1. Key Points Chapter Five: Part Two Shrum and Glisan
Special Methods of Instruction I
CIED 5243
Dr. Bowles, Instructor

2. Integrating Cultures & Comparisons into Middle School Language Instruction
The Cultures Goal Area—to gain knowledge and understanding of other cultures
Foreign language programs are in unique positions to introduce students to new cultures and ways of viewing the world.
The three Ps frame the culture paradigm.
Practices—patterns of behavior accepted by a society; they represent knowledge of “what to do when and where.”
Products—things created by members of the culture, both tangible and intangible.
Perspectives—traditional ideas, attitudes, meanings, and values of members of that society.

3. The Cultures Goal Area Fantini’s framework (1997):
Reflects the world view of a cultural group
Three interrelated components
Sociofacts-how people come together and for what purpose (practices)
Artifacts-things people make (products)
Mentifacts-what people think or believe (perspectives)
Teaching culture using a process-oriented constructivist approach provides learners with the experiences they need to approach, appreciate, and bond with people of other cultures.

4. The Comparisons Goal Area
To develop insight into the nature of language and culture
Kluckhohn Values Orientation Method (2004):
A method to make cross-cultural comparisons
Five categories of basic concerns to all people (adapted from Ortuño, 1991)
Perception of self and others
World view
Temporal orientation
Forms of activity
Social relations

5. The Comparisons Goal Area
Students need to learn how to use language to bridge the gaps between Cl and C2.
Taxonomy of sociocultural strategies (Savignon & Sysoyev, 2005)
Four strategies for initiating and sustaining contact
Initiate and maintain intercultural contact to explain national holidays
Anticipate sociocultural gaps that can result in misunderstandings and false stereotypes
Avoid misunderstandings, explaining C1 and asking for explanations of C2
Use diplomacy to redirect conversation to more neutral topics or to dissimulate personal views to avoid conflict

6. The Comparisons Goal Area
Students need to learn how to use language to bridge the gaps between Cl and C2.
Taxonomy of sociocultural strategies (Savignon & Sysoyev, 2005)
Four strategies to create accurate portraits of a C2
Compare the facts and realities of C1 and C2 using analogies, oppositions, and generalizations
Identify and interpret unfamiliar features of C2
Classify, compile, and generalize sociocultural information from mass media, the Internet, and other sources of information
Review authentic cultural material

7. Implications for Instruction
Traditional teaching of culture:
Big “C” (formal culture) vs. Little “c” (daily life)
Culture taught as imparting facts and information
Four common approaches (Galloway, 1985)
Frankenstein (bits and pieces)
4-F (folk dances, festivals, fairs, and food)
Tour Guide (monuments, rivers, and cities)
“By-the-Way” (sporadic lectures or bits of behavior selected indiscriminately to emphasize sharp differences)

8. Implications for Instruction
The constructivist view
Culture is integral to language
Culture is something people create in the living of their daily lives
Language is the primary means by which culture is made vibrant
Learners are put in contact with the cultural world of the TL to enable learners to reflect on their own cultures
Teachers are the professional mediators between the C1 and C2 to help learners understand others and otherness to acquire cultural and communicative competence

9. Implications for Instruction
Intercultural Communicative Competence--ICC (Byram, 1997)
An essential component of communicative competence
Five factors:
Knowing oneself and others (knowledge)
Knowing how to interpret and relate (skills)
Knowing how to engage oneself (education)
Knowing how to discover /interact (skills)
Knowing how to revitalize oneself and value others (attitudes)

10. Implications for Instruction
Deardorff’s Process Model of Intercultural Competence (2006)
Begins with attitudes--respect, openness, curiosity, and discovery
Blends with personal knowledge and comprehension of cultural self-awareness, deep cultural knowledge, and sociolinguistic awareness
Includes skills in listening, observing, and evaluating
Leads to changes in attitudes related to empathy, adaptability, and flexibility

11. Implications for Instruction
Schulz’ objectives for cultural learning and cross-cultural awareness and understanding (2007)
Develop and demonstrate awareness that geographic, historical, economic, social/religious, and political factors impact 3 Ps including language use and communication styles
Develop and demonstrate awareness that situational variables shape communication interaction and behavior in important ways
Recognize stereotypes/generalizations about C1 and C2 and evaluate them based on evidence
Develop and demonstrate awareness of culture-conditioned images and culture-specific connotations of some words, phrases, etc.
Develop and demonstrate awareness of causes for cultural misunderstanding between members of different cultures

12. Strategies for Integrating Language and Culture
Visual literacy
Integration of language and culture using realia
Semantic mapping
Authentic documents
Investigation of cultural truths
Interviews with TL speakers
Storytelling
Learning centers

13. Assessment
Successful assessment improves learning, instruction, and program effectiveness
Use authentic assessments—real life tasks and real audiences
Examples
Performance tasks
Portfolios
Self-assessment surveys
Peer assessments
Journals
Logs
Products
Projects

14. Assessment
Self-evaluation is a means to develop a fair and realistic self-concept (NMSA 2003)
All assessment and evaluation should emphasize individual progress instead of comparison with other students
Middle level learners need to
Participate in assessment and evaluation
Help set individual and group goals
Help identify ways to measure progress
Evaluate their own accomplishments