Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kurtz

Culture-sensitive Learning and Teaching in the FL Classroom

(Thu 2 Oct 2014, 11.05-12.00am)

juergen.kurtz@anglistik.uni-giessen.de http://juergenkurtz.wordpress.com

Why this workshop, here and now? Ability to connect with others as a key competence at the beginning of the 21st century. Life is all about connecting and connections on a global scale (generation C: the ‘connected generation’) Increasing demand for transculturally competent, multilingual people (“the ‘ideal’ of the intercultural speaker“; Byram 1997: 72) Resulting educational challenges: bringing language(s), culture(s), and people (‘identities’) together in FL/SL education Adequate instructional designs? (tasks, communicative activities, exercises, games - in terms of ‘gamification of education’, etc.) Suitable materials and media to be used for this purpose? Modes of assessment (in the age of standards, testing and accountability)?

Across the globe, migration, business and international education are facilitating face-to-face intercultural contact. Advances in technology (e.g. the internet, social networking sites) are also making it easier to link people virtually in different parts of the world. As we become increasingly interconnected, the demand for individuals who can communicate effectively and appropriately with people who have a different cultural/linguistic background becomes ever more pressing.

Jackson, Jane (ed.) (2012). The Routledge Handbook of Language and Intercultural

Communication, p. 1.

Etihad Stadium Melbourne, September 30, 2014

Central theme of the workshop:

Learning: degrees of intercultural sensitivity,

awareness, and competence

Seeing: layers of perception, including transcultural

misperceptions, focal points of attention

Communicating: relation between language, culture and thought, transcultural

participation

Understanding: knowledge about self and other, ability to adopt different perspec-

tives, facets of identity

‘Learning to see the world through the eyes of others’

Language and culture in interaction:

IF WE DON‘T ASK, WHO WILL?

EVERYDAY NSLC EMPLOYEES TAKE THE TIME TO ASK THE HARD QUESTIONS.

WE WILL ID.

AND THAT‘S GOOD FOR ALL OF US.

Do you understand this message? What does it mean (to you)? What do FL/SL learners need to know in order to ‘decode’ the text?

(printed on a Canadian paper bag; NSLC = Nova Scotia Liquor Commission)

IF WE DON‘T ASK, WHO WILL?

EVERYDAY NSLC EMPLOYEES TAKE THE TIME TO ASK THE HARD QUESTIONS.

WE WILL ID.

AND THAT‘S GOOD FOR ALL OF US.

What do FL/SL learners need to know in order to understand this message? Why is this difficult to decode and to behave accordingly?

• The acronym ‘NSLC’ stands for ‘Nova Scotia Liquor Commission’. Learners can certainly find out about this through the Internet, but it nevertheless refers to specific world knowledge related to particular values and norms, and a particular everyday behavioral script; i.e. that in Nova Scotia, Canada, alcoholic beverages can only be purchased in liquor stores or by the drink in bars and restaurants, if you are at least 21, etc.

• Once they are (made) aware of this, they can infer what ‘id’ means (they will not find it in an English learner’s dictionary). Apart from this, the acronym ‘id’ appears to be used as a verb in this context. For non-native speakers of English this raises the question as to whether it can also be used, for instance, in the past tense (as in: he ‘ided’ me?). Is this, perhaps, only possible in everyday informal spoken English? Etc.

Word knowledge vs. World knowledge

“The Refund”- Mystery

Basic understanding (word/semantic knowledge): you get something back if you return the empty can (Transcultural problem: where to return the empty can (Germany vs. Australia vs. Canada vs. Quebec = world/encyclopedic knowledge

What does ‘refund’ mean (to you)?

Further problem: what is the ‘correct wording’? • Where can I return the cans for a refund? • Where and how can I get a refund for the cans? • Where can I deposit cash refund bottles and cans? • Where do I return the empty cans for the refund? • Where can I refund the empty cans? • etc.

“We learn and teach words in certain contexts, and then we are expected, and expect others, to be able to project them into further contexts. Nothing insures that this projection will take place …”

Cavell, Stanley (2002): Must We Mean What We Say?, updated edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cavell (2002: 52)

Effective intercultural

communication

Target language

proficiency

Factual knowledge

about target culture(s)

???

Get together in small groups and brainstorm about what else is required for successful intercultural communication.

“As the oft-quoted saying goes, the person who learns language without learning culture risks becoming a fluent fool.”

Bennett, Janet M./Bennet, Milton J./Allen, Wendy (2003): Intercultural competence in the language classroom. In: Lange, Dale L./ Paige R. Michael (Eds.). Culture as the Core. Perspectives on Culture in

Second Language Learning. Greenwich: Information Age Publishing, S. 237–270.

Bennett, Bennet & Allen (2003: 237)

Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) Byram (1997)

Knowledge of products and practices

Attitudes of curiosity and openness

Skills of discovery and interaction

Skills of interpreting and relating documents

Critical cultural awareness

Byram, Michael (1997): Teaching and

Assessing Intercultural Communicative

Competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Bennett, M. J. (1993). “Towards Ethnorelativism: A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity.” Education for the intercultural experience. Ed. R. M. Paige. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.

Cultural difference and diversity as a challenge

Get together in small groups and share your reactions to the video with each other. Discuss what went wrong in this situation.

Shared conceptual knowledge: soup bowl = a container for ‘liquid food’. But: different cultural meanings, different world or encyclopedic knowledge attached to it:

West: Emptying the bowl signals satisfaction with food to host

East: Emptying the bowl signals host that you are questioning his generosity

„There can be little doubt that our cultural background can have quite a major influence on our behavior and thinking. Also, the quality of life we enjoy cannot but be influenced by our cultural background. It certainly can also influence our sense of identity and our perception of affiliation with groups of which we see ourselves as member.“

Sen, Amartya Kumar (2006). Identity and Violence. New York: Norton & Comp.

Sen (2006: 112)

Language, Culture and Identity: ‘Names’

This is Luca Elias, born in Dortmund, Germany, February 2011 Please note that neither Luca nor Elias are what some people in Germany would consider to count as ‘traditional‘ or ‘genuine‘ German names.

BUT is my name, Jürgen (I was born in 1961, half a century ago) a ‘better’ German name? Because of the ‘ü‘, perhaps? No, it‘s not; my name is derived from Georgos, which is Greek and means ‘farmer‘ (‘ge‘ = earth as in geography; ‘ergo‘ = work). Isn‘t it ‘George‘ in English and ‘Georges‘ in French)? Isn‘t it ‘Giorgio’ in Italian, ‘Jorge’ in Spanish, etc. …

Focus on the language learner How many languages do you speak? How do you feel about these languages?

Culture and Identity / Perceptions / Exaggerations / Stereotypes / Prejudice

Language, Culture and Education

Group work:

In your opinion, why do (some/many?) people tend to exaggerate certain aspects of ‚otherness‘? Is this, perhaps and ultimately, the ‚glue‘ which binds them together? (And if so, what are the consequences for teaching foreign languages /optimizing TEFL/TESL?)

31

There are many arguments and discussions about what culture really is. They all have in common that they perceive it as something human made, (= not nature), for instance: a) culture is the section in the newspaper where they review

theatre, dance performances or write book reviews etc. b) culture is what parents teach their kids and grandparents

teach their grandchildren. c) "You don't have any culture," is what people say to you

when you put your feet on the table at lunchtime or spit in

front of guests.

d) "They just have a different culture," people say about

those whose behavior they don't understand but have to

tolerate.

Culture ?

Brainstorming task: What is your understanding of culture? In groups of not more than four, create a mind-map or a keyword summary that illustrates your personal views and ideas.