PPT - Furman Blogs

CULTURE AS
CONTENT IN THE
IHL CL ASSROOM
DR. LAUREL ABREU, LAUREL.ABREU@USM.EDU
DR. STEPHANIE KNOUSE, STEPHANIE.KNOUSE@FURMAN.EDU
ONLINE ACCESS TO TODAY’S PRESENTATION
DOCUMENTS
•  Pdf of PPT presentation: http://bit.ly/29ntbGb
•  Pdf of handout: http://bit.ly/29sgUGn
•  Materials will be available through the AATSP repository website
shortly
OBJECTIVES
Attendees will...
•  reflect on how Hispanic linguistics (HL) courses are typically taught;
•  identify ways in which they study of target language (TL) cultures can
be incorporated into these courses, and especially into the
Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics (IHL) course;
•  examine various cultural exploration projects used in the presenters’
IHL courses;
•  and design their own standards-based projects for use in the courses
they teach.
OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION
•  Small group discussion
•  Background: Importance of TL cultural exploration
•  Background: Hispanic linguistics courses and their pedagogy
•  Presentation of cultural activities for IHL
•  Activity design
•  Q & A
IN GROUPS OF 2 OR 3…
•  What languages and levels do you teach? Do you teach in K-12
or post-secondary?
•  What is your experience with Introduction to Hispanic
Linguistics (IHL) (e.g. teacher, student, none)?
•  How can the W-RSLL culture standards be incorporated into HL
classes?
EXPLORATION OF TL CULTURE
•  W-RSLL Culture Standards: Interact with cultural competence and
understanding (National Standards Collaborative Board, 2015)
•  Relating Cultural Practices to Perspectives: Learners use the language to
investigate, explain, and reflect on the relationship between the practices and
perspectives of the cultures studied.
•  Relating Cultural Products to Perspectives: Learners use the language to
investigate, explain, and reflect on the relationship between the products and
perspectives of the cultures studied.
•  Intercultural communicative competence
•  Learners use the TL to express what they know and to engage with TL cultures;
they self-assess and reflect on interculturality (e.g.,Van Houten, Couet, &
Fulkerson, 2014).
THE THREE “P’S” OF TL CULTURE
The Culture Triangle (National Standards in Foreign Language
Education Project, 1999, p. 47)
EXPLORATION OF CULTURE
Ojo: Students must reflect regularly
and critically as they explore TL
cultures and develop intercultural
competence (Kramsch, 1993).
EXPLORATION OF TL CULTURE
•  Second language (L2) or TL culture is best acquired when
learners have an active role.
–  Students should be the inquirers and involved in the discovery process of
TL cultures, not passive receptors of information (Allen, 2004; Lange, 1999;
inter alia).
–  Students should know the how, what, and why of target culture.
–  Enhance critical thinking and research skills.
•  Since language and culture are closely related (Dema & Moeller,
2012), why separate the study of language completely from the
TL culture?
INTRODUCTION TO HISPANIC LINGUISTICS
•  Typically a 300-level post-secondary course in Spanish
•  Scientific study of the Spanish language: descriptive, qualitative, and
quantitative analyses
•  Examples of subgenres of IHL:
–  Phonology / phonetics
–  Morphology
–  Syntax
–  Semantics and pragmatics
–  Discourse analysis
–  Historical linguistics
–  Sociolinguistics
–  Spanish in contact with other languages / bilingualism
–  Second language acquisition
RESEARCH ON THE PEDAGOGY OF HL
•  Strategies to enhance a Spanish phonetics and phonology course
(Correa, 2011; Stokes, 2004)
•  Villa (2004): Restructuring HL courses to fit needs of heritage
learners. HL courses are a challenged because:
–  students do not have prior exposure to linguistics as a field of study
–  Instructors typically focus more on content rather than pedagogical
strategies. (p. 89)
•  Knouse, Gupton, & Abreu (2015): General pedagogical strategies
for IHL: more engagement and active participation, less lecture
ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE
TABL E 1. “INDICATE AL L O F THE TO PICS YO U ENJO YED THIS SEMESTER
( I N I H L ) . CH ECK AL L TH AT APPLY.”
Cultural activities
WE BELIEVE THAT…
•  …the IHL classroom is enriched with activities that are
purposeful in integrating cultural content.
