Investigating cultural studies in foreign language teaching : a book for teachers

Bibliographic Information

Investigating cultural studies in foreign language teaching : a book for teachers

Michael Byram and Veronica Esarte-Sarries

(Multilingual matters / series editor, Derrick Sharp, 62)

Multilingual Matters, c1991

  • : pbk

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Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This book was inspired by a major research project investigating the widely-held assumption that foreign language teaching makes a positive and influential contribution to learners' views of the people and culture whose language they are being taught. The authors explain the significance of their research to teachers and suggest how some of the material gathered during the project might be used in their daily practice to investigate and reflect upon their own pupils' views of foreign peoples and cultures. For those who wish to follow the full scientific report of the research, cross-references are provided to the companion volume, Cultural Studies and Language Learning. After an introductory chapter on the significance and role of culture as part of foreign language learning, the second chapter provides an overview of the research and the methods chosen to investigate a most complex phenomenon. These and later chapters include suggestions for further reading and references to the companion volume. Subsequent chapters are focused on specific aspects of the research data which will help teachers to consider their own practice. Suggestions are made for using extracts from interviews with pupils in the research project to elicit and refine learners' understanding of a foreign and their own culture or way of life. There are two chapters dealing with the specific influence of teacher and textbook and explaining how the cultural content of the latter can be analysed. A further chapter describes an experiment in using the school trip to the foreign country to reduce the superficial tourist character of such visits and make pupils more aware of the way foreign people live their daily lives. The final chapter suggests how a more deliberate and rigorous approach to cultural studies will make foreign language teaching a truly educational experience.

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introducing 'Cultural Studies' in Foreign Language Teaching 2. Empirical Investigations in Cultural Studies 3. 'The people might be a bit queer': Attitudes Towards French People 4. 'You sit down and you get your books out': Views on Learning French 5. What They Eat and Where They Live: Two Topics in Cultural Studies 6. Probably Learn a Lot from the Teacher 7. The Textbook 8. Language Learners Abroad: Ethnographic Explorations 9. The Significance of Cultural Studies Appendices

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