Kramsch. Introduction part 1.

Question 1

According to Kramsch, on what commonly held belief is foreign language teaching based?

Answer 1

We can all understand each other provided we share the same code.

Question 2

According to the “shared experiential basis” that all humans have the same basic needs and that communication entails agreeing on how to fulfill these basic needs, what else do linguists and foreign language didacticians believe about translation?

Answer 2

One language is [fully] translatable into another language –> all languages are translatable.

Question 3

What aspect of language teaching and learning remains a “potential source of conflict?”

Answer 3

• culture
• you can translate words, but not culture
• culture an be different for people speaking the same language (Qc vs France)

Question 4

Explain how Kramsch’s Context and Culture in Language Teaching seeks to reverse the traditional view of language teaching? What is this traditional view?

Answer 4

Traditional view of L2 teaching: teaching language forms to express universal meanings.

Question 5

What is the core of Kramsch’s approach to culture in foreign language instruction? How does it contrast with “the core” of a more traditional approach to foreign language instruction?

Answer 5

Kramsch’s alternative view: L2 teaching should be founded on a philosophy of conflict.
Conflict: particular, contextual, and variable as opposed to universal.
Core of meaning –> transmission of culture –> why use English, best way = interact with Anglophones.

Question 6

What does Kramsch mean when she states that her approach is more interested in “fault lines than in smooth landscapes?”

Answer 6

• not what is the same, but what is different/particular to different cultures.
• Kramsch is more interested in the recognition of complexity and the tolerance of ambiguity than she is in the search for “clear yardsticks of competence”.
• expose students to language that is particular to different cultures, contextual, variable.

Question 7

There has long been an argument that language acquisition is a skill—a tool—that lacks any significant intellectual value. Language only becomes intellectually credible when its users “express and discuss abstract ideas.” Traditionally, in the university setting, language learning was viewed as just a part of which academic disciplines?

Answer 7

• it is a whole mix of approaches

- academic disciplines: the study of ancient and modern literatures

Question 8

In the same academic tradition, how has the profession of language teacher contrasted with the profession of literature or civilization professor?

Answer 8

• the L2 teacher has long had a lower academic status than the professor of literature, linguistics, or ancient civilizations.
• many L2 teachers think they should not touch literature… but they can.

Question 9

What do Freed and Bernhardt (1992) say about the “sole responsibility” of language teachers and about “depth and breadth?”

Answer 9

• “sole responsibilty” refused –> communicate and social function, dept and breadth belong in literature and not in langugae.
• “culture has no place in remedial language instruction” –> kramsch says not!

Question 10

10. Kramsch reminds us that “a text creates its reader through its very structure or form, and that readers in turn create the text as they imbue it with meaning.” Think about how you, yourself, are a part of this process whenever you read a text in a second language. Give an example

Answer 10

TO FIND