y para la sustentabilidad en educación, el aporte de Hargreaves y de Fink, además de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para Educación, Ciencia y Cultura (UNESCO), entre otros. Para el análisis de los discursos, se emplean recortes del PCNEF de lengua portuguesa de la escolaridad inicial y de los Proyectos Pedagógicos del Curso de Pedagogía de UNIFAP. Para la recolección de la información empírica, se optó por entrevistas semi-estructuradas y para la triangulación de datos, discursos documentales y el generado en trabajo de campo. Las hipótesis se resumen: i) las prácticas pedagógicas para el aprendizaje lingüístico favorecen las dimensiones profundidad, amplitud y duración de la sustentabilidad educativa; ii) a pesar de la existencia de obras específicas sobre el habla local, en la educación lingüística del Estado no existe preocupación por enseñar (ni reflexionar sobre la lengua materna), a partir de lo local para alcanzar lo universal/nacional, orientación sugerida por los PCNEF-LP (documentos oficiales).   PALABRAS CLAVE: Educación Lingüística Sustentable; Formación Docente; Práctica Pedagógica Docente; Léxico; Enseñanza   ABSTRACT The authors situate this research within the present educational changes that involve the practice of the teacher-pedagogue, as far as linguistic education is concerned, from the following problems: 1) How do 4th grade teachers of the elementary education incorporate concepts of language teaching as a set of varieties? 2) How would they use a specific lexicon about Amapaense’s discourse, to treat the notion of language as a set of varieties, considering the paradigm of sustainability in language education? In order to solve these problems, the following general objective was developed: -Analyze the teacher’s discourse about the practice of language instruction on linguistic variation at the 4th grade of the elementary education, based on the use of a specific lexicon of local discourse, considering the paradigm of sustainability in language teaching. To achieve this objective, an exploratory-analytical investigation was made, as well as a qualitative methodology of interpretative essence. The object’s specificity requires, in this case, the use of the theoretical-methodological contribution given by the Variance Sociolinguistics (VS), the Sociolinguistic Education (SE), and the sustainability in education, supported by Hargreaves and Fink, in addition to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), among others. For the speeches’ analysis, cutouts from the National Curricula Parameters for the Elementary Education and the Pedagogy Course Project from the Federal University of Amapá (UNIFAP) were used. For information collection, we opted for semi-structured interviews and data triangulation, documentary discourses and the generated material from the field work. Summarized hypotheses: i) pedagogical practices for language learning favor the depth, breadth and duration dimensions of educational sustainability; ii) despite the existence of specific works on the local discourse, within the State’s linguistic education there is not concern about teaching (or reflecting about the mother tongue), from local to universal/national, as suggested by the official documents.   KEYWORDS: Sustainable Linguistic Education; Teacher training; Teacher’s Pedagogical Practice; Lexicon; Teaching.     RESUMO Os autores situam essa pesquisa dentro das atuais mudanças educacionais que envolvem a prática do professor-pedagogo, no que se refere à educação linguística, a partir dos seguintes problemas: 1) Como incorporam ou incorporam conceitos de ensino de línguas como um todo? de variedades os professores da 4ª série do nível primário? 2) Como eles usariam um léxico específico sobre o discurso de Amapase, para tratar a noção de linguagem como um conjunto de variedades, considerando o paradigma da sustentabilidade na educação de línguas? Para resolver estes problemas o seguinte objetivo geral foi desenvolvido: - Analisar o discurso de ensino sobre a prática da língua de ensino sobre variação linguística na 4ª série do nível fundamental, a partir do uso de um léxico específico de discurso local, considerando o paradigma da sustentabilidade no ensino de idiomas. Para atingir este objetivo, foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratório-analítica, metodologia qualitativa e interpretação. A especificidade do objeto requer, neste caso, a teoria e metodologia contribuição Sociolingüística Variational (SV) e Sociolingüística Educação (SE) é usado, e para a sustentabilidade na educação, a contribuição de Hargreaves e Fink, mais Organização das Nações Unidas para a Educação, Ciência e Cultura (UNESCO), entre outros. Para a análise dos discursos, corta PCNEF Lusófona escolaridade inicial e ensinando Projeto Curso de Pedagogia UNIFAP são usados. Para a coleta de informações empíricas, optou-se por entrevistas semi-estruturadas e triangulação de dados, discursos documentários e gerados em trabalho de campo. As hipóteses são resumidas: i) as práticas pedagógicas para a aprendizagem de línguas favorecem as dimensões profundidade, amplitude e duração da sustentabilidade educacional; ii) apesar da existência de trabalhos específicos sobre a fala local, na educação linguística do Estado não há preocupação em ensinar (ou refletir sobre a língua materna), desde o local até alcançar o universal / nacional, sugerido por o PCNEF-LP (documentos oficiais).   PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Educação Linguística Sustentável; Formação de Professores; Prática Pedagógica de Ensino; Léxico; Ensino.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-221
Author(s):  
Maria Villalobos-Buehner

