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20230720T083020230720T1130Europe/Amsterdam[SYMP89] Teaching literature in the language classroom: the basis of establishing an intercultural dialogue and students redefining their own identityHybrid Session (onsite/online)AILA 2023 - 20th Anniversary Congress Lyon Editioncellule.congres@ens-lyon.fr
Who has the right to talk? Literary texts in introducing pre-service German as a foreign language teachers to the notion of discourse awareness
Oral Presentation[SYMP89] Teaching literature in the language classroom: the basis of establishing an intercultural dialogue and students redefining their own identity08:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/20 06:30:00 UTC - 2024/07/20 09:30:00 UTC
The topic of the paper is introducing pre-service German as a foreign language teachers to the notion of discourse awareness by working with literary texts which thematize social injustice and power relations that manifest themselves in and through the language. The concept of discourse has a rich theoretical foundation and an intense reception. Foreign language didactics of literature is most influenced by the socio-philosophical approach standing in the tradition of Foucault, who defines discourses as "sets of statements that belong to the same formative system" (Foucalt 1997: 156 in Hille / Schiedermair 2021: 133). Discourses not only affect how one can speak about something, but also whether one can speak at all. Through such an understanding of discourses shines the central category of discourse analysis according to Foucault, namely power. In his view, the history of discourse can be read as the history of power. This understanding of discourse inspires one of the leading concepts of foreign-language didactics of literature, namely discursivity. Within its framework, "literary texts are viewed from the perspective of their productive participation in discourses" (Hille / Schiedermair 2021: 131). The analysis of literary texts helps to understand how discourses are formed and how they circulate, it helps to answer central questions of discourse analysis such as: "What can be the subject of a discourse?", "By means of what concepts are talked about what subjects?", "Who talks, or who is allowed to talk?" (Hille / Schiedrmair 2021: 132). The specific form of literary texts, their multifacetedness, the ability to provoke reflection can significantly support the development of one of the overarching competencies and the achievement of one of the goals of language learning and teaching, which is the ability to consciously and effectively participate in foreign language discourses (Hille / Schiedermair 2021: 141). A similar goal guides the category of discursive awareness, proposed by Plikat (2017) as an alternative to intercultural competence. The latter is subjected to critical scrutiny by Plikat because of the often anachronistic understanding of culture that underlies it and the self-affirmation of the concept of culture leading to an unreflective approach to the dilemma of cultural relativism and universalism (Plikat 2017:295). In the paper the model of introducing the notion of discourse awareness to pre-service German as a foreign language teachers should be presented. The central questions of the paper are: What literary texts can be used in order to foster the understanding of and reflection on the discourse awareness? Which possibilities of transferring the notion of discourse awareness into their future teaching practice do pre-service German as a foreign language teachers see, with which texts and methods?
Bibliography: Hille, Almut / Schiedermair, Simone (2021). Literaturdidaktik Deutsch als Fremd- und Zweitsprache. Eine Einführung für Studium und Unterricht. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto. Plikat, Jochen (2017). Fremdsprachliche Diskursbewusstheit als Zielkonstrukt des Fremdsprachenunterrichts. Eine kritische Auseinandersetzung mit der Interkulturellen Kompetenz. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Teaching literature in the language classroom: the basis of establishing an intercultural dialogue
Oral Presentation[SYMP89] Teaching literature in the language classroom: the basis of establishing an intercultural dialogue and students redefining their own identity08:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/20 06:30:00 UTC - 2024/07/20 09:30:00 UTC
Teaching French as a foreign language in the UK context, has historically been a transmissive approach, where pupils find themselves at the receiving end of the teaching process. In most cases, learning French, seems very alien to students' own social reality and identity. Cultural elements in teaching are also traditionally scarce in the classroom and in many contexts, they are just a luxury added towards the end of term projects and only if the main linguistic material has been covered. Reading a literary extract from a different culture, encourages students and teachers to see that the issues they face in their everyday life also apply to other human beings across the globe. The teaching of literature is then the beginning of an intercultural journey of awareness and not feeling alone. It helps students redefine their own identity and position themselves within their own context first. This is an important step in the teaching of a foreign language that it is generally overlooked. The symposium will therefore offer the opportunity to participants to discover, how integrating literature within the language classroom can provide a platform for students to start a dialogue over a contentious subject, by depersonalising a difficult situation.
