Statement of Research
My research trajectory has its origin at the crossroads of three areas of interest: culture learning in the foreign language (FL) classroom, pedagogy and teaching praxis, and the effectiveness of technology (video, film, the Internet, computers) in Second Language Acquisition (SLA). I will give an account of my research to date before outlining the ongoing and future projects that have emerged from this previous research. This trajectory originated with my dissertation, An Empirical Investigation On Using Video and the Internet to Teach Culture in the Intermediate-Level Foreign Language Classroom, rooted in the theoretical premise that culture, in spite of its elusive and complex nature, constitutes the core of the FL curriculum. Consequently, language should be taught through culture. In this respect, multimedia technologies (video, the Internet) offer unlimited potential to present students with culture in the classroom. I conducted two empirical studies to assess the effectiveness of video and the Internet to teach cultural knowledge (information) and cultural comprehension (ability to interpret) to intermediate-level students of French. Findings in both studies offered evidence that multimedia technologies enhance culture learning. Students’ knowledge of Francophone culture improved over the course of the studies. They also demonstrated the ability to make inferences about Francophone culture from the information contained in the material to which they were exposed. Based on these results, I have pursued this line of inquiry by exploring the various ways in which the areas of technology and language/culture learning intersect. These efforts resulted in the publication of six articles (three more under review) and two book chapters, as well as more than forty paper presentations at various national and international conferences (see Curriculum Vitæ). They have covered various topics in the field of FLA: the pedagogical use and effectiveness of recent technologies in the teaching of culture, the use of film, the redefinition of the roles of the teacher and learner, and the innovative organization of space in FL classrooms. More recently, I this line of inquiry has led me to investigate mediated learning environments, that is to say learning environments where the technology, more than being ancillary to pedagogy, often constitutes the actual framework within which instruction occurs, as in the case of online learning environments or hybrid FL courses (this led to an article under review on the development of hybrid language courses entitled "the Plinko Principle"). Traditionally, technology has been seen as an enhancement to an already established pedagogical framework. However, without giving into “toolism” (“I do it because I can”) I propose to flip this proposition and argue, instead, that the insights gained from investigating Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and the dynamics of learning trajectories in these new learning environments can help reframe FL pedagogical praxis to help prepare students to meet the challenges of globalization.
In the second of the aforementioned book chapters, "Gaining Perspective on Culture through CALL," an invited contribution to a volume entitled Calling on CALL, I examine the relationship between CALL and culture learning in the FL classroom to present effective uses of educational technology to teach culture in a proficiency-oriented FL classroom. I argue that regardless of the learners’ proficiency, technology can be instrumental in establishing and developing a true cognitive apprenticeship, not only as a means to present authentic cultural content, but also, and foremost, as a means to help language learners develop into effective culture learners. By engaging learners in more dynamic, technology-mediated learning environments (either telecollaboration or hybrid courses), they become actively involved in a meaningful exploration across cultures. This exploration can only take place between cultures or, rather, in the dialogue between the learners, their own culture, and the foreign culture in search of “an intercultural stance,” that is to say a dynamic equilibrium that has to be constantly renegotiated. It is these recent research endeavors that have laid the groundwork for several current and future projects exploring the link between the theoretical underpinnings of the concept of culture in FLA and its implications for FL teaching practices in view of today’s changing global context. In particular, I investigate the effectiveness of online learning communities to establish and develop communities of inquiry, calling into play issues of learner autonomy and concepts such as communities of practice, network-based discourse communities, as well the impact and effectiveness of film – or, more generally speaking, the audiovisual medium – as a support for intercultural learning as previously defined. Such environments include my own work with instructional technology (including webcam, videoconferencing) to which I am currently in the process of adding the digital capture of learners’ conversation. These two dimensions are linked inasmuch as they both exist within this socio-cognitive apprenticeship, articulated along the following dimensions: inquiry-based learning, communication (building communities), a common practice of self-evaluation by the learners, and constructionism (making students’ work available in new media formats, which, in addition to electronic literacy skills, calls into play the notions of (student) authorship, trace, and memory in a radically new way).
