Abstract
With the recent developing trend of redefining ‘culture’ across disciplines in intercultural and foreign language education (Corbett, 2003; Shaules, 2007; Spencer-Oatey & Franklin, 2010), it is widely agreed that culture requires a broader definition to improve the teaching and learning of it. Wilkinson (2012) suggests “a redefinition of culture in anthropological rather than aesthetic terms” (p. 302) to ensure that intercultural and language learning leads to Intercultural Competence (IC). Others (Buttjes, 1991; Risager, 2006) also note the importance of anthropological conceptualization when culture is taught in foreign and/or second language classrooms, because motivation to learn the language is increased. Byram (1991) similarly emphasized the need to include active ‘cultural experience’ in the foreign language classroom, and provided examples including cooking and geography lessons, in which students learn about the food and geography of the country whose language they are studying. A crucial element in research within the anthropology field is ethnography. Thus, to achieve a fuller understanding of culture “as the full gauntlet of social experience that students of foreign languages both learn and participate in” (Wilkinson, 2012, p. 302), including Holliday's (2004) concept of ‘small culture’, students should take on the role of ethnographer too; ethnography practices, in a variety of forms, have become central to intercultural approaches to culture and language teaching and learning (Corbett, 2003).
Highlights
F ethnographer too; ethnography practices, in a variety of forms, have become central to intercultural approaches to culture and language teaching and learning (Corbett, 2003)
Ethnography usually involves an extended period of fieldwork, during which the anthropologist-ethnographer immerses herself within the target culture or society and collects data through participation, observation, interviews and analysis of detailed records of everyone and everything observed (Jackson, 2006; Wilkinson, 2012)
In addition to language proficiency, more and more researchers find that the use of ethnography clearly benefits the development of core capacities related to Intercultural Competence (IC), such as empathy, sensitivity, awareness, and critical reflection
Summary
Ethnography usually involves an extended period of fieldwork, during which the anthropologist-ethnographer immerses herself within the target culture or society and collects data through participation, observation, interviews and analysis of detailed records of everyone and everything observed (Jackson, 2006; Wilkinson, 2012). Ethnographic methodologies and techniques have been widely adopted and modified in the relatively newer disciplines of cultural studies, media research and intercultural language education (Corbett, 2003). Though it is clear that the construction of ethnographic accounts of culture demand professional researchers with highly qualified training and dedication, many scholars argue that some training in ethnographic techniques, both in the intercultural classroom and during periods of residence abroad, can benefit learners in classes where intercultural events take place to develop their language proficiency and IC 2008; Jackson, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012; Risager, 2006; Roberts et al, 2001; Wilkinson, 2012)
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