•  …students find these activities more meaningful and, thus, learn
more from them.
•  …activities that fully integrate HL and TL culture are holistic in
that they help students develop 21st century skills and reach
many of the W-RSLL.
EXPLORING CULTURE IN IHL
•  Native speaker interviews
•  Social media projects
•  Commercials in Spanish
•  Photo contest
•  Children’s books
•  Songs
•  Poems
•  Guidebooks
NATIVE SPEAKER INTERVIEWS
•  Linguistic subfields: All, but particularly sociolinguistics, language
variation, bilingualism, and Spanish in the U.S.
•  Description: Students conduct a semi-structured interview
(“conversation”) with a native Spanish-speaker from the community.
Prior, the class must identify a linguistic structure to analyze, and
students design interview questions based on that structure. Students
carry out the interview in pairs, recording the conversation.
•  Linguistic analysis: Each student transcribes a portion of the
interview and analyzes the transcript.
•  Cultural relevance: Students’ questions target speakers’ culture and
their attitudes towards different aspects of their culture.
NATIVE SPEAKER INTERVIEWS
•  Excerpt of native speaker interview.
•  What would be the linguistic observations and cultural lessons?
SOCIAL MEDIA PROJECTS
•  Linguistic subfields: Language variation
•  Description: Students choose a social media platform of their choice (e.g.,
Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram) and they must follow 3 different people/
organizations/groups from 3 different geographic regions in the Spanishspeaking world during the semester / unit.
•  Analysis: Comparison of the 3 varieties, linguistically and culturally. Since
cultural practices represent “what to do and when” with language (Lafayette,
1988, p. 213), these practices should be incorporated into the analysis and
reflected upon. Students use cultural information presented in the photos and
continue exploring through individual research.
–  How do speakers interact with one another on social media?
–  What are some examples of dialectal variation?
–  Upon further exploration, what cultural information did you learn about in the process?
INSTAGRAM: COSTA RICA, ARGENTINA,
COLOMBIA
INSTAGRAM: COSTA RICA, ARGENTINA,
COLOMBIA
INSTAGRAM: COSTA RICA, ARGENTINA,
COLOMBIA
COMMERCIALS IN SPANISH
•  Linguistic subfields: Phonetics / phonology, language variation
•  Description: Students search for and choose a commercial in
Spanish to analyze.
•  Analysis: Students select NS phones and/or phonological processes
to describe and use phonetic transcriptions to support their
observations. In addition, students include a critical reflection on the
cultural practices, products, and perspectives included in the
commercial. These can include observations of the setting, the subtext
of the commercial, conversational interactions, etc. Students must
address cultural stereotypes reinforced in the commercials.
COMMERCIALS IN SPANISH
•  Kraft Mac-n-Cheese
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is7nGOrFmEQ
•  Toyota Corrolla (Spain)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vDEv43fdJg
•  Sprite (Argentina)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WQOuBYbmFI
•  Infinitum de Telmex (México)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DMN8odH684
PHOTO CONTEST: SPANISH IN THE US
•  Linguistic subfields: Spanish in contact (in the US), bilingualism
•  Description: If a local Spanish-speaking community exists in the
area, students find an example of Spanish and English in contact
(e.g., signs, flyers, businesses, publications) and write a reflection
addressing the observed linguistic phenomena and the cultural
relevance or significance.
STUDENT EXAMPLE 1: SPANISH / ENGLISH
JUXTAPOSITION
STUDENT EXAMPLE 1: SPANISH / ENGLISH
JUXTAPOSITION
•  Linguistic analysis: “Lingüísticamente, la influencia más obvia entre los dos idiomas
es el uso de la palabra “down” en el letrero español. Esta yuxtaposición de las lenguas
es interesante porque hay varias maneras decir “down” en este contexto en español
(depósito, entrada, entrega inicial, etc.), pero quizás eligieron “down” para ahorrar
espacio en el letrero. Para mí, la influencia más interesante es la formación del verbo
“checar” en el letrero español. Vemos la combinación del radical inglés (“chec-“ de
“to check”) y la terminación española “-ar” para crear un nuevo verbo. También es
interesante notar el uso del “X” para representar la palabra “por” en español. Esta
abreviatura viene del uso del símbolo “X” en la multiplicación.”
