Introduction

1. Co-constructing intercultural views and identities in a teaching methods classMisumi SadlerUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignDepartment of East Asian Languages & Culturessadlerm@illinois.edu

2. A classroom as a “third space” • the perceptions of newly-appointed graduate student teachers (GSTs) about academic language teaching and learning • the effect of intercultural competence and learning experience on their perceptions and teaching practices Introduction

3. coined by Home K. Bhabha(1994) • challenges the judgmental, polarized views of the “us versus them” • “Rather than stereotyping and making assumptions about how the ‘other’ should act, the ‘thirdspace’ allows each to search for an understanding of the world of the ‘other’ ” (Benzie, 2005, p. 5) Third Space

4. not a “unitary, stable, permanent and homogeneous” place, but a place that is “multiple, always subject to change and to the tensions and even conflicts that come from being in between” (Weedon, 1987, cited in Kramsch, 2009, p. 238). • The benefit and value of third space concept (e.g., Benzie, 2005; Bretag, 2006; Dooley, 2011; DeMont, 2010; Forasiepi, 2011).

5. A classroom as a “third space”(e.g. DeMont, 2010; Forasiepi, 2011) where newly appointed graduate student teachers (GSTs): • share their perceptionsof educational issues • co-construct more global views • shape new identities for themselves through interacting with each other • engage in reflection of what they believe about academic language teaching/learning and how their beliefs affect their teaching practice

6. East Asian Language Pedagogy (EALC560), fall 2012 (required; once a week for two hours and half; fifteen weeks) • 9 newly-appointed GSTs • 6 Chinese, 1 Taiwanese, 1 Japanese • 7 female, 2 male • linguistics, pedagogy, TESL, music • 3 in the U.S. for less than three months • 2 taught Chinese at an university in the U.S. Participants

7. A questionnaire • Weekly posts on the discussion forum • Three reflexive logs • The results of Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI v3) • Supplementary data: • class observation reports • Lesson plans • Teaching Portfolio Data

8. Mitchell R. Hammer, Ph.D. http://www.idiinventory.com/

9. Perceived Orientation (PO) Developmental Orientation (DO) IDI Group Profile

10. 6 Minimization • cultural commonalities & universal values • deeper recognition and appreciation of cultural difference • 2 Polarization • judgmental; “us” vs. “them” • Defense: an overly critical view toward other cultural values and practices • Reversal: an overly critical view toward one’s own cultural values and practices • 1 Denial • recognize observable cultural differences but not deeper cultural differences • avoid or withdraw from cultural differences (Hammer, 2008)

11. more monocultural more global ethnocentric intercultural uncertain/unfamiliar certain/familiar unresolved frustrations, fears, struggles opening new alternatives (Soja, 1996) generating new knowledge &understandings (Benzie, 2005)

12. 1st year MA • Chinese linguistics • China • 1~2 years of living in the States • taught Chinese at a U.S. university • Elementary Chinese I • The result of IDI • Perceived Orientation: Acceptance • Developmental Orientation: Denial Xin

13. Trained and taught under an Audiolingual method • A small class size • Used teaching strategies that have worked well for her in the past • likely work well with students from her own cultural background but may not be as effective with students whose learning approach is culturally different • Use of technology • Use of visual aids

14. … Technology takes time. Showing something on PPT takes one second for changing one slide; recalling what you plan to teach by this slide takes another two seconds and explaining briefly what this slide is being about takes at least five more seconds. If the teacher prepares 20 slides for a class, three minutes or so will be spent on introducing technological information. For students, the visual and audio aid may be helpful but still takes time for them to process the new stimulus. Also students’ reaction to technological info might detour their attention from language info….. On use of technology

15. As I have been introduced more teaching approaches and methods in pedagogy, my mind is becoming opener than before to view technology issue. It is not necessary a waste of time if the instructor is fully aware of what she is doing and doing it efficiently enough…..Nowadays, I feel more obliged to accept technology in order to fit the trends that more textbooks and Chinese courses are designed for contextual approach….. after five-year's learning from and practicing audiolingual school, I am proud to say that I am changing, to adapt and to survive. 

16. I agree with what you say about the change. I myself am very used to the old school ways of teaching because that was how I was taught. Yet today's students obviously want more than that, and they will easily get bored if we still stick to the old school. I, therefore, try to incorporate technological and visual aids in my teaching to adapt and to survive. In a large sense, we should always be open to change--willing to try and adapt and find what works best for us… Response from a classmate, Dan

17. Thank you, Dan, for your comments and agreement. I used to believe that there always exists one approach working better than all the others for the interest of the final product of a language class. Forgive me my tenacity please because I still believe so. The reason I am changing strategy in our Chinese class is that what I have been doing does not serve well our current textbook. There will be an obvious unintegrationbetween contents and method. Since we are not picking our own textbooks and designing our own syllabus, the best solution would be adapting ourselves old tricks to better serve the books. Xin’s response to Dan

18. Observing Kim’s class The most impressive part to me was the group activity. I did not usually engage students in free conversation in pairs. However, Kim was pretty familiar with this approach and the outcome was surprisingly good..... Students come up with a variety of marvelous expressions simply combining the couple of grammar patterns we have learned. Some of their expression conveyed a complicated meaning. They were more creative than me!

19. Annotated bibliography on the paper that challenges audiolingualism (i.e. how to incorporate context into a drill-based class) “As potential language educators, we should always bear with the awareness of these unsolved problems and contribute our intellects to conquer these issues when it is the moment we have to introduce these ABCs to our students.”

20. Interaction and self-reflection deepen learning. • Claiming common ground • Sharing intimate information and mutual understanding • A teaching methods class can become more effective and supportive. • The importance of building a community • The third space concept Conclusions

21. The Theoretical Orientations to Academic Language Learning survey (TOALL) (Forasiepi, 2011) • The effect of teacher presence • The development of IC • Ongoing teacher development beyond a teaching methods courses (Allen & Negueruela-Azarola, 2010; Crane, Sadler, Ha, & Ojambo, 2011) Future Studies