1

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change” (Max Planck) -

Intercultural Learning & Technology

Dr. Ania Lian

https://sites.google.com/site/lotechinese/

https://sites.google.com/site/nihaohigh/

2

Why intercultural focus?

Click to view online

3

Why intercultural focus?

Direct link

4

Direct Link

Why intercultural focus?

5

Why intercultural focus?

Direct link

6

Direct Link

Why intercultural focus?

7

Why intercultural focus?

Inter-cultural language learning contributes to the overall education of learners, developing in them the capabilities to:

•communicate, interact and negotiate within and across languages and cultures

•understand their own and others’ languages, thus extending their range of literacy skills, including skills in English literacy

•understand themselves and others, and to understand and use diverse ways of knowing, being and doing

•further develop their cognitive skills through thinking critically and analytically, solving problems, and making connections in their learning.

Such capabilities assist learners to live and work successfully as linguistically and culturally aware citizens of the world.

THE MCEETYA NATIONAL STATEMENT AND PLAN FOR LANGUAGES EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS 2005–2008, p. 3

8

In other words ..

Language-learning is not a study of LANGUAGE.

It is a study of a different world of symbols, values and expectations.

Communication is about harmonising with those systems.

9

Statement #1

Operating in a language is essentially about meaning and interaction. It is about:

how we make sense of the signals of others (not always linguistic signals) andhow others make sense of the signals we produce.

10

Paradoxically

Our culture both:

Enables us to make sense of the world and act (e.g. so we can communicate)

And

Can also Limit our understandings of that world i.e. potentially disable us from knowing beyond what we know.

11

This means that

We need to be in some kind of harmony with the group within which we wish to operate. Foreign-language students are often not in appropriate harmony with the target group. A task of language teaching should be help students develop strategies for operating in harmony with the people of another language Click

12

Synchrony

Direct Link

13

What we have witnessed here

is a wonderful example of a self-adjusting environment

14

where

each element acts on every other element

AND

all learn to operate together in harmony and synchrony (i.e. they communicate effectively – or the language learners have adapted to the EXPECTATIONS target community)

15

Statement #2

Language usage occurs essentially within social groups

Linguistic groups are also social groupsSocial groups necessarily share some

values and expectations: let’s call it a culture

The group writes itself on us – almost literally

16

Quote #1

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change (attributed to Max Planck).

17

Quote #2

We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are

This is because it is the “I” behind the “eye” that does the seeing) (Anaïs Nin)

18

Quote #3

The universe is made up of stories, not atoms (Muriel Rukeyser)

19

Quote #4

In order to really understand anything you must understand it in different ways (adapted from Minsky, 1981).

20

An intercultural class

In an intercultural class, we aim to: Create in students an awareness of relativity of our beliefs, values and expectations (Arbitrary vs. Relative)Create in students a sense of appreciation of the diversity that culture createsEnable students to negotiate differences

21

So…

Everything leads us to the conclusion that it is important:

to collaborate to cross boundaries and to lower barriers.

22

To summarize…

Culture is ever-present, contextualizing, and hard to pin down.

Intercultural classes help to make visible the things that matter.

23

This is where…

technology can help

24

This is where…

Computers: Store information Allow for Random Access Can be connected (communication) Allow for creativity

25

It can provide support including

Simple structure / grammar drillsSpelling and grammar checkersPronunciation and listening tutorsCollaborative writing and learning toolsAccess to informationMultimedia database-driven systemsHigh quality communication systems e.g.

videoconference – e.g. skype

Dialog Generator

Listening Comprehension

Lesson-Generator

Multimodal Corpora

30

NihaoHigh Online

31

NihaoHigh Online

Stores information Allows for its Random Access Links with other sites (communication) Facilitates teachers’ and students’

creativity

And..

Thank you very much!!