World Language Students’ Ethnographic Investigations of Culture Through Mobile Devices

Abstract

World language teachers can transform how their students learn culture through the use of mobile devices. When world language students use their mobile devices to access authentic current culture, they go from being passive receivers of culture to active cultural investigators. These students go from learning thin surface culture to exploring thick deep culture. World language teachers can easily implement three student-focused ethnographic mobile-based activities of in-depth cultural data collection, targeted data collection, and thick description.