Primacy of CultureBecoming a C2 PlayerPerformed Culture Approach

Mari  Noda  &  Ginger  MarcusALLEX  2015

What is culture?� The shared pattern of behavior and

interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization.

(U of Minnesota Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition,

http://www.carla.umn.edu/culture/definitions.html)

� A patterned way of being and behaving with other people in a shared world.

(Quinn 1991)

� Big “C” vs. Little “c” culture

Jerome Bruner (1996):� Mind could not exist save for culture (p. 3)� It is culture that provides the tools for

organizing and understanding our worlds in communicable ways.

� “Reality is made, not found.” Reality construction is the product of meaning- making shaped by traditions and by a culture's toolkit of ways of thought (p. 19).

Ways of talking about “culture”(Discourse of culture)Hammerly (1982)’s 3 categories:1. Achievement 2. Informational 3. Behavioral� Examples of the above?� A language program should focus on which one

of the above? Why?� What about the other two?

Natives’ attitudes towards sharing culture:Walker (2000): 1. Revealed 2. Ignored/hidden3. Suppressed

Revealed Culture

� Cultural knowledge that a native eagerly shares with others;

� Aspects of lives, traditions, country that natives are proud of;

� Includes elements of achievement and informational culture

Examples?

Ignored/Hidden Culture

� Behavior, practices, or customs that natives think are universal until they encounter another culture and someone behaving differently.

Examples?

Suppressed Culture

� Aspects of society that natives don’t want foreigners to know about

Examples?

Revealed, Ignored/Hidden, Suppressed� Which is often taught in classrooms?� Where should the focus be in a language

classroom?

Culture and Language

� What is the relationship between Culture and Language?

1.

2.

3.

Language  and  Culture    vs.  Language   IN  Culture

Culture and Performance

� What is the relationship between Culture and Performance?

1.

2.

3.

Performance  defined  IN  Culture

From ACTFL’s National Standards:

As  the  teaching  of  language  and  culture  are  inextricably  intertwined,  students  learn  to  understandthe  culture  of  the  people  who  speak  the  target  language  through  learning  about  the  products and  practicesof  the  culture  and  how  those  relate  to  the  perspectives of  the  people  of  that  culture.

ACTFL.  1992

21st Century Skills Map

� Social and Cross-Cultural SkillsStudents as adept language learners understanddiverse cultural perspectives and useappropriate socio-linguistic skills in order to function in diverse cultural and linguistic contexts.

Partnership  for  21st Century  Skills.  2011:17

What role does CULTURE play in a language program?

“The main function of the design of a language curriculum is the selection, analysis, and presentation of cultural events to be performed by learners and critiqued by teachers.”

(Walker,  2000,  emphasis  added)

“Knowledge of a culture [i.e., memory] provides the basis for participation in the social interactions and transactions that lead to success or failure. In short, it gets us into the game. In foreign language study the goal is to inculcate the defaultbehaviors in language and society that sustain culturally appropriate behavior.”

(Walker 2000, emphasis added )

Performed culture in FL study

1. Purpose of learning to converse in a FL is to gain the ability to establish intentions in the foreign culture.

2. Culture is the source of meaning, and conversations in a particular language require communication in the frame of a particular culture. (L2 in C2, not L2 inC1)

an  HCNB  Poster  in  Hongkong  International  Airport

3. Learning to perform a foreign culture entails constructing a memory of that culture. (We build memories for future use.)

4. As teachers, we can create pedagogical situations (e.g., classroom activities) and devices (e.g., tools for learning) that facilitate the construction of a memory of a foreign culture.

How do we “perform culture”?

� We can break culture into “performable chunks”or “performances.”

� What is a performance?Behavior enacted in a particular situation at a particular point in time and place; “situated behavior”

Ex. Introducing your friend to your professor; ordering in a fancy restaurant; greeting guests at your front door; leaving class early; arriving late, etc.

� What will determine how these are performed?

Performances are determined by:

� Place of occurrence� Time of occurrence� Roles of the participants� Script/program/rules (“A set of

expectations about what will happen next in a well-understood situation.” Schank)

� Audience

Example

� Place: coffee shop� Time: morning� Roles/Actors/Participants: customer and

clerk� Script: lining up, ordering, paying, getting

the coffee, leaving/finding a table� Audience: other customers

Actual Script in E/C/J?

Homework assignment� Produce a 4-line performance script in your target

culture. (Write in the target language, but provide an English translation.)

� Define the performance in terms of the the script + the other 4 elements of performance.

� Give the performance a title (think about genre).� Save your Word file with the following naming structure:◦ LastName_FirstNames_4LineScript.doc

(“.doc” is the extension for Word, not part of the identifyer. It may be “.docx”)

� Submit the file in Turn-in, On calendar for today.

Performance Rehearsal� Using an oral performance script (or

Dialogues)� Dialogue performance: rehearsed lines in

context.� Learners need to be aware of the context

of the performance, the intent of the speakers (what they wish to accomplish)

Teacher’s Tasks for Performance Rehearsal� Set context� Elicit performance� Evaluate� Corrective Feedback� Elicit modified performance� Evaluate� Expand

Becoming a C2 Player (McAloon, 2008)

Contact  with  C2

Time

Becoming a C2 Player

� Learning how to play the game according to the rules of the particular game

� English rules do not equal C/J/K rules� Sports analogy: tennis vs baseball� How is learning a FL like learning how to play a

sport? A musical instrument? playing chess?� Do the chess pieces mean anything all by

themselves? What gives them meaning?� How about words?� How do you become a skillful PLAYER of a sport,

instrument, a game like chess?

Characteristics of a skilled player/performer� Knows the right moves� Responds quickly� Anticipates� Can be flexible (has a repertoire of

moves)� How does a learner learn how to be a

player in the C2 game?

ReferencesACTFL. 1992. Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century. Executive Summary.

Bachnik, Jane M. and Quinn, Charles J. (Eds.) 1994. Situated meaning: inside and outside in Japanese self, society and language. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Bruner, J. S. 1996. Culture of Education, MA: Harvard University Press.

Hammerley, Hector. 1982. Synthesis in second language teaching. Blaine, WA: Second Language Publications.

McAloon, Patrick. 2008. Chinese at work: evaluating advanced language use in China-related careers. Dissertation, Columbus, OH: Ohio State University.

McAloon, Patrick. 2015. “From proficiency to expertise: Using HR evaluation methods to assess advanced foreign language and culture ability.” In Brown, T. and Bown, J. (Eds.), To advanced proficiency and beyond: Theory and methods for developing superior second language ability (Chaptr 8). Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

Quinn, Charles J. 1991. “The terms uchi and soto as windows on a world.” in Bachnik J. M. & Quinn, C. J. (Eds.), Situated Meaning: Inside and Outside in Japanese Self, Society and Language(pp. 38–72). Princeton University Press.

Summary at http://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/public/StandardsforFLLexecsumm_rev.pdf

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. 2011. 21st Century Skills Map (P21). http://www.p21.org/our-work/resources/for-educators#SkillsMaps

Schank, Roger C. 1990. Tell me a story: A new look at real and artificial memory. New York: Mcmillan.

ReferencesThe National Standards Collaborative Board. 2015. World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. 4th Ed. Alexandria, VA: Author.

U of Minnesota Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, http://www.carla.umn.edu/culture/definitions.html

Walker, Galal. 2000. “Performed Culture: Learning to participate in a foreign culture”. In Richard Lambert and Elana Shohamy (Esd.) Foreign Language Policy and Pedagogy: Essays in honor of A. Ronald Walton (pp. 221–236). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamin.