Nancy Mitchell TESOL France Colloquium Paris France 28

Nancy Mitchell TESOL France Colloquium Paris, France 28 November 2010 RAISING CULTURAL AWARENESS Through Self-Reflection

Defining Culture Culture is… The way we do things around here. What we read, eat, think, Set of customs & traditions Shared values passed on Free time Software of the mind – analogies/metaphoric Norms & taboos Rites of passage Human created Learned (Responses of TESOL France Workshop Participants, Nov. 28, 2010)

Further Defining Culture ‘D’ Discourse and ‘d’ discourse (Gee, 2005) Culture can be “…likened to a complex and contradictory array of discursive meanings and social practices vying for the performative attention of its actors even as it conditions possibilities for new forms of conduct and for the emergences of new identities. ” (Britzman, 1993, p. 129)

What is your culture? How do you define yourself and your culture? How does your culture manifest in your work, play – in the expression of your self?

Critical Reflection Think about the first time you remember realizing how one aspect of your self affected you and your role in society. (gender, ethnicity, nationality, regional affiliation, faith, birth order, socio-economic circumstances, a physical characteristic, education, profession…) (Armaline & Farber, 1995)

Now define intercultural. Awareness of ‘other’ and ‘self’ The bridge between The overlap Concentric circles – messages between different series of concentric circles (Responses of TESOL France Workshop Participants, Nov. 28, 2010)

I define intercultural as… the interaction between and among members of broadly and narrowly defined cultural groups. (Mitchell, 2006)

What’s going on here? Do we have a distinguishable Discourse in this room? What are you feeling at this moment? Awareness?

RAISING CULTURAL AWARENESS Through Critical Self-Reflection

A Personal Statement I believe that by developing critical evaluative skills through reflection on one’s own roles in society, individuals might be persuaded to actively listen to others and synthesize perspectives into a heightened awareness of culture. (Mitchell, 2006)

Language & Culture Language reflects culture Ideological-discursive formations: “there is a one-to-one relationship between ideological formations and discursive formations” (Fairclough, 1995, p. 40) Language creates culture “Teaching members of one community how to talk and how to behave in the context of another discourse community potentially changes the social and cultural equation of both communities by subtly diversifying mainstream cultures. ” (Kramsch, 1996, p. 3)

Knowledge vs. Awareness Cultural Knowledge Information about “typical behavior and… attitudes” Cultural Awareness (Broady, 2004, p. 68) Focus on knowledge alone risks perpetuating the idea of the ‘other’ or essentializing (Guest, 2002) Exploration, observation and understanding of “difference & sameness” with the ability to suspend judgment (Broady, 2004, p. 69) Far more complicated to foster in a classroom

The Case for Self-Reflection Cultural selfdiscovery: participants discuss how gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic conditions, etc. impact their lives and create their myriad of roles in society. (Armaline & Farber, 1995) Journal-writing: promotes evolution of knowledge to awareness; “reflection and introspection are valuable tools for values clarification and for encouraging critical thinking. ” (Bailey et al. , 1996)

Collective Self-Reflection Study of personal narratives “legitimizes the voices and experiences of diverse people, provides occasions to bring these experiences to the center of discourse— foregrounded in bold” (Jackson, 1995, p. 31) Construction of a collective text: a cocreated text, Discourse, or culture arrived at through interaction – a community (Poyner, 2005)

Critical Discourse Analysis Questions to ask (Fairclough, 1995) (Mitchell, 2006) How is power enacted and maintained and by whom? How are people or individuals essentialized, marginalized or privileged in this text? How are readers or listeners manipulated by this text and for what purpose? If you are the speaker or writer, what values, experiences or factors are reflected in your language use?

Methods & Materials Journal writing Video: observing self in action Comparing language use among peers Development of and conscious examination of the collective text produced through group interaction (paper, online, video or voice recording)

THANK YOU Mitchell, N. (2010, November) Raising Cultural Awareness Through Self-Reflection. Workshop presented at the annual TESOL France Colloquium, Paris, France. Nancy Mitchell communicate. live. thrive. org