Critical Citizens for an Intercultural World
Foreign Language Education as Cultural Politics
Maria Manuela Guilherme author
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Channel View Publications Ltd
Published:14th Oct '02
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Mindful of the fact that cultures are now more interdependent than ever, this book explores the development of critical cultural awareness through the processes of teaching and learning about foreign cultures. It draws upon theoretical foundations relating to inter- and intra-cultural communication from contemporary philosophical movements, namely Critical Theory and Postmodernism. The study adopts Critical Pedagogy, as it is described by Freire, Giroux and others, as the educational framework providing guidelines for taking a critical perspective towards both native and foreign cultures. It examines the critical dimension of some selected documents and models used worldwide for teaching/learning culture within foreign language classes. It includes a research project carried out among secondary school teachers of EFL in Portugal whose national syllabus suggests a critical approach to English-speaking cultures. This project aimed to illustrate how practising teachers approach foreign cultures critically, to provide some grounded theory for a definition of critical cultural awareness within foreign language/culture education, and to inspire a proposal for teacher education and development. Finally, this book submits a general proposal for the development of critical cultural awareness and intercultural communication competence among prospective and practising teachers of foreign languages/cultures.
Critical Citizens for an Intercultural World should be on the personal reading list of every foreign language educator and required reading for those preparing to teach a second language and its culture.
This is a timely and important book. The work is profound and rigorous in its analysis, soundly based in empirical research and above all lucid and accessible in its style; essential reading, I'd say for anyone with an academic interest in the teaching of foreign languages.
ISBN: 9781853596094
Dimensions: 210mm x 148mm x 17mm
Weight: 392g
312 pages