The symposium will demonstrate how literature in the foreign language classroom - in this case French foreign language classroom - can provide a platform for students to start a dialogue over a contentious subject that they would not approach otherwise. I argue that literature lends itself to creative expression and personal interpretation (Diamantidaki, 2019) by depersonalising a difficult situation. The focus falls on the central fictitious character and not the students themselves. I adopt Davidheiser's (2007) concept of a 'non-threatening' environment through the use of fairy tales in foreign language learning. I will adopt this concept to show how a variety of literary extracts can become a platform for students to develop a dialogue between themselves and the 'foreign', creating therefore a non-threatening environment for that dialogue to take place whilst starting the process of acculturation. Three different children's fictitious characters will be presented in this symposium and will bring to the fore the concept of 'intercultural citizenship' (Spitzberg and Changnon 2009). Notions of social and moral responsibility will be explored whilst learning about social issues with confidence, yet depersonalised. I suggest for the symposium to be organised as follows: depending on logistics at the venue at the time the symposium could last between 1 hour and 1.30h (it depends on what works best in the programme). Participants will be invited to discuss amongst them and in small groups, questions arising from the presentation on at least two occasions before engaging with the French literary extracts. It would be desirable the participants can read French however this is in not compulsory at all to attend the symposium as translations of the extracts will be provided for all involved. In groups we will then discuss the three different extracts and their pedagogic value in the language classroom and the process of depersonalising a difficult situation. Bibliography:
Abdallah-Pretceille, M., (2003) Former et éduquer en contexte hétérogène. Pour un humanisme du divers, Paris: Anthropos
Diamantidaki F. (Ed.) (2019), Teaching literature in modern foreign languages. London, England: Bloomsbury.
Frantzen, D. (2001). Rethinking foreign language literature: Towards an integration of literature and lan-guage at all levels. In V. M. Scott & H. Tucker (Eds.), SLA and the literature classroom: Fostering dia-logues. Issues in Language Program Direction: A Series of Annual Volumes, Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle, 109-130.
Spitzberg B., Changnon G. (2009). Conceptualizing Intercultural Competence. In D. K. Deardorff, D.K. (Ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence. Thousand Oaks, Sage, 2-52
Coleman, J. A. (2009). Why the British do not learn languages: myths and motivation in the United Kingdom. Language Learning Journal, 37(1), 111-127. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571730902749003
Presenters Fotini Diamantidaki Associate Professor Of Language Learning And Intercultural Communication , UCL Institute Of Education, London UK
Using Noncanonical Literature in the University EFL Classroom in Japan: Teachers’ Beliefs and Students’ Responses
Oral Presentation[SYMP89] Teaching literature in the language classroom: the basis of establishing an intercultural dialogue and students redefining their own identity08:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/20 06:30:00 UTC - 2024/07/20 09:30:00 UTC
The main objectives of this study are to report on the use of a modern American novel in university English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses in Japan and to investigate teachers' beliefs and students' responses in the classroom. It is usually challenging for practitioners in Japan to incorporate literature into language teaching mainly because literary texts have been misunderstood as inauthentic materials (Saito, 2020) and regarded as inefficient resources to develop learners' communication skills. Furthermore, there seems to be a great number of teachers who have never used literature in their English classrooms; consequently, they have no idea how to use it effectively. As Hirvela (1989) pointed out, these teachers may avoid literature because it requires more preparation time and more enlightened teaching. Considering this situation, five university lecturers, including the presenter, have worked collaboratively to publish a textbook in which a newly written modern American short novel is presented with annotations and pre- and post-reading exercises so that this text could be widely and relatively easily used in EFL classrooms even by less-experienced language teachers who are interested in the use of literature. During this process, we have realized that there are some social and cultural issues that might be difficult for Japanese learners to understand; accordingly, the teachers in this project needed to specifically address these issues in columns and annotations as well as to provide linguistic and grammatical aids for the students. We also decided to adopt the idea of active learning when we planned pre- and post-reading activities so that the learners could actively participate in reading the text and doing the activities to enhance their communication skills, not just quietly reading the text by themselves.