Abstract Novice learners comprise the majority of language students in higher education, but very few decide to continue their foreign language education beyond the required credits. Educators must develop a deeper understanding of what motivates this group of students so they can design pedagogical practices that will help students shift from a checklist mindset to a lifelong commitment approach to language learning. This qualitative study examines the role that a motivational focus and future-self guides play in the language learning experience of novice language learners, taking a language class for the first time, from the USA, and the role that a grammar-based pedagogy has on the formation of those self-guides. Interviews with ten novice language learners showed that six students exhibited a strong promotion focus with an ideal L2 self available in their professional-self concept. Prevention-focused students with an available ought-to L2 self preferred classroom experiences centered around grammar topics while those with a promotional focus preferred culture-based lessons. This study makes recommendations on how language educators could maximize students’ level of engagement by knowing their students’ motivational focus.


2001 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-73
Author(s):  
Akemi Dobson

Abstract This paper argues that the teaching of culture in second/foreign language classrooms involves more than equipping learners with the knowledge and skills necessary to communicate with native speakers. In the past few decades, the emphasis in second/foreign language teaching has shifted from acquisition of linguistic forms to enhancing communicative competence. In that process the native speaker has been seen as a source of "correctness" in communication behaviour and the target culture, monolithic and homogeneous. Such practice enforces the current nationalism-dominated worldview and may contribute to boundary maintenance between nations as much as, or possibly more than, to cross-cultural understanding and tolerance. This argument is based on the recognition that second/foreign language classrooms act as a location where more than two nations intersect, contributing to formations of cultural identities: both Us and the Other. In the current world of ever-increasing globalisation, national identity, which is embedded in our language and discourse, is more vigorously formed than ever in order to maintain national boundaries. Therefore, it is necessary for the second/foreign language profession to address the implications of cultural contents beyond communication needs and to foster critical attitudes in language learners.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-47
Author(s):  
Jennifer Burton ◽  
Shakina Rajendram

This article explores university English as a Second Language (ESL) instructors’ attitudes toward translanguaging in the classroom and possible reasons for instructors’ resistance in moving translanguaging ideology into English language teaching pedagogy. Many researchers have forwarded translanguaging as a theoretical and pedagogical approach to language education because of its potential cognitive, social, and affective benefits. A translanguaging pedagogy calls for instructors to affirm the dynamic and diverse language practices that multilingual students utilize as part of their unitary language repertoire. However, because English-only pedagogies, policies, and practices still permeate the ESL classroom, it is critical to understand how ESL instructors’ language ideologies and orientations play a role in shaping their pedagogical practices and classroom language policies. Using Ruíz’s orientations in language planning and translanguaging theory, this study examined the language orientations of five ESL instructors at a major Canadian university based on qualitative data gathered through semistructured interviews. The findings provide insights into instructors’ attitudes toward translanguaging, the relationship between instructors’ language learning experiences and their classroom language policy, and institutional opportunities and constraints. Le présent article explore les attitudes des professeurs d’anglais langue seconde (ESL) au niveau universitaire face au translangagisme en salle de classe ainsi que les raisons possibles de leur résistance à l’introduction de l’idéologie translangagière dans la pédagogie de l’enseignement de l’anglais. De nombreux travaux de recherche renvoient au translangagisme comme démarche théorique et pédagogique d’enseignement des langues en raison de ses avantages cognitifs, sociaux et affectifs. La pédagogie translangagière invite les professeurs à soutenir le dynamisme et la diversité des pratiques langagières que les étudiantes et étudiants multilingues utilisent déjà dans le cadre de leur répertoire linguistique unitaire. Toutefois, puisque l’enseignement de l’anglais langue seconde en classe reste imprégné de pédagogies, de politiques, et de pratiques exclusivement anglophones, il est essentiel de comprendre le rôle que jouent les idéologies et les orientations des professeurs d’anglais langue seconde dans la formation de leurs pratiques pédagogiques et de leurs politiques d’enseignement en classe. S’inspirant des orientations de Ruíz en matière de planification langagière et de théorie translangagière, la présente étude examine les orientations linguistiques de cinq professeures et professeurs d’anglais langue seconde dans une grande université canadienne à l’aide de données qualitatives recueillies dans le cadre d’entrevues semi-structurées. Les conclusions de l’enquête aident à mieux comprendre les attitudes des professeurs face au translangagisme, la relation entre les expériences d’apprentissage langagier des professeurs, et leur politique langagière en classe ainsi que les possibilités et les contraintes institutionnelles.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-78
Author(s):  
Olaf Jäkel