•  Cultural relevance: “Culturalmente, me interesa la ubicación del símbolo “$”
después del número en el letrero español (especialmente porque el símbolo tiene la
colocación “correcta” en la versión inglesa). Sin embargo, a pesar de una investigación
preliminar, no puedo probar ni refutar que es una influencia hispana definitivamente.”
STUDENT EXAMPLE 2: INSERTION OF
SPANISH LEXICAL ITEMS
STUDENT EXAMPLE 3: INACCURATE
TRANSLATION FROM ENGLISH TO SPANISH
STUDENT EXAMPLE 3: INACCURATE
TRANSLATIONS FROM ENGLISH TO SPANISH
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
•  Linguistic subfields: Languages in contact, bilingualism,
morphosyntax
•  Description: Students find a book designated as “bilingual” in
their local library and analyze the linguistic content (i.e., how
both languages are presented) and cultural relevance.
CHILDREN’S BOOKS: IN GROUPS…
•  What could be some examples of linguistic phenomena
students could observe and analyze?
–  How are both languages presented in your book?
•  What are the cultural lessons from the book?
–  Why are these lessons presented?
SONGS IN SPANISH
•  Linguistic subfields: Dialectology / language variation, phonetics/phonology,
bilingualism, etc.
•  Description: Students select a song in Spanish to share and analyze. They give
a brief bio on the singer/group, share a video and the lyrics of the song, and
conduct a linguistic and cultural analysis. Can be posted on a class discussion
board for further exploration.
•  Linguistic analysis: Description of the linguistic features of a particular
variety of Spanish (e.g., phonological processes, sounds, words and
expressions, morphosyntactic structures).
•  Cultural relevance: Analysis of one cultural perspective, practice, or product
represented in the song.
EXAMPLE: “MALO” BY BEBE
•  Linguistic analysis: Se encuentran algunos fenómenos
fonológicos en la canción “Malo”. Por ejemplo, se nota la
aspiración, o elisión de la /s/ à [h] à[] en posición final de
palabra, en palabras como “venas” [bé.na] o
“mujeres” [mu.xé.ɾeh]. También, se incorpora el fonema
interdental fricativa sorda /θ/ en su inventario fonológico, y se
observa un ejemplo del fono en la palabra
“corazón” [ko.ɾa.θón]. Se reduce la palabra “para” [pa.ɾa] a
“pa” [pá] también, que es un proceso observado en las
variedades del sur de España. (Palabras: 83)
EXAMPLE: “MALO” BY BEBE
•  Cultural analysis: Como en otras culturas, parece que el
machismo, el maltrato y el abuso doméstico son fenómenos que
todavía ocurren en la cultura española contemporánea con
demasiada frecuencia. En un artículo de El Mundo, se expone que
se asesinaron 57 mujeres en España por el maltrato en el año
2015. El periódico El País tiene una sección de su publicación
dedicada a las mujeres que sufren del maltrato doméstico. No es
decir que muchos hombres españoles sean maltratadores, sino
que es un tema que todavía existe y se refleja en la canción de
Bebe.
POEMS
•  Linguistic subfields: Bilingualism, morphosyntax, phonology,
lexical variation
•  Description: The teacher could provide poems or students
could find their own poems. Students must provide a linguistic
analysis (depending on the subtopic of study) and account for the
cultural information or background incorporated in the text.
MY GRADUATION SPEECH, T. LAVIERA
i think in spanish
i write in english
i want to go back to puerto
rico,
but i wonder if my kink could
live
in ponce, mayagüez and carolina
tengo las venas aculturadas escribo in spanglish
abraham in español
abraham in english
tato in spanish
“taro” in english
tonto in both languages
how are you?
¿cómo estás?
i don’t know if i’m coming
or si me fui ya
si me dicen barranquitas, yo
reply,
“¿con qué se come eso?”
si me dicen caviar, i digo,
“a new pair of converse
sneakers.”
ahí supe que estoy jodío
ahí supe que estamos jodíos
english or spanish
spanish or english
spanenglish
now, dig this:
hablo lo inglés matao
hablo lo español matao
no sé leer ninguno bien
so it is, spanglish to matao
what i digo
¡ay, virgen, yo no sé hablar!
