View Content #21038

by Julie Sykes, CASLS Director

Human connection happens everyday, all the time, and all over the world.

As language teachers we strive to prepare our learners to maneuver in and out of a myriad of interactive contexts to support and nurture multilingual connections. In doing so, one of the most complex arenas in which we find ourselves is the relationship between language and cultural behaviors - a heterogenous, dynamic, and co-constructed dimension which is at the epicenter of human interaction.

One useful approach for language educators is the construct of transnational languaculture (Risager, 2007, 2008) - a paradigm useful for exploring ways in which language and culture transcend national boundaries, are uniquely tied to individuals (not only particular languages or cultures), and develop across a lifetime as learners move between a variety of contexts, locations, and languages.  Most importantly, Risager emphasizes movement away from a native speaker model and national standard norm as a representative of one culture or language and embraces a variety of possible options for successful, and unsuccessful interactions. Three aspects of the model are especially relevant to the language classroom:

1. Language and languaculture: Emphasizes the fundamental role of language instruction itself plays in meaningful interactions by highlighting linguistics norms in combination with a variety of possible language patterns.  For example, this might include instruction on more commonly known patterns as well as learner-generated instances of miscommunication that can be found in daily life through online and offline contexts.
2. Topics and discourses: This aspect focuses on an inclusive approach to topics, where national contextualization is avoided, unless it is a necessary condition of the discussion itself. For example, topics could include a focus on what in which language emphasizes the power dynamics or supports social justice issues. In addition, emphasis could be placed on intercultural interaction to focus on ways pragmatic behaviors can be made more salient and relevant to critical action in the world.
3. Contexts and contacts: Highlighting the fundamental role of human connections, in and out of the classroom, this aspect encourages exploration of a variety of interactional contexts for learning.  This can include classroom engagement, but must also embrace learning through other spaces, such as online communities, local neighborhoods, and peer groups.  Teachers can support this learning by giving the learners the tools necessary to successfully maneuver each of theses spaces.

As human interactions more and more frequently transcend national boundaries and mix and remix understood systems of language, a paradigm which recognizes local and transnational contexts is fundamental to exploring the interconnectedness of language and culture.

(Adapted from Sykes, J. forthcoming.)

References

Risager, K. (2007). Language and Culture Pedagogy: From a National to a Transnational Paradigm. Multilingual Matters.

Risager, K. (2008). “Towards a Transnational Paradigm in Language and Culture Pedagogy." American Association of Applied Linguistics, 2008 Annual Conference, Washington, DC.

Sykes, J. (forthcoming). Technologies for Teaching and Learning Intercultural Competence and Interlanguage Pragmatics. In S. Sauro and C. Chapelle, Handbook of Technology and Second Language Teaching and Learning. Wiley.