Abstract Denotational incongruencies as a contrastive phenomenon of lexical-semantic analyses have been described in various respects in Cognitive Linguistics (Jäkel 2001, 2003, 2010a, 2014). This contribution based on authentic evidence from the Flensburg English Classroom Corpus (FLECC) (Jäkel 2010b) is going to demonstrate that and how denotational incongruencies also affect foreign language teaching by creating problems of intercultural misunderstanding. The proposed approach to their comparative analysis can hopefully provide solutions. Thus, German “Bitte” is not always English “Please”, just as “Seid ihr fertig?” does not always translate as “Are you ready?” It will be argued that and why the common label of false friends is insufficient in this context. Especially the types of granularity differential and even crosspiece incongruencies pose a didactic problem for teachers whose origin needs to be recognized. First of all, the cognitive field-semantic analysis contributes to a differentiated recognition by the teacher. In a next step, cognitive linguistics can contribute motivated solutions for TEFL and its teaching methodology. In sum, this makes for a two-stage consciousness raising enterprise: Teachers realize in how far denotational incongruencies interfere in their pupils’ foreign language learning. And they find appropriate methods to make their pupils aware of concrete cases of denotational incongruencies – an important ingredient for promoting intercultural communicative competence in foreign language teaching.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayşegül Takkaç Tulgar

This case study examines the relationship between the glocal second language setting and the motivational levels of foreign learners of Turkish. Selected by purposeful sampling, the participants were 10 foreign learners of Turkish taking a year-long preparatory class in language education at AtaTömer. The content analysis of the data collected through six open-ended questions and semi-structured interviews showed that, being aware of the importance of motivation in language learning, the participants considered taking courses from native speaker teachers and having intercultural interaction with native speakers and classmates from different countries as motivating factors, while initial concerns for preserving cultural identity in the new community and some language-related difficulties were considered as demotivating factors in the glocal second language setting. 


2000 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Travis Bradley ◽  
Lara Lomicka

One research perspective that has been overlooked in studies on technology in foreign language education is that offered by qualitative research. This study, focusing on learner interaction, aims to begin to fill that gap. The researchers spent four months observing and interviewing students in two third-semester language classrooms: one French and one Spanish. Data collection involved a variety of sources, such as participant interviews and in-class observations, as well as pertinent documents and materials both in and out of class. Several themes emerge from the data which characterize the phenomenon of learner interaction in technology-enhanced language learning environments. Through thick description of these environments and discussion of the emerging themes, we hope to provide a more contextualized picture of the implementation of technology in foreign language classes at a large research-oriented institution.


2010 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 368-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert O'Dowd

In this paper I argue that online intercultural interaction and exchange remains a relatively peripheral ‘add-on’ activity in most foreign language classrooms. In its current state, it is yet to be considered an integral part of curricular activity and it does not yet form a significant part of high stakes assessment procedures. Against this background, it is becoming increasingly difficult for educators to justify to learners the value of their online work. I present here an overview of what online intercultural exchange involves and discuss what have been its contributions to foreign language education. I then present findings from a survey of telecollaborative practices and discuss why this activity has yet to become a ‘normalised’ part of foreign language learning.


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