Foreign Language And Culture Learning From A Dialogic Perspective

This book analyses an intercultural project undertaken by French and English 14-year-olds based on an exchange of materials created by the pupils and focused on the topic of law and order. The project was based on a view of learning as a dialogic process interacting with others. A first language and home culture is acquired through such interaction. This project sought to realise this dialogic process in a more meaningful way than is often the case in foreign language classrooms.

This study contains a number of articles which consider concepts in foreign language teaching and learning relating to: dialogue, communication, intercultural awareness, language awareness, and the roles of teacher and learner. It attempts to widen the scope of the discussion about language and culture awareness by including aspects of linguistic, literary, philosophical, and teaching theories from the authors' own cultures, as well as from other traditions.

Offers some theoretical innovations in teaching foreign languages and reports how they have been applied to curriculum development and experimental courses at the upper secondary and college levels. Approaches language learning as comprising several dimensions, including grammatical competence, change in attitudes, learning about another culture, and reflecting on one's own. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The history of "language teaching" is shot through with methods and approaches to language learning - most recently with "communicative language teaching" - but this book demonstrates that a more differentiated and richer understanding of learning a foreign language is both necessary and desirable. Languages and cultures are interlinked and interdependent and their teaching and learning should be too. Learning another language is part of a complex process of learning and understanding other people's ways of life, ways of thinking and socio-economic experience

This volume is the first to explore links between the Russian linguist Mikhail Bakhtin's theoretical insights about language and practical concerns with second and foreign language learning and teaching. Situated within a strong conceptual framework and drawing from a rich empirical base, it reflects recent scholarship in applied linguistics that has begun to move away from formalist views of language as universal, autonomous linguistic systems, and toward an understanding of language as dynamic collections of cultural resources. According to Bakhtin, the study of language is concerned with the dialogue existing between linguistic elements and the uses to which they are put in response to the conditions of the moment. Such a view of language has significant implications for current understandings of second- and foreign-language learning. The contributors draw on some of Bakhtin's more significant concepts, such as dialogue, utterance, heteroglossia, voice, and addressivity to examine real world contexts of language learning. The chapters address a range of contexts including elementary- and university-level English as a second language and foreign language classrooms and adult learning situations outside the formal classroom. The text is arranged in two parts. Part I, "Contexts of Language Learning and Teaching," contains seven chapters that report on investigations into specific contexts of language learning and teaching. The chapters in Part II, "Implications for Theory and Practice," present broader discussions on second and foreign language learning using Bakhtin's ideas as a springboard for thinking. This is a groundbreaking volume for scholars in applied linguistics, language education, and language studies with an interest in second and foreign language learning; for teacher educators; and for teachers of languages from elementary to university levels. It is highly relevant as a text for graduate-level courses in applied linguistics and second- and foreign-language education.

Many language teachers recognise the importance of integrating intercultural learning into language learning, but how this can be best achieved is not always apparent. This is particularly the case in foreign language learning contexts where teachers are working with a prescribed textbook and opportunities to use the language outside the classroom are limited. This book argues that teachers can work creatively with conventional resources and utilise classroom experiences in order to help learners interpret aspects of communication in insightful ways and develop awareness of the influence of cultural assumptions and values on language use. The book provides extensive analysis of a range of classroom interactions to demonstrate how teachers and learners can work together to construct opportunities for intercultural learning through reflection on pragmatics.

The teaching of culture and interculturality is today viewed as an integral part of foreign language education. This book presents insights from recent research on the role of culture in second/foreign and heritage language education. It contains 14 chapters including an introductory chapter that discusses diachronically the evolving notion of culture and how the sociocultural view of culture as a complex and dynamic concept informs language teaching and language learning research. The chapters following the introduction are organised in four parts focusing on: 1) the teacher's role in integrated language and culture learning; 2) the interrelationship between culture, identity, and language learning and use; 3) the effect of culture on learner characteristics which impact language learning processes and outcomes; and 4) curriculum development aimed at fostering language and culture learning. The chapters in Parts 1 to 3 present contributions from current research - either in the form of the authors' original studies or comprehensive reviews of relevant essential research - which bears important implications for curricular practice in foreign language and language teacher education. This close link between research, theory and practice is also maintained in the two chapters in Part 4, which present developmental projects based on well-grounded theoretical frameworks.

This edited collection of articles illustrates recent work on beliefs about second language acquisition, drawing on the thinking of educational philosophers and discursive psychologists including Dewey, Bakhtin, Vygotsky, and Potter. Coverage extends to beliefs held by second/foreign language learners and as well as teachers. The book includes detailed accounts of starting points, definitions, methods of data collection and analysis, main findings and implications for further research.