Conversations about culture: How Korean and Japanese cultural products, practices and perspectives are discussed to co-construct cultural understanding in talk

Abstract

Abstract When learning to speak another language, expressing complex ideas about one's culture and the target culture is an important aspect of communication. This study examines the co-construction of culture through the conversational actions of the participants. Utilizing the cultural triangle of the three Ps (product, practice and perspective) proposed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) for classroom learning (National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project, 2006), this study examines whether this framework is useful for uncovering cultural talk in natural settings among Korean speakers of Japanese and their interlocutors. Cultural talk in this study is identified by demonstrating where participants display orientations through their conversational actions to culture. The findings move beyond the classroom to see how the participants display cultural awareness in conversations about culture and how ACTFL's products, practices and perspectives are accomplished in talk.