The "Culture through CALL" chapter has played a pivotal role in my research trajectory, first as a synthesis of previous research on the effectiveness of known technologies (video, web 1.0) to teach culture and second as an invitation to explore new directions (full-feature films) and new technologies (telecollaboration and web 2.0). In 2006, these efforts garnered interest from the UTK Office of Information Technology as well as the Innovative Technology Center who supported the project with an ETC collaborative grant under the umbrella of Project RITE (Research of Innovative Technology in Education). Although technological difficulties slowed down data-collecting efforts considerably in 2006-2007, I was able to start collecting data in spring 2008. I was also able to collect additional data in spring 2009, in a course that added a new component since students were in contact not only with a group of French students in France, but also another group of American students studying a similar topic in a German linguistic and cultural environment, showing that effective pedagogical praxis in online learning (within the framework of a community of learners or community of inquiry) can inform face-to-face classroom practices. These research efforts have resulted in my three most recent articles. The first one, “Regards noirs, caméras blanches: Le Défi de la diversité dans le cadre d’une classe sur le cinéma africain,” examines the use of feature films in advanced-level FL classrooms, and outlines the pedagogical and cultural challenges that teachers confront when designing and teaching a class on African cinema where the objective is transcultural exploration in a learner-centered, pluridisciplinary environment. I identify the conditions necessary prior to teaching the class and address the challenges that arise while the class is underway, offering suggestions to meet them successfully. In the second article, “Virtual Learning Environments for a Real (Transcultural) Dialogue: Toward New Pedagogies in Culture Teaching” I lay down the theoretical background and rationale for an international telecollaborative project, which serves as the basis for the French culture class I teach. The project looks at ways of teaching and learning ‘culture’ through an online learning environment, as well as how the learning outcomes can be assessed. Two additional article-length manuscripts have emerged from this line of inquiry. The first one, “Shifting perspectives and (re)positioning subjects: language learning and transcultural dialogue in electronic learning environments” is under consideration by the editorial board of the British Association of Applied Linguistics to be included in the selected conference proceedings of the 2009 annual convention. It consists of a case study in which I analyze the learning trajectory of a particular student in the context of an electronic learning community and how her sense of identity and her perspective on French and American culture respectively on the one hand, and their relationship on the other shifted over the course of the semester. The second manuscript, entitled "Internationalizing the Curriculum at Home: Transcultural Learning in a Multilingual FL Classroom," is based on a collaboration between a German colleague at UTK and myself. This article, which is in preparation, examines the theoretical underpinnings, pedagogical feasibility, and learning outcomes of a multidisciplinary course on culture.
Finally, the third article, entitled "Rebels with a Cause: (Re)defining Identities and Culture in Contemporary French Cinema," which takes as a starting point the events of November 2005 in France and, after noting the discrepancy between media coverage in France and the US over said events, examines how full-feature French films can be used to (1) bridge the gap between students' approximate understanding of some of the issues at the core of the events of the banlieues by reframing the questions, (2) use the cultural phenomenon of the "banlieues" as an entry point into culture learning, and (3) deploy language learning activities. It is scheduled to come out in L2 Journal in Fall 2011.
Most recently, the visibility of the work I have been conducting on the topic of culture learning has also been rewarded in the form of a contract with Cengage Publishing, one of the US leaders on the Foreign Language textbook market, for a book on instructional approaches to contemporary French culture. This project is a co-authorship between Heather Willis Allen, Director of the French Language Program and Assistant Professor of French at Miami University, and myself. This cultural studies textbook, provisionally entitled Alliages Culturels: La Société Française en Transformation focuses on enriching students’ knowledge of contemporary France, analyzing and interpreting texts and cultural artifacts from and about France, as well as enabling students' development of advanced language skills for articulating and defending ideas in French, both orally and in writing. Using a (multi)literacy-based approach, the book is organized around sixteen cultural themes, which taken together, guide readers through the systematic exploration of the complex question of "Qu’est-ce qu'être français aujourd'hui?" (What does it mean to be French today?), and helps them to formulate informed responses to this question by developing a deeper understanding of contemporary French culture and the perspectives of French people in the 21st century. This book is inscribed in one of the most current trends in SLA. In 2007, the Modern Language Association issued a now well known and much discussed Report recommending the elimination of the traditional language-content structure of undergraduate curricula favor of “a broader and more coherent curriculum in which language, culture, and literature are taught as a continuous whole” (p. 3). The MLA Report proposed that this reform be accomplished through development of students’ translingual and transcultural competence and increased emphasis on cultural narratives present in texts. Based on the MLA Report and ongoing discussions of it in the profession, many departments are now engaging in curricular reform, reconsidering how to better integrate the study of literature with culture and how to continue a focus on linguistic development beyond the lower-level language sequence. As such, a book such as Alliages Culturels has a valuable role to play in a more integrated, holistic curriculum as it focuses on the simultaneous development of students’ linguistic and cultural literacy and includes as a core element literary and non-literary texts and cultural artifacts. In so doing, it can serve as the foundation of a course designed to engage students interested in either deepening their knowledge of French culture and/or continuing to develop their French linguistic capacities.
