Abstract
In this chapter, the authors explain the integration of linguistic and cultural knowledge in two online beginner Arabic classrooms on a collaborative project between LaGuardia Community College and The University of Oklahoma. Students engage in a series of blended virtual and communal activities that result in new opportunities for learning, where the learning space is multi-voiced. The chapter highlights include an explanation of the project learning objectives, the project design, employability competencies learned, and synopses of students' interviews with members of the Arab communities as well as their reflections on the learning experience. The curriculum and pedagogy adopted for this virtual exchange project are grounded in the historical and current particulars of students' everyday lives and that of Arab communities living in the United States. This project aims at creating a third communal space where activities are discussed in meaningful ways, while unlearning stereotypes and shunning away prejudices, a goal informed by the belief that learning is a social process.
TopBackground
The teaching of culture has always played an important role in the teaching of languages. Pitts and Brooks (2016) cite Knight’s 2003 definition of the term ‘internationalisation’ as “the process of integrating an international, intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions or delivery of post-secondary education’” (Pitts and Brooks, 2016, p. 2). The integration of the international and intercultural component in our project comprises a multi-faceted collaboration across institutes of higher education in two different states; New York and Oklahoma, as well as cooperation between the students and the Arab communities that reside in those states. That multi-faceted collaboration goes in line with The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching definition of community engagement as the “collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity” (Carnegie, 2006)” (Weerts & Sandmann, 2010, p. 632). Similarly, Martin and Nakayama (2010) note that “While intercultural communication is more firmly rooted in the communication field, the definition of “culture” has expanded to make intercultural communication more interdisciplinary” (Martin & Nakayama, 2010, p.48). At present, there is no donut about the significance of teaching intercultural communication as an inextricable aspect of second language acquisition. As Dunlop explains, “Critical pedagogy that engages students and teachers in dialogues about forms of cross-cultural narratives can deconstruct dichotomizing and polarizing tendencies by positioning thinking in the borderland or on the line between cultures, in what Bhaba (1994) refers to as a “third space” (p. 57).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Cognitive Flexibility: The ability to switch between thinking about two different concepts or to think about multiple concepts simultaneously.
Newtonian Way of Thinking: A view