POEMS: BILINGUALISM, BICULTURALISM
•  Spanish in the U.S.:
–  Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands - La frontera:The New Mestiza (1987)
https://www.sfu.ca/iirp/documents/Anzaldua%201999.pdf (p. 80; p. 213-4)
•  Indigenous languages in contact with Spanish in Latin America:
–  Contemporary poetry (various authors):
http://sibila.com.br/mapa-da-lingua/poesia-qindigenaq-contemporanea-ygestion-cultural/2747
–  Pedro Alonzo Retamal, Epu mari quiñe ülcatun / Un dos tres cantos (1970)
(Mapudungun and Spanish)
http://revistaliteratura.uchile.cl/index.php/RCL/article/viewFile/31493/33249
LINGUISTIC GUIDEBOOKS
•  Linguistic subfields: All
•  Description: Students form groups early in the semester, based on their
rankings of their interest in specific Spanish-speaking countries. The groups
meet throughout the semester to research their country’s linguistic
characteristics. By the end of the semester, they prepare and present to the
class a brochure for tourists who are learning Spanish that highlights both
cultural and linguistic facts of the place in question.
•  Linguistic analysis: Description of the linguistic features of a particular
variety of Spanish (e.g., phonological processes, lexical features,
morphosyntactic structures).
•  Cultural relevance: Students make connections between the history of a
place and the Spanish spoken they and understand the links between culture
and language.
STUDENT SAMPLES
RELEVANCE OF CULTURE IN IHL
“Scholars of Hispanic Linguistics in the 21st century... have before
them unprecedented opportunities to weigh in on some of the
more pressing issues of contemporary society. The research
themes being pursued are consonant with questions being posed
by parents and policymakers (e.g., What determines whether
Spanish is maintained or lost? Should children be exposed to
Spanish at school? If so, whose Spanish? How is U.S. Spanish to be
characterized? Will the persistence of Spanish alter the structure
of English? Supplant it?)” (Toribio, 2006, p. 136).
ACTIVIT Y
DESIGN
¡ L E S TO C A A U S T E D E S !
YOUR LINGUISTICS & CULTURE ACTIVITY
•  Into what linguistic subfield could you imagine incorporating
cultural exploration?
•  How would you assess learning?
•  What tools would you need?
•  What would the lesson or activity look like? You may wish to use
the format on your handout.
Q&A
SELECTED REFERENCES
•  Allen, L. Q. (2004). Implementing a culture portfolio project within a constructivist paradigm. Foreign
Language Annals, 37, 232-239.
•  Caballero-García, B., & Knouse, S. M. (2016). Reaching “Communities” standards through emerging
technology. Presentation at the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT), Charlotte, NC.
•  Correa, M. (2011). La enseñanza de fonética y fonología a través de analogías y metáforas. Hispania, 94,
360–365.
•  Dema, O., and Moeller, A.J. (2012). Teaching culture in the 21st century language classroom. Faculty
Publications: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education. Paper 181.
•  Knouse, S. M., Gupton, T., & Abreu, L. (2015). Teaching Hispanic linguistics: Strategies to engage learners.
Hispania, 98, 319-332.
•  Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. New York: Oxford University Press.
•  Lafayette, R. C. (1988). Integrating the teaching of culture into the foreign language classroom. In A. J.
Singerman (Ed.), Toward a new integration of language and culture (pp. 47-62). Middlebury,VT: Northeast
Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
SELECTED REFERENCES
•  Lange, D. L. (1999). Planning for using the new national culture standards. In J. Phillips & R. M. Terry
(Eds.), Foreign language standards: Linking research, theories, and practices (pp. 57-120). Lincolnwood,
IL: National Textbook & American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
•  National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project. (1999/2006). Standards for foreign
language learning in the 21st century. Lawrence, KS: Allen Press.
•  Stokes, J. D. (2004) Fostering communicative and cultural proficiency in the Spanish phonetics and
phonology course. Hispania, 87, 533–540.
•  Van Houten, J. B., Couet, R., & Fulkerson, G. (2014). From fact to function: How interculturality is
changing our view of culture. The Language Educator, 9(1), 42-45.
•  Villa, D. J. (2004). Heritage language speakers and upper-division language instruction: Findings
from a Spanish linguistics program. In H. Byrnes & H. Maxim (Eds.), Advanced foreign language
learning: A challenge to college programs. Issues in language program direction (pp. 88-98). Boston:
Heinle.