A corpus linguistic approach to intercultural education in the foreign language course: reflecting on multicultural France with Australian students

Lucia Drago (2012). A corpus linguistic approach to intercultural education in the foreign language course: reflecting on multicultural France with Australian students PhD Thesis, School of Languages and Comp Cultural Studies, The University of Queensland.

       
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Author Lucia Drago
Thesis Title A corpus linguistic approach to intercultural education in the foreign language course: reflecting on multicultural France with Australian students
School, Centre or Institute School of Languages and Comp Cultural Studies
Institution The University of Queensland
Publication date 2012-01
Thesis type PhD Thesis
Supervisor Dr Barbara E. Hanna
Dr Béatrice Atherton
Total pages 274
Total colour pages 20
Total black and white pages 254
Language eng
Subjects 20 Language, Communication and Culture
Abstract/Summary The present investigation is intended to encourage reflection on culture and identity in the French as a foreign language classroom through work on selected French key-words relating to immigration and national identity. Following recent developments in the historiography of migrations (Teulières 2007; Létourneau 2009; Pitti 2008), a pedagogical approach to French multicultural society was proposed to tertiary students of French in Australia, through the exploration of a variety of vocabulary items relating to people, places and issues. Firstly the researcher identified relevant key-words in French media discourses, and then the students who participated in a pedagogical trial analyzed meanings and use of these key-words. The method of analysis was informed by Corpus Linguistics (Sinclair 1996; Tognini-Bonelli 2000) according to Data-Driven Learning (Johns 1991), which was applied to concordances extracted from news websites and blogs. In order to work on up-to-date language and culture, key-words and their surrounding linguistic context were retrieved through the Web from current media discourses which form part of the contemporary collective memory (Moirand 2007). The key-words selected evoked issues related to the cultural diversity in French society. The methodologically-mixed approach to the project we designed and the subsequent implementation of a pedagogical trial led to the identification of lexical networks for four key-words: "identité nationale", "enfants de l’immigration", "Français de souche" and "jeunes des banlieues". Moreover, this investigation devoted extensive attention to learners’ views, with regard to both their evaluations of the concordance-based activities implemented in 2008, and their experiences of multicultural backgrounds shared during a "table ronde" with French guests. The learners’ perspective on concordance-based activities is believed to assume great importance in the framework of applications of Corpus Linguistics (see, for instance, Yoon & Hirvela 2004). The experiences of multicultural identities which were narrated by participants in the "table ronde" revealed several forms of "hybridation" of cultural identities (Pitti 2008). This thesis is addressed to teachers of Foreign Languages wishing to use linguistic analysis as a means for learners to gain access to cultural understanding. Outcomes of the implemented pedagogical trial represent a socio-constructivist model which highlights the valuable contribution of students in terms of interpreting vocabulary, assessing learning processes and bearing witness to experiences of multicultural identity.
Keyword French
Foreign language
Cultural identity
Teaching vocabulary
Corpus linguistics
Data-driven learning
Additional Notes Pages that should be printed in colour: pp. 60, 62, 65, 85, 94, 116, 133, 159, 160, 164, 165, 168, 169, 171, 247, 248, 254, 255, 256, 257. No other special printing requests.

 
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Created: Fri, 17 Feb 2012, 21:15:08 EST by Ms Lucia Drago on behalf of Library - Information Access Service