After sending these manuscripts, I will be able to turn my attention to a project that henceforth constitutes the focal point of my research work, a book manuscript entitled Film as Cultural Inquiry: Pathways to Transnational Exploration (working title). In this book, I will examine how film can serve as a two-way path toward self-reflection and intercultural inquiry. Based on my previous work, I will question notions such as authenticity, culture, culture learning, and intercultural learning within the framework of cinema and the audiovisual medium. This questioning will shed light on new theoretical perspectives, which, in turn, will inform teaching practices to use film at all levels of the FL curriculum. Although the issue of culture in the FL curriculum has been debated at length, little has been done (1) to synthesize the approaches to teaching culture and (2) to provide guidance to FL teachers who face FL students at the elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels. This book will thus provide insights on the specificities of film as a medium, as well as the kind of pedagogies that can be deployed to foster language and culture learning.
Research Objectives for AY 2011-2012
1. Book project #1: Alliages Culturels: La Société Française en Transformation
The scope and sequence as well as chapter synopses have been established. The timeline for the continuation of the book project is as follows:
· Fall 2011: finish developing draft of chapters
· Spring 2012: approval of final proofs
2. Book project #2: Film as Cultural Inquiry: Pathways to Transnational Explorations
The scope and sequence as well as chapter synopses have been established. The timeline for the continuation of the book project is as follows:
· Summer & Fall 2012: first draft of chapters
· Spring 2013: send to publisher
3. Articles:
a. “Internationalizing the Curriculum at Home: Transcultural Learning in a Multilingual FL Classroom.”
This article examines how two faculty members (a colleague in German and myself), by thinking creatively about their teaching, were able to collaborate on a common curriculum to teach French and German culture. Taking the notions of identity, borders, and displacement as starting points, we designed a curriculum that engaged French, Germans, European, and American cultures, in an attempt to establish a transcultural dialogue and develop symbolic competence (as defined by Claire Kramsch). (Co-authored with Maria Stehle.)
b. “La parole est à l'apprenant: Enjeux de l'autonomie et défi de la collaboration dans un cours de conversation."
This article stemmed out of data collected in fall 2007, and is being reworked for resubmission. Building on my own previous work, I examine practical implementations of video-driven activities to enhance language and culture learning by organizing learners in communities of practice to fostering their autonomy. Video is envisioned not only as a medium used to present linguistic and cultural content but also as a means to evaluate student’s oral and cultural proficiency. More importantly, students can construct their own linguistic and cultural meaning by becoming authors in the FL classroom.
c. “Identités par pièces et Pièces d’identités: L’Africanité en quête d’elle-même.”
This article needs to be expanded and the bibliography revised. I am working in two additional critical sources. Jacques Derrida’s work on the question of the “stranger/foreigner” (l’étranger) and, on the recommendation of one reviewer, Frantz Fanon’s Black Skins, White Masks. This article is part of a larger body of work that I have conducted also at the crossroads between Film Studies and Cultural Studies, which resulted in one article published, the current one near completion, and three conference presentations). This work has allowed me to explore such topics as the significance and impact of contemporary African cinema in relation to a context where art is valued both for its intrinsic properties and aesthetics and for its functional role in matters of civic society and state by examining how African directors have evolved from envisioning cinema as “night school” to using filmmaking as an introspective gesture to speak to issues of African identities and engagement. This research has enabled me to further investigate the effectiveness of cinema to teach culture in the FL classroom.
In the second of the aforementioned book chapters, "Gaining Perspective on Culture through CALL," an invited contribution to a volume entitled Calling on CALL, I examine the relationship between CALL and culture learning in the FL classroom to present effective uses of educational technology to teach culture in a proficiency-oriented FL classroom. I argue that regardless of the learners’ proficiency, technology can be instrumental in establishing and developing a true cognitive apprenticeship, not only as a means to present authentic cultural content, but also, and foremost, as a means to help language learners develop into effective culture learners. By engaging learners in more dynamic, technology-mediated learning environments (either telecollaboration or hybrid courses), they become actively involved in a meaningful exploration across cultures. This exploration can only take place between cultures or, rather, in the dialogue between the learners, their own culture, and the foreign culture in search of “an intercultural stance,” that is to say a dynamic equilibrium that has to be constantly renegotiated. It is these recent research endeavors that have laid the groundwork for several current and future projects exploring the link between the theoretical underpinnings of the concept of culture in FLA and its implications for FL teaching practices in view of today’s changing global context. In particular, I investigate the effectiveness of online learning communities to establish and develop communities of inquiry, calling into play issues of learner autonomy and concepts such as communities of practice, network-based discourse communities, as well the impact and effectiveness of film – or, more generally speaking, the audiovisual medium – as a support for intercultural learning as previously defined. Such environments include my own work with instructional technology (including webcam, videoconferencing) to which I am currently in the process of adding the digital capture of learners’ conversation. These two dimensions are linked inasmuch as they both exist within this socio-cognitive apprenticeship, articulated along the following dimensions: inquiry-based learning, communication (building communities), a common practice of self-evaluation by the learners, and constructionism (making students’ work available in new media formats, which, in addition to electronic literacy skills, calls into play the notions of (student) authorship, trace, and memory in a radically new way).
