Intercultural Education and Foreign Language Learning: Issues of racism, identity and modernity

Abstract

This article examines a particular attempt to represent ethnic and cultural diversity in the context of materials produced for advanced adult learners by the Open University. The course materials are designed to support distance learning of French language and culture. The authors argue that language learning has a particular political importance within the context of Europe, and note that foreign language learning policies are intended to have an impact on the development of citizenship and democratic participation. One unit of the Open University French course, Mises au point , is analysed for its representation of minorities, its perspectives on questions of identity and its treatment of racism. The authors note the links between racism and discourses of modernity and identity. Language learning is increasingly recognised as a reflexive process which aims to help students to gain new perspectives on their own society. The ways in which students are invited to engage with the materials are considered and it is concluded that positive representations of multiculturalism within language learning courses are likely to prove inadequate in enabling students to identify the barriers to democratic participation. The themes of immigration, integration and identity are introduced in the course materials but consideration of informal and structural barriers to participation is limited. It is argued that this may do little to encourage students to deepen their own understandings of race, modernity and identities in their own society.