Developing Multicultural Awareness Through English Reflections on Culture

Developing Multicultural Awareness Through English: Reflections on Culture and Multiculturalism Achilleas Kostoulas, The University of Manchester

Overview i. Culture and the ELT Curriculum ii. Examples of ELT materials iii. Multicultural Awareness Through English (MATE)

CULTURE & THE ELT CURRICULUM Instances of methodological tension

Multiculturalism & the curriculum “ …multiculturalism emerges naturally since, as a language of international communication, [English] will make a significant contribution towards shaping multicultural awareness” Pedagogical Institute. (2003). Διαθεματικό Ενιαίο Πλαίσιο Προγραμμάτων Σπουδών και Αναλυτικά Προγράμματα Σπουδών. Vol. Β, p. 4086

Obstacles to multicultural pedagogy • “Limited range of suggested activities [which] provide some lead for the development of a generic (? ) intranational cultural awareness through English. ” • Selected objectives in the National Curriculum: – “Putting together a display of foods from different English-speaking countries. ” – “Collection of myths or legends from Greece and English speaking countries” Sifakis, N. , Lytra, V. and Fay, R. (2010). English as a lingua franca in an increasingly post-EFL era: The case of English in the Greek state education curriculum. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on English as a Lingua Franca. Vienna: 22 – 25 th May 2010.

Cultural images in the courseware “cultures that are considered to be lowstatus are systematically invisiblised” References to names from n % Greek cultural background 30 19 High status cultural background 121 79 Low status cultural background 3 2 154 100 Total references Pozoukidis N. & Balabanidou, Z. (2010) Η διαπολιτισμική διάσταση των νέων βιβλίων αγγλικής γλώσσας για το δημοτικό σχολείο: μια ανάλυση περιεχομένου. Paper presented at the 13 th International Conference on Intercultural Education, Immigration and Conflict Management. Alexandroupolis: 7 -9 May 2010.

Tension Curricular aims Actuality of teaching Multicultural awareness Anglo-centric orientation

EXAMPLES OF ELT MATERIALS How multicultural is the courseware?

MULTICULTURAL AWARENESS THROUGH ENGLISH An alternative approach to multiculturalism

Requisites for MATE ü Equal representation of cultural images (courseware, learners’ backgrounds) ü Safe social space for sharing cultural knowledge ü Rethinking of professional credentials

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION QUESTIONS? Achilleas. Kostoulas@postgrad. manchester. ac. uk