Intercultural challenge to language learning
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Date
2012
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Zakład Filologii Angielskiej Wydział Pedagogiczno-Artystyczny Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Kaliszu
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Abstract
This paper presents the findings of a qualitative research project set to investigate
the piloting process of an innovative language program for university students. It
challenges traditional English language teaching courses celebrating a view
centered on learning; classes become spaces for students to understand the
language they are learning through the development of small projects. The
approach moves from a teaching transmission paradigm to one where the most
important agent is each student who has to engage with a topic of his or her
interest. Students are seen as individuals whose knowledge and understanding of
the world is valued and not as people whose lack of language skills prevents them
from engaging in discussions of complex topics. The objective of this innovation is
to enhance students’ understanding and use of academic English in their field of
interest. In this project, we argue that knowledge and understanding of the
mother tongue and culture play key roles in the development of a second
language. A number of studies suggest that students who had strong first language
literacy skills achieved higher proficiency levels in their second language. Based on
this argument and Vygotsky’s sociocultural learning theory, we designed
disciplinary content language learning workshops for first-degree students. The
main tenet is that students can develop academic English given that they know
about their discipline. Findings so far reveal the difficulty of students to take
distance from their previous learning experiences. They also show that students’
ideas expressed in English are far more complex than what would be expected of
them given their second language skills. The complexity is not only related to the content, but to the way they construct their paragraphs and the understanding of
how the register of their field may be used.
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Keywords
heteroglossia, second language learning, previous experience, intercultural
Citation
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2012, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 543-560.
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ISBN
ISSN
2083 5205