The significance of intercultural understanding in the English modern foreign languages curriculum: a pupil perspective

Peiser, Gillian; Jones, Marion

doi:10.1080/09571736.2013.836350

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Acheson, Nelson & Luna (2015) report a two-year study with 391 students of Spanish in two American secondary schools in which an experimental group were given direct instruction and practice activities in intercultural competence during their Spanish language lessons – post-tests revealed significant gains in their attitudes to Hispanic languages and people and greater motivation for L2 learning. However, Peiser & Jones (2013) suggest the issue is complex. In a mixed-method study of over 700 UK secondary school pupils, they found that their attitudes towards having more ‘intercultural understanding’ (IU) in the MFL curriculum were influenced by a range of societal, social, cognitive and institutional factors (e.g.…”

Section: Empirical Studies Of Teaching Innovationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, Peiser & Jones (2013) suggest the issue is complex. In a mixed-method study of over 700 UK secondary school pupils, they found that their attitudes towards having more 'intercultural understanding' (IU) in the MFL curriculum were influenced by a range of societal, social, cognitive and institutional factors (e.g.…”

Section: T H E M O T I V a T I O N A L D I M E N S I O N O F L A N G mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The motivational dimension of language teaching

2017

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Motivation is recognized as a vital component in successful second language learning, and has been the subject of intensive research in recent decades. This review focuses on a growing branch of this research effort, that which examines the motivational effects of language teaching. This is pertinent because, despite enhanced mobility and expanding access to foreign languages online, most learners' early encounters with the second language (L2) still take place in classrooms, and these encounters may shape attitudes and determine students' willingness to invest further in the L2. Four main types of research are reviewed: first, that which deliberately seeks to identify and evaluate strategies to motivate L2 learners; second, that which has tested the validity of psychological theories of motivation by applying their precepts in L2 classrooms; third, that which assesses the motivational effects of a pedagogical innovation or intervention; fourth, research on what has been too often the unintended outcome of language education, namely learner demotivation. The review highlights the complexity of the relationship between teaching and learner motivation but an attempt is made to articulate some emerging verities and to point towards the most promising avenues for future research.

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Section: Empirical Studies Of Teaching Innovationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: T H E M O T I V a T I O N A L D I M E N S I O N O F L A N G mentioning

confidence: 99%

The motivational dimension of language teaching

2017

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“…Understanding how students view FL literature could not only help teachers create a situation of congruence and constructive frictions but also help them design a strategy in order to reconcile possible differences. In our view, therefore, a move towards an integrated language-literature curriculum should take into account student perspectives as well, in order to maximise learning (see also Peiser & Jones 2013).…”

Section: Students' Perspectives On Fl Literature Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students’ perspective on the benefits of EFL literature education

Bloemert

Paran

Jansen

et al. 2017

The Language Learning Journal

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Understanding students' perspectives on the foreign language (FL) curriculum could be considered as a vital step in curriculum design and lesson planning. This study drew on data provided by a single open question survey to investigate the perspective of Dutch secondary school students (N = 635) from 15 different schools with regard to the benefits of literature education in English as a foreign language (EFL). This study also sought to find out whether there are any differences in these perspectives between the different schools. The Comprehensive Approach to Foreign Language Literature Learning was used to analyse the students' answers. Results show that the majority of the students consider literature in a FL primarily as language education. Furthermore, a comparison between the 15 schools indicated that there were differences in the way students from different schools perceive the benefits of the EFL literature curriculum. The article concludes with a discussion of pedagogical issues and suggestions for ways in which the student perspective can be studied on a small scale.

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“…To develop learning beyond the classroom, particularly IU, most Modern Language (ML) departments in English schools offer trips abroad to target language countries. But young people from poor backgrounds are less likely to participate (Peiser and Jones 2013). Furthermore, the participation of pupils from all socio-economic backgrounds in school exchanges is minimal as teachers may be concerned about litigation and child protection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The project was also inspired by the fact that Peiser and Jones (2013) discovered that the development of intercultural understanding (IU) amongst younger secondary school learners in England seems constrained if they come from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. Students in this group were found to attach less significance to IU as it can seem irrelevant to their current or future lives because they are less likely to have travelled and find it more difficult to imagine living, studying or working abroad.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overcoming barriers: engaging younger students in an online intercultural exchange

Peiser

2015

Intercultural Education

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has a PhD in intercultural languages education. She is a Senior Lecturer in teacher education, specialising in modern languages education and teacher development. This paper reports findings from a small-scale project involving an online school exchange between two classes of 11/13 year olds located in the North of England and the Ruhr area of Germany. The overarching aim of the project was to develop intercultural understanding (IU) in foreign language learning through communication in an online environment. Analysing data from website posts, lesson observations, student questionnaires and interviews, the study documented emergent practical and pedagogical issues.Keywords: intercultural understanding; telecollaboration; beginner foreign language learning; secondary education, ethnographic learning. AcknowledgementsThe author would like to thank Professor Michael Byram for his very helpful comments on a draft version of this paper. IntroductionThe impetus for a project based on virtual exchanges among students of lower secondary age studying German in England and English in Germany originated from the intention to move from the theoretical and policy rationale for developing intercultural understanding toward the development of pedagogical practice. I wanted to investigate whether, as argued by Thorne (2006), telecollaboration could provide a vehicle for enabling the so-called 'intercultural turn' in foreign language education. The inquiry set out not only to contribute to the research on online intercultural learning, which is still in its infancy (O'Dowd 2007), but to offer new insights into such projects with younger students, as telecollaborative endeavors have been conducted predominantly in Higher Education (HE) or, in some cases, with upper secondary school students (e.g. Bauer et al. 2006;Lázár 2014). With the exception of Dooly and Ellermann (2008), Dooly (2011) and Yang and Chen (2014, there has been relatively little research into telecollaboration with younger students. Furthermore, the latter four projects were conducted using English as a lingua franca, rather than the respective partners using their own and each other's language.The project was also inspired by the fact that Peiser and Jones (2013) discovered that the development of intercultural understanding (IU) amongst younger secondary school learners in England seems constrained if they come from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. Students in this group were found to attach less significance to IU as it can seem irrelevant to their current or future lives because they are less likely to have travelled and find it more difficult to imagine living, studying or working abroad. To Theoretical and policy context of the researchApplied linguists have identified an inseparable relationship between culture and language for many years (Risager 2006), thus, the study of culture has always been organic to foreign language pedagogy. Historically, this took place through the study of literature, although in the 1960s, pedagogy began to focus on the stu...

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The significance of intercultural understanding in the English modern foreign languages curriculum: a pupil perspective

Cited by 6 publications

References 16 publications

The motivational dimension of language teaching

The motivational dimension of language teaching

Students’ perspective on the benefits of EFL literature education

Overcoming barriers: engaging younger students in an online intercultural exchange

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