Erin Kearney State University of New York at Buffalo

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1 Erin Kearney State University of New York at Buffalo

2 Even as we agree that culture is part and parcel of all FL learning, we persist in our conviction that legitimate forms of cultural immersion (and therefore deep levels of understanding) only occur through direct experience with native speakers of a language in a land they inhabit. (Kearney, 2010, p. 332)

3 MLA Report (2007): [O]ne possible model for developing transcultural understanding involves interpretation of the cultural narratives that are inherent in all forms of expression. (p. 238) Culture-in-FLE in general: expanding meaningmaking repertoire Development of symbolic competence (Kramsch, 2006) Honing of interpretive abilities (Byram, 1997; Palpaceur-Lee, 2010)

4 How does expansion of learners meaningmaking repertoires unfold in the FL classroom? How might FL teachers seeking to address culture in their classrooms facilitate this kind of development and learning?

5 5th semester French course, 8-week project 14 students, mostly American-born, some international students, some bi-cultural students Topic: the French experience of WWII Global Simulation components: Building up knowledge of events, historical figures, and prevailing standpoints on these at various moments of the war through readings, in-class clarification, discussion and analysis activities Writing of first-person fictional memoirs of someone who lived in a Paris apartment building during the war Reading of other students chapters, interweaving of stories Adoption of invented persona for a weekly Café de Retrouvailles (Reunion café) activity and for a one-time confessional recording

6 Byram (2011) the concept of perspective [O]perating fully within another language means assuming a different perspective on the world. In the absence of targeted consciousness-raising, students may not be aware of, let alone appreciate, the differing perceptions and modes of thought with which the L2 operates (p. 528). Cultural perspectives as linked to linguistic perspective and recoverable in linguistic form (e.g. deixis, lexical, grammatical, and syntactic choices) Tools of linguistic anthropology E.g. Agha (2005) textual features (voicing contrasts, person deixis, tense deixis) points of origo typifiable voices, discursive figures, figures of personhood

7 Narratives Apparent on Day 1 of Observation The French on bikes seeing the sea for the first time, a story associated with the Front populaire and the summer of 1936, a peaceful and happy time before the war. The drôle de guerre narrative explains how the French heard funny when encountering English accounts of the war, which was characterized as a phony war In telling this story, Emilie asks students to Imaginez que vous avez un oreille français.. The guerre élair (lightening war) narrative, emphasizing intimidation tactics used by the German forces. Emilie asks students to Imaginez que vous êtes la population française. Story about Emilie s grandfather, who, at the start of the war, came out of a stupor after a German bombing of his military unit s camp, only to realize that he and another soldier were the only survivors. Discussion of stories the students read for homework from a collection of memoirs written by those who experienced the war in France as children, called Paroles d Etoiles. The excerpts centered on the experience of fleeing from Paris as German troops advanced toward the city. Another narrative related to the mass exodus in which Emilie asks students to Imaginez que vous êtes juin 1940 vous participez à l exode qu est-ce que vous faites? This story is coconstructed with students. Emilie guides their responses with her questions and leads them to focus on what modes of transportation they used and what they brought with them. Story about Emilie s grandmother, who left behind her farm at the start of the war. (Linked briefly to another narrative, that of Claudine in Paroles d Etoiles). A visual narrative in the form of a clip from the film Jeux Interdits, which portrays the mass exodus from Paris. Before showing the clip, Emilie says Absorbez les images pour créer vos personnages, vous plonger dans l époque.

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9 Physical location (U.S. city, university campus Paris apartment building and environs) Time (2006 World War II era) J habitais dans un immeuble à Paris, avec ma mère et mon frère, Henri. Je travaillais au Bon Marché, un grand magasin entre Montparnasse et le Boulevard St Germain. I lived in a building in Paris, with my mother and my brother, Henri. I worked at the Bon Marché, a department store between Montparnasse and St Germain boulevard. Person and perspective (Modern day university student with a personal history an invented persona whose story plays out in a particular figured world)

10 Après avoir entendu le discours de Pétain, beaucoup de gens se sont sentis soulagés - ils voyaient Pétain comme un protecteur, quelqu un qui les sauverait et qui sauverait la France. Je voulais ressentir la même chose ; après tout, Pétain semblait tellement calme et optimiste. Mais j avais des sentiments mêlés ; mon frère me disait toujours qu il fallait se méfier de l eau qui dort. After having heard Pétain s speech, a lot of people felt relieved - they saw Pétain as a protector, someone who would save them and who would save France. I wanted to feel the same thing; after all, Pétain seemed so calm and optimistic. But I had mixed feelings; my brother always told me to beware of still waters.

11 In order to access and potentially shift perspectives through language learning, we need to understand the vantage points from which meaning is constructed by others, and how these meanings are indexed in language. We need to become familiar with a new stock of stories and a range of plausible interpretations of these. We also need to come to awareness of our own point of view and denaturalize our own familiar narratives. A further step is to engage in the active production of cultural narratives ourselves, a creative process that may transform our personal and shared perspectives. Kramsch (1995): In order to teach a foreign language as oppositional practice, learners have to be addressed not as deficient monoglossic enunciators, but as potentially heteroglossic narrators (90).

12 Refinement and expansion of MLA model, especially toward emphasizing the active production of cultural meanings in addition to interpretation of cultural narratives Need for more empirical research in FL classrooms to document the immersive potential of cultural narratives and to uncover other possible models of culture-in-fle Increased attention in training and professional development of FL teachers to help them better facilitate meaningful shifts in perspective among their students

13 Agha, A. (2005). Voice, footing, enregisterment. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 15 (1), Byram, K. (2011). Using the concept of perspective to integrate cultural, communicative, and formfocused language instruction. Foreign Language Annals, 44 (3), Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Kearney, E. (2010). Cultural immersion in the foreign language classroom: Some narrative possibilities. Modern Language Journal, 94 (2), Kramsch, C. (1995). The Cultural component of language teaching. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 8 (12), Kramsch, C. (2006). From communicative competence to symbolic competence. Modern Language Journal, 90, Modern Language Association Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages (2007). Foreign languages and higher education: New structures for a changed world. Profession, 2007, Palpaceur-Lee, C. (2010). Images, discourses, and representations at the art museum: Intercultural openings. Proceedings of the Intercultural Competence Conference (1),