INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH BLOG EXCHANGES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES

1. INTERCULTURAL LEARNING THROUGH BLOG EXCHANGESIN FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES Nguyen Thi Hong Nhat

2. 1 The Role of Culture in Language Learning and Teaching 2 Teachers’ Difficulties in Teaching Culture 3 A case study Contents

3. The Role of Culture in Language Teaching and Learning “The need for cultural literacy in ELT arises mainly from the fact that, most language learners, not exposed to culture elements of the society in question, seem to encounter significant hardship in communicating meaning to native speaker.” (Bada, 2000) “The need for cultural literacy in ELT arises mainly from the fact that, most language learners, not exposed to culture elements of the society in question, seem to encounter significant hardship in communicating meaning to native speaker.” (Bada, 2000)

4. The Role of Culture in Language Teaching and Learning Dictates who talks to whom, what/ how the communication proceeds Culture - Communication: Inseparable Determine how people encode messages (Samovar, Porter, & Jain, 1981) 

5. The Role of Culture in Language Teaching and Learning Effects of the culture class ( Bilal Genc & Erdogan Bada, 2005)

6. 1 The Role of Culture in Language Learning and Teaching 2 Teachers’ Difficulties in Teaching Culture 3 A Case Study Contents

7. 1 3 Overcrowded Curriculum 2 4 Fear of Not Knowing Enough Lack of Adequate Training How to Measure Cross-Cultural Awareness Teachers’ Difficulties in Teaching Culture

8. 2. Blogs as a tool for language learning and teaching • Definition: Blog is “an online journal that an individual can continuously update with his or her own words, ideas, and thoughts.” (Campbell, 2003. p.1) • Blogs have potentials to be a valuable tool because of: • easy-to-use accessibility (Campbell, 2003) • space for learners’ voice, awareness of audience (Leverett, 2006; Ward, 2004) • high learners’ autonomy (Hanson-Smith & Egbert, 1999) • effective teacher–student communication and peer interaction (Arslan & Sahin-Kizil, 2010;Dippold, 2009)

9. 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Design of the study 3.2 3.2 Data collection and data analysis Data collection and data analysis

10. Research questions

11. Research design Participants: 40 intermediate-level EFL students in a cultural class and 10 Fulbright American teaching fellows. American people American history Public holiday Custom and tradition

12. Pre-Questionnaires Writing tasks (12) Writing tasks (12) Reflection essays Interviews Instruments and data analysis Writing tasks (12) Post-questionnairs RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1 2 3 Learning diaries (4) Teacher marking sheets (6)

13. Results: Vietnamese students’ intercultural competence improvement through blog exchanges

14. Characteristics of blogging

15. Elements enable students to establish successful intercultural relationships with their partners via blogging

16. Posters, pictures, maps, signs, and realia Assigning students foreign names Building and maintaining Authentic social cultural network Teaching Culture: Strategies and Techniques CULTURE ISLAND: MAKE STUDENTS BE WET IN THE WATER OF CULTURE

17. Teachers’ Difficulties in Teaching Culture: Suggested Solutions Lack Of Adequate Training Fear Of Not Knowing Enough Measurement Curriculum Teach culture, grammar, vocabulary in an integrative fashion, not serial one. Teachers’ role is not to impart facts but to help students attain the skills that are necessary to make sense out of the facts Ever - learning Create a framework with a list of activities such as writing reflection, writing diary, presentation

18. Bibliography • Huges, G. M. (1984). An Argument for Cultural Analysis in the Second Language • Finnocchario M. (1964), English as a second language: From theory to practice. New York: Simon and Schuster • Lafayette, R.C. (1978), Teaching Culture: Strategies and Techniques, Virginia: Arlington. • Bada, E. (2000) Culture in ELT, Chukurova University Journal of Social Sciences (6),100-110. • Henrichsen, L. E. 1998. Understanding Culture and Helping Students Understand Culture. (Web document)

19. Thank You !