Identity and culture in
teaching EIL: a possible model
for a third place in
intercultural awareness
IUSM International Conference
Issues of identity in and across
cultures and professional worlds
Rome 25-27 October 2007
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
Language and cultural
identity
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One language = one culture?
Monolingualism – multilingualism
Identity and L2-L3-L…
EIL and English-knowing bilingualism
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
Culture and the English
language classroom
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“Big C” and “small c” culture
Images of culture in textbooks
Stereotypes and C1 perceptions
Softwares of the mind
C1 and C2, C3, C…
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
Culture of the language
classroom
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Invisible “small cultures”
Inside and outside wolrds
Cultures of learning
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
EIL and teaching culture
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Ownership of English
The “native speaker” issue
Which and whose culture?
Cross-cultural issues
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
Target-culture materials
Target-culture
textbook
Source-culture
teacher
Target-culture
textbook
Source-culture
student
Target-culture
teacher
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
Source-culture
student
Source-culture materials
Source-culture
textbook
Source-culture
teacher
Source-culture
textbook
Source-culture
student
Target-culture
teacher
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
Source-culture
student
International-culture
materials
Internationalculture textbook
Target-culture
teacher
Internationalculture textbook
Source-culture
student
Source-culture
teacher
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
Source-culture
student
EIL – community of
practice
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Multilingual world
Cultural identity:
– not of multiple native speakers, but of
– multiplicity of social roles
intercultural awareness
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
Intercultural competence
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Savoir
Savoir
Savoir
Savoir
Savoir
être
comprendre
apprendre
s’engager
Social identities into contexts
(Byram 2001)
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
A third place
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Places found in dialogic processes
A place where learner finds a place for
him/herself
Act of personal identity
Reflect upon existing frames and
create new ones
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
A shift in perspectives
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Not us/them but:
Discovery of inner identity places of
meaning
Reaccomodate new worlds
ELF: a “hinge” between worlds and
identities
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
A third place and a voice in
the language classroom
Critical Language Pedagogy (Kramsch 1993)
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Awareness of global context
Local knowledge
Ability to listen
Metatalk
Making do with words
Autonomy and control
The long haul
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
Strategies
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Cooperative learning
Project work
“World studies”
Literary texts as “defamiliarization”
and place for personal meanings
Cognitive and affective understanding
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
Comenius Language-oriented
Schools Partnership programmes
Lifestyles – Italy/Denmark
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Topics chosen by students
Mixed language groups
EIL and “minority” languages
No target or source culture – a dialogic
process
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
Så skal der arbejdes!
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
I supporters per le
nuove tecnologie...
la presentazione
del gruppo SPORTS
Il gruppo FASHION
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
“Progetto Dossier”
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CLA Erasmus students – Verona
Topics chosen by students from their
life experience of another culture
Peer presentations
Meta-cultural reflection
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
Identity and intercultural
skills
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Development and awareness of own
and others’ identities
Cultural identity as a personal “third
place” to be discovered and negotiated
Classroom as an ‘intercultural climate’
‘popular cultures’ of learning subjects
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
A middle space…
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…where EIL/ELF can make different
identities grow and meet
In a process of reflection and selfreflection
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
“The spread of English is undeniable, and it is
viewed by those who suffer from it as a
totem for a certain Anglo-American ‘culture’
or way of life, but it is not clear whether the
appropriate response in the long run is to
make English and other languages into
cultural icons, or to rely on the
remarkable ability that speakers have
to create multiple cultural realities in
any language”
(Kramsch 1998)
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL
Thank you for your
attention
paola.vettorel@univr.it
Paola Vettorel Verona University
Identity and Culture in teaching EIL