Identity and culture in teaching EIL: a possible model for a third place in intercultural awareness

1. Identity and culture in teaching EIL: a possible model for a third place in intercultural awareness IUSM International Conference Issues of identity in and across cultures and professional worlds Rome 25-27 October 2007 Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

2. Language and cultural identity • One language = one culture? • Monolingualism – multilingualism • Identity and L2-L3-L… • EIL and English-knowing bilingualism Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

3. Culture and the English language classroom • “Big C” and “small c” culture • Images of culture in textbooks • Stereotypes and C1 perceptions • Softwares of the mind • C1 and C2, C3, C… Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

4. Culture of the language classroom • Invisible “small cultures” • Inside and outside wolrds • Cultures of learning Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

5. EIL and teaching culture • Ownership of English • The “native speaker” issue • Which and whose culture? • Cross-cultural issues Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

6. Target-culture materials Target-culture textbook Target-culture textbook Source-culture student Target-culture teacher Source-culture student Source-culture teacher Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

7. Source-culture materials Source-culture textbook Source-culture textbook Source-culture student Target-culture teacher Source-culture student Source-culture teacher Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

8. International-culture materials International-culture textbook International-culture textbook Source-culture student Source-culture teacher Source-culture student Target-culture teacher Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

9. EIL – community of practice • Multilingual world • Cultural identity: • not of multiple native speakers, but of • multiplicity of social roles intercultural awareness Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

10. Intercultural competence • Savoir être • Savoir • Savoir comprendre • Savoir apprendre • Savoir s’engager Social identities into contexts (Byram 2001) Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

11. A third place • Places found in dialogic processes • A place where learner finds a place for him/herself Act of personal identity Reflect upon existing frames and create new ones Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

12. A shift in perspectives Not us/them but: • Discovery of inner identity places of meaning • Reaccomodate new worlds • ELF: a “hinge” between worlds and identities Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

13. A third place and a voice in the language classroom Critical Language Pedagogy (Kramsch 1993) • Awareness of global context • Local knowledge • Ability to listen • Metatalk • Making do with words • Autonomy and control • The long haul Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

14. Strategies • Cooperative learning • Project work • “World studies” • Literary texts as “defamiliarization” and place for personal meanings • Cognitive and affective understanding Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

15. Comenius Language-oriented Schools Partnership programmesLifestyles – Italy/Denmark • Topics chosen by students • Mixed language groups • EIL and “minority” languages • No target or source culture – a dialogic process Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

16. Så skal der arbejdes! Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

17. I supporters per le nuove tecnologie... la presentazione del gruppo SPORTS Il gruppo FASHION Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

18. “Progetto Dossier” • CLA Erasmus students – Verona • Topics chosen by students from their life experience of another culture • Peer presentations • Meta-cultural reflection Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

19. Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

20. Identity and intercultural skills • Development and awareness of own and others’ identities • Cultural identity as a personal “third place” to be discovered and negotiated • Classroom as an ‘intercultural climate’ • ‘popular cultures’ of learning subjects Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

21. A middle space… • …where EIL/ELF can make different identities grow and meet • In a process of reflection and self-reflection Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

22. “The spread of English is undeniable, and it is viewed by those who suffer from it as a totem for a certain Anglo-American ‘culture’ or way of life, but it is not clear whether the appropriate response in the long run is to make English and other languages into cultural icons, or to rely on the remarkable ability that speakers have to create multiple cultural realities in any language” (Kramsch 1998) Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL

23. Thank you for your attention paola.vettorel@univr.it Paola Vettorel Verona University Identity and Culture in teaching EIL