Language Learners As Ethnographers

by Roberts, Celia; Byram, Michael; Barro, Ana

• ISBN13: 9781853595028
• ISBN10: 1853595020
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-12-05
• Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Summary

This book looks at the role of cultural studies and intercultural communication in language learning. The book argues that learners who have an opportunity to stay in the target language country can be trained to do an ethnographic project while abroad. Borrowing from anthropologists' the idea of cultural fieldwork and 'writing culture', language learners develop their linguistic and cultural competence through the study of a local group. This book combines a theoretical overview of language and cultural practices with a description of ethnographic approaches and materials specifically designed for language learners.

Author Biography

Ano Barro teaches Spanish and Latin American Studies at the University of Passau.

Table of Contents

Part I Language Learning and Ethnography: Theory and Practice
New Goals	3	(15)
Language learners	3	(2)
New times	5	(3)
Language learning as social practice	8	(2)
Language learning and ethnography	10	(2)
The Ealing ethnography research project	12	(1)
Purposes and audiences for this book	13	(5)
Introducing Cultural Learning into the Language Curriculum	18	(26)
Cultural work	18	(6)
Cultural learning and communicative language teaching	24	(2)
Cultural studies and language learning	26	(3)
Ethnography and the intercultural speaker	29	(2)
The intercultural speaker and cross-cultural communication	31	(1)
The integration of language and cultural studies in higher education	32	(1)
Language learning for mobility	33	(2)
Language lecturers as ethnographers	35	(1)
Intercultural competence and ethnographic fieldwork	36	(2)
Learning theories and outcomes	38	(6)
Theoretical Issues in Language and Cultural Practices	44	(20)
Why bother with theory?	44	(2)
Functional and constructivist perspectives of culture and language	46	(4)
A cognitive view of `culture'	50	(1)
A symbolic view of `culture'	51	(1)
A critical view of `culture'	52	(2)
Culture is a verb	54	(1)
Language-and-cultural practices	55	(1)
Interactional sociolinguistics	56	(8)
Representations, Discourses and Practices	64	(24)
Issues of ethnicity and nationality	64	(5)
Linguistic relativity	69	(8)
Discourse, text and practice	77	(6)
Non-verbal communication and use of social space	83	(2)
Travelling and the intercultural speaker	85	(3)
Ethnography for Linguists	88	(13)
Ethnography in anthropology	88	(3)
Fieldwork	91	(3)
Ethnography for linguists	94	(7)
Part II The Ealing Ethnography Project: A Case Study
Teaching Ethnography	101	(15)
Ethnography as staff development	101	(2)
Fieldwork at first hand	103	(5)
Generating teaching materials	108	(4)
Evaluation and generalisation	112	(4)
Developing the Principles for an Ethnography Course	116	(35)
Some fundamental principles	116	(2)
Looking at everyday life culturally and ethnographically	118	(10)
Developing a conceptual framework	128	(11)
Developing an ethnographic method	139	(12)
The Ethnography Class	151	(34)
Introduction: Local level politics	151	(3)
Ethnography in the classroom	154	(1)
A typical session: Local level politics	155	(17)
Links to ethnography projects	172	(2)
Class diaries	174	(2)
Assessment	176	(9)
The Student Ethnography Projects	185	(25)
Ethnography projects: Some examples	186	(2)
The `home ethnography'	188	(3)
Some characteristics of ethnography projects	191	(6)
Valuing the process	197	(7)
Assessment procedures	204	(6)
`The Year Abroad': An Ethnographic Experience	210	(19)
Student interviews	210	(2)
In the field	212	(2)
Preparation and `the real thing'	214	(1)
Data collection	215	(4)
The writing process	219	(3)
Living the ethnographic life	222	(4)
Language acquisition	226	(1)
Summing up	227	(2)
Conclusions and New Perspectives	229	(19)
Ethnographers as intercultural speakers	229	(6)
Individual development in the year abroad	235	(3)
From language learning to intercultural interaction	238	(3)
Language learners as ethnographers: A generalisable approach?	241	(7)
Bibliography	248	(13)
Index	261