Communication across cultures: The use of newspapers in the foreign language classroom.
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TextDescription: 274 pISBN: 0493221956Subject(s): Education, Language and Literature | Language, Modern | Anthropology, Cultural | 0279 | 0291 | 0326Dissertation note: Thesis (Ed.D.)--Harvard University, 2001. Summary: Newspapers, on-line or in print, are perhaps the most readily available, least expensive, easily exploitable means of obtaining current information about different cultures. Comparing native and target language news articles on the same international event exposes students to authentic examples of contemporary world views from both cultures. To help students recognize how these views may differ, I propose and assess activities that are based on media discourse analysis (MDA). MDA, which I apply to French, Italian and U.S. newspapers, focuses on how the language of news and the context in which it is used influence the meaning of news stories, highlighting factors such as text structure, vocabulary, and the ordering of events. Comparative MDA-based activities can help students see how different presentations of the same information may reveal different cultural perspectives, the awareness of which is so important to successful communication in another language.Summary: With these activities I attempt to put into practice the important guidelines laid out in the most recent National Standards for Foreign Language Learning. Influenced by the theoretical work in culture and language teaching, this approach involves comparing the home and target languages and cultures (<italic> Comparisons</italic>); gives students access to new information and viewpoints (<italic>Connections</italic>); deepens awareness of linguistic subtleties and encourages extensive and lively conversations in the target language about a variety of subjects (<italic>Communication</italic>); increases interest in and knowledge of the target culture (<italic>Cultures</italic>), and promotes the independent use of a popular news medium to which students will have access long after they leave the classroom (<italic>Communities</italic>). I also report on a formative evaluation study which documents the implementation and progressive refinement of the activities in an advanced-intermediate French-as-a-foreign-language course. The findings demonstrate how student knowledge and use of the target language improved, how their ability to analyze the news media developed, and how their awareness of cultural perspectives increased. They also provide useful suggestions for instructors concerning material preparation, verbal and non-verbal techniques for leading discussions, and assessment strategies.Summary: A comparative MDA-based approach thus has the potential to help students acquire skills that will enable them to better communicate across cultures.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 62-04, Section: A, page: 1352.
Adviser: Catherine Snow.
Thesis (Ed.D.)--Harvard University, 2001.
Newspapers, on-line or in print, are perhaps the most readily available, least expensive, easily exploitable means of obtaining current information about different cultures. Comparing native and target language news articles on the same international event exposes students to authentic examples of contemporary world views from both cultures. To help students recognize how these views may differ, I propose and assess activities that are based on media discourse analysis (MDA). MDA, which I apply to French, Italian and U.S. newspapers, focuses on how the language of news and the context in which it is used influence the meaning of news stories, highlighting factors such as text structure, vocabulary, and the ordering of events. Comparative MDA-based activities can help students see how different presentations of the same information may reveal different cultural perspectives, the awareness of which is so important to successful communication in another language.
With these activities I attempt to put into practice the important guidelines laid out in the most recent National Standards for Foreign Language Learning. Influenced by the theoretical work in culture and language teaching, this approach involves comparing the home and target languages and cultures (<italic> Comparisons</italic>); gives students access to new information and viewpoints (<italic>Connections</italic>); deepens awareness of linguistic subtleties and encourages extensive and lively conversations in the target language about a variety of subjects (<italic>Communication</italic>); increases interest in and knowledge of the target culture (<italic>Cultures</italic>), and promotes the independent use of a popular news medium to which students will have access long after they leave the classroom (<italic>Communities</italic>). I also report on a formative evaluation study which documents the implementation and progressive refinement of the activities in an advanced-intermediate French-as-a-foreign-language course. The findings demonstrate how student knowledge and use of the target language improved, how their ability to analyze the news media developed, and how their awareness of cultural perspectives increased. They also provide useful suggestions for instructors concerning material preparation, verbal and non-verbal techniques for leading discussions, and assessment strategies.
A comparative MDA-based approach thus has the potential to help students acquire skills that will enable them to better communicate across cultures.
School code: 0084.
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