Given the above reflections, this presentation addresses the following research questions: 'Why and how is the modern American novel introduced to the university EFL classroom in Japan?'; and 'How do the students respond to it?' To answer the first question, open-ended questions will be asked to these five teachers in the publication project to investigate their beliefs about writing the textbook on a modern American novel and using it in their university English courses. For the second research question, a questionnaire survey will be given to the students who will have read the novel in their English classroom over one semester. It is anticipated that the analysis of these qualitative studies will provide insight into not only the potential of literary texts but also the role of noncanonical literature in the EFL classroom. Moreover, the study may reveal some issues teachers need to specifically address when they introduce literature to foreign language teaching, which could be an obstacle for the students otherwise.
Bibliography Hirvela, A. (1989). Five bad reasons why language teachers avoid literature. British Journal of Language Teaching 27: 127-132. Saito, Y. (2020). Pedagogical stylistics as a discipline for bridging the gap between literary studies and English language teaching in Japan. Studies in English literature (Regional branches combined issue) vol.12. 129-138.
Presenters Kyoko Kuze Associate Professor, Toyo University
Chinese as a Foreign language learners’ Intercultural Communicative Competence development and identity construction in the New Zealand context
Oral Presentation[SYMP89] Teaching literature in the language classroom: the basis of establishing an intercultural dialogue and students redefining their own identity08:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/20 06:30:00 UTC - 2024/07/20 09:30:00 UTC
Given the rise in intercultural communication around the world, developing students' intercultural communicative competence (ICC) through foreign language education has become crucial (Byram, 1997; Deardorff, 2016; Dervin, 2010; Fantini, 2006; Sercu, 2002). However, most of the tertiary-level research on the development of ICC has been done from the perspectives of teachers. The ICC development of school-aged students is hardly studied. In addition, implementing an intercultural approach into practice for foreign language teachers in the New Zealand environment seems to be difficult (Tolosa et al., 2018). Moreover, the number of students in New Zealand language classes who come from different cultural backgrounds has also increased as more immigrants have settled in New Zealand. To better understand their ICC development and identity construction, however, there hasn't been much empirical research done. In order to fill these gaps, this study focuses on the ICC development and identity construction of Chinese Language Learners in the context of a secondary school in New Zealand.
This study used a multiple case study design with an intervention in each case to examine the roles of various educational techniques in CFL learners' ICC development across three school terms, drawing on Vygotsky's (1978) sociocultural theory and Byram's (1997) ICC framework. Roleplays, cultural artefacts, and videos were used in conjunction with reflective tasks by the teachers from the three secondary schools to carry out the intervention. Twenty CFL students with a range of cultural backgrounds from these three teachers' classrooms took part in the intervention. The researcher gathered qualitative information from the students' interviews, surveys, and reflective tasks in order to investigate how their ICC developed while using instructional methods. The acquired data were triangulated and thematically analysed using Byram's ICC framework.
The results of this study showed that students had a comprehensive, multidimensional, nonlinear ICC developing process and identity construction that was overall complex. The results specifically demonstrated that students' ICC was developed in each of the four ICC dimensions-attitudes, knowledge, skills, and critical cultural awareness-and that this development varied across the four dimensions. The results also revealed that various ICC pedagogical techniques had unique benefits in mediating the growth of ICC components and identity construction. This study indicated that using ICC pedagogical techniques with a reflective mindset seems to provide students a voice, particularly their thoughts on their cultural identities.
Overall, this study highlights students' voices in relation to their opinions on culture, identity, and intercultural communication. The current study offers theoretical and pedagogical insights into how to help CFL learners at the secondary school level establish their identities. It offers new knowledge on ICC development as it relates to the CFL learning environment. From a pedagogical perspective, this study helps teachers by implementing ICC pedagogical tools with a reflective stance in the CFL classroom. In conclusion, examining how ICC pedagogical tools are used in the current study, which aims to develop and mediate students' ICC, may give light on future research and teaching practices regarding intercultural language teaching and learning.
Presenters Xi Yun Research Assistant And PhD Students, The University Of Auckland
Fotini Diamantidaki
Kyoko Kuze
Xi Yun