Methodology
Cultura supports a new methodology for learning about another culture - a methodology which is not based upon being "taught" what American or French cultures are like or which does not reduce culture to a series of facts about the other country. Rather, as has been well documented (Bennett, 1998; Byram, 1997; Kramsch, 1998; Zarate, 1996), developing understanding of another culture is a process which involves a series of stages that take the intercultural learner along a journey of discovery and reflection.
Working both in and outside of class, both on their own and in groups, students successively:
- 1. work on specific documents outside of class (ex: answer the questionnaires, analyze the responses, research national surveys, watch the films, read articles)
- 2. come back to class where they share their findings and make connections from one document to the other, thus generating whole class discussions.
- 3. go onto the forums, posting comments, making hypotheses, making queries based on their individual observations and the class discussions
- 4. come back to class with a selection of comments by their peers abroad which are then shared and discussed.
- 5. go back to the website to explore other materials
The back and forth flow of information between the classroom and the forums is an essential part of the methodology and provides students with the ability to continually enrich and expand their knowledge and understanding of the other culture. The classroom itself is the place where discoveries and ideas are brought together, confronted and discussed.
Cultura, as a whole, is built upon an interactive process that involves interactions with multiple materials - raw or mediated - and multiple partners – classmates as well as the cultural partners. This multiplicity of voices is meant to lead students, under the skillful guidance of a teacher, to gradually construct and refine their own understanding of the other culture as well as their own, in a continuous and never-ending process.
For more specific guidelines on how to use
Cultura, please refer to the
Teacher’s Guide
