Language education and symbolic power: Dialogic

Transcript:Language education and symbolic power: Dialogic:
Language education and symbolic power: Dialogic perspectives Claire Kramsch, UC Berkeley Conference on Transcending Dialogues U. of Warwick 29 June 2022. Outline Introduction: What is dialogue? 1. A brief history of dialogue in SLA/Applied Linguistics 2. Conflicting perspectives 3. Teaching dialogue in a foreign language class 4. Five views: C.Chun, F.Dervin/M.Yuan, D.Block, J.Gray, M.Byram Conclusion: Reconstructing Babel not as punishment but as dialogue imperative Introduction: What is dialogue? In normal parlance, “dialogue” refers to: Conversation between two or more persons. Antonym: monologue Communication between social groups or nations to achieve mutual understanding, not just exchange of information How has foreign language education fostered “dialogue” between persons , groups and nations with different histories and cultures? 1. A brief history of dialogue in foreign language education From fabricated dialogues in the ‘60s Practice reading these conversations aloud until you have memorized them A: Hier in Köln regnet es. Regnet es in Hamburg auch? B: Ja, in Hamburg regnet es auch (Lohnes & Strothman 1968) To authentic dialogues in the late ‘70s: (on the phone) Hi there! How’s the weather in Hamburg? – Oh, you know, miserable as always. How about in Cologne? To communicative competence in the early ‘80s: Expression, interpretation and negotiation of intended meaning (Breen/Candlin 1980) To interactional competence in the later ’80’s Input and interaction (Long 1984, Kramsch 1985) To intercultural communicative competence (in the late ‘90s) Savoir, savoir faire/comprendre/etre/s’engager (Byram 1997) To transnational world citizenship (early 2000’s) World citizenship education (Risager 2006, 2007), intercultural citizenship (Byram2008) To translingual practices and translanguaging (in the 2010’s) Multilingual education (Canagarajah 2013, Cenoz/Gorter 2015, Li Wei 2018) To tweets and postings in the information age ( Internet 1986, Google 1998, Facebook 2006, Twitter 2015). Links, Likes and Lol’s on social media (Kramsch 2021) People interact now with their iphones, text and tweet with 160- 260 characters, post, repost and exchange information in constant communication with one another. 2. Conflicting perspectives Dialogue is seen as transactional The computer has slowly transformed our view of language, language communication and of ourselves . Transaction, exchange of information, texting, twittering, posting, social media networking (Kramsch 2021 Chs.7 & 8) Quantitative measures of success: number of friends, enrollments, attendees, readers, active participants in the classroom, hands raised, viewers registered on zoom events Values such as “diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and social justice” have become politically correct commodities Speed of response as sign of efficiency. Fluency rather