The "Culture through CALL" chapter has played a pivotal role in my research trajectory, first as a synthesis of previous research on the effectiveness of known technologies (video, web 1.0) to teach culture and second as an invitation to explore new directions (full-feature films) and new technologies (telecollaboration and web 2.0). In 2006, these efforts garnered interest from the UTK Office of Information Technology as well as the Innovative Technology Center who supported the project with an ETC collaborative grant under the umbrella of Project RITE (Research of Innovative Technology in Education). Although technological difficulties slowed down data-collecting efforts considerably in 2006-2007, I was able to start collecting data in spring 2008. I was also able to collect additional data in spring 2009, in a course that added a new component since students were in contact not only with a group of French students in France, but also another group of American students studying a similar topic in a German linguistic and cultural environment, showing that effective pedagogical praxis in online learning (within the framework of a community of learners or community of inquiry) can inform face-to-face classroom practices. These research efforts have resulted in my three most recent articles. The first one, “Regards noirs, caméras blanches: Le Défi de la diversité dans le cadre d’une classe sur le cinéma africain,” examines the use of feature films in advanced-level FL classrooms, and outlines the pedagogical and cultural challenges that teachers confront when designing and teaching a class on African cinema where the objective is transcultural exploration in a learner-centered, pluridisciplinary environment. I identify the conditions necessary prior to teaching the class and address the challenges that arise while the class is underway, offering suggestions to meet them successfully. In the second article, “Virtual Learning Environments for a Real (Transcultural) Dialogue: Toward New Pedagogies in Culture Teaching” I lay down the theoretical background and rationale for an international telecollaborative project, which serves as the basis for the French culture class I teach. The project looks at ways of teaching and learning ‘culture’ through an online learning environment, as well as how the learning outcomes can be assessed. Two additional article-length manuscripts have emerged from this line of inquiry. The first one, “Shifting perspectives and (re)positioning subjects: language learning and transcultural dialogue in electronic learning environments” is under consideration by the editorial board of the British Association of Applied Linguistics to be included in the selected conference proceedings of the 2009 annual convention. It consists of a case study in which I analyze the learning trajectory of a particular student in the context of an electronic learning community and how her sense of identity and her perspective on French and American culture respectively on the one hand, and their relationship on the other shifted over the course of the semester. The second manuscript, entitled "Internationalizing the Curriculum at Home: Transcultural Learning in a Multilingual FL Classroom," is based on a collaboration between a German colleague at UTK and myself. This article, which is in preparation, examines the theoretical underpinnings, pedagogical feasibility, and learning outcomes of a multidisciplinary course on culture.
Finally, the third article, entitled "Rebels with a Cause: (Re)defining Identities and Culture in Contemporary French Cinema," which takes as a starting point the events of November 2005 in France and, after noting the discrepancy between media coverage in France and the US over said events, examines how full-feature French films can be used to (1) bridge the gap between students' approximate understanding of some of the issues at the core of the events of the banlieues by reframing the questions, (2) use the cultural phenomenon of the "banlieues" as an entry point into culture learning, and (3) deploy language learning activities. It is scheduled to come out in L2 Journal in Fall 2011.
Most recently, the visibility of the work I have been conducting on the topic of culture learning has also been rewarded in the form of a contract with Cengage Publishing, one of the US leaders on the Foreign Language textbook market, for a book on instructional approaches to contemporary French culture. This project is a co-authorship between Heather Willis Allen, Director of the French Language Program and Assistant Professor of French at Miami University, and myself. This cultural studies textbook, provisionally entitled Alliages Culturels: La Société Française en Transformation focuses on enriching students’ knowledge of contemporary France, analyzing and interpreting texts and cultural artifacts from and about France, as well as enabling students' development of advanced language skills for articulating and defending ideas in French, both orally and in writing. Using a (multi)literacy-based approach, the book is organized around sixteen cultural themes, which taken together, guide readers through the systematic exploration of the complex question of "Qu’est-ce qu'être français aujourd'hui?" (What does it mean to be French today?), and helps them to formulate informed responses to this question by developing a deeper understanding of contemporary French culture and the perspectives of French people in the 21st century. This book is inscribed in one of the most current trends in SLA. In 2007, the Modern Language Association issued a now well known and much discussed Report recommending the elimination of the traditional language-content structure of undergraduate curricula favor of “a broader and more coherent curriculum in which language, culture, and literature are taught as a continuous whole” (p. 3). The MLA Report proposed that this reform be accomplished through development of students’ translingual and transcultural competence and increased emphasis on cultural narratives present in texts. Based on the MLA Report and ongoing discussions of it in the profession, many departments are now engaging in curricular reform, reconsidering how to better integrate the study of literature with culture and how to continue a focus on linguistic development beyond the lower-level language sequence. As such, a book such as Alliages Culturels has a valuable role to play in a more integrated, holistic curriculum as it focuses on the simultaneous development of students’ linguistic and cultural literacy and includes as a core element literary and non-literary texts and cultural artifacts. In so doing, it can serve as the foundation of a course designed to engage students interested in either deepening their knowledge of French culture and/or continuing to develop their French linguistic capacities.
After sending these manuscripts, I will be able to turn my attention to a project that henceforth constitutes the focal point of my research work, a book manuscript entitled Film as Cultural Inquiry: Pathways to Transnational Exploration (working title). In this book, I will examine how film can serve as a two-way path toward self-reflection and intercultural inquiry. Based on my previous work, I will question notions such as authenticity, culture, culture learning, and intercultural learning within the framework of cinema and the audiovisual medium. This questioning will shed light on new theoretical perspectives, which, in turn, will inform teaching practices to use film at all levels of the FL curriculum. Although the issue of culture in the FL curriculum has been debated at length, little has been done (1) to synthesize the approaches to teaching culture and (2) to provide guidance to FL teachers who face FL students at the elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels. This book will thus provide insights on the specificities of film as a medium, as well as the kind of pedagogies that can be deployed to foster language and culture learning.
Research Objectives for AY 2011-2012
1. Book project #1: Alliages Culturels: La Société Française en Transformation
The scope and sequence as well as chapter synopses have been established. The timeline for the continuation of the book project is as follows:
· Fall 2011: finish developing draft of chapters
· Spring 2012: approval of final proofs
2. Book project #2: Film as Cultural Inquiry: Pathways to Transnational Explorations
The scope and sequence as well as chapter synopses have been established. The timeline for the continuation of the book project is as follows:
· Summer & Fall 2012: first draft of chapters
· Spring 2013: send to publisher
3. Articles:
a. “Internationalizing the Curriculum at Home: Transcultural Learning in a Multilingual FL Classroom.”
This article examines how two faculty members (a colleague in German and myself), by thinking creatively about their teaching, were able to collaborate on a common curriculum to teach French and German culture. Taking the notions of identity, borders, and displacement as starting points, we designed a curriculum that engaged French, Germans, European, and American cultures, in an attempt to establish a transcultural dialogue and develop symbolic competence (as defined by Claire Kramsch). (Co-authored with Maria Stehle.)
b. “La parole est à l'apprenant: Enjeux de l'autonomie et défi de la collaboration dans un cours de conversation."
This article stemmed out of data collected in fall 2007, and is being reworked for resubmission. Building on my own previous work, I examine practical implementations of video-driven activities to enhance language and culture learning by organizing learners in communities of practice to fostering their autonomy. Video is envisioned not only as a medium used to present linguistic and cultural content but also as a means to evaluate student’s oral and cultural proficiency. More importantly, students can construct their own linguistic and cultural meaning by becoming authors in the FL classroom.
c. “Identités par pièces et Pièces d’identités: L’Africanité en quête d’elle-même.”
This article needs to be expanded and the bibliography revised. I am working in two additional critical sources. Jacques Derrida’s work on the question of the “stranger/foreigner” (l’étranger) and, on the recommendation of one reviewer, Frantz Fanon’s Black Skins, White Masks. This article is part of a larger body of work that I have conducted also at the crossroads between Film Studies and Cultural Studies, which resulted in one article published, the current one near completion, and three conference presentations). This work has allowed me to explore such topics as the significance and impact of contemporary African cinema in relation to a context where art is valued both for its intrinsic properties and aesthetics and for its functional role in matters of civic society and state by examining how African directors have evolved from envisioning cinema as “night school” to using filmmaking as an introspective gesture to speak to issues of African identities and engagement. This research has enabled me to further investigate the effectiveness of cinema to teach culture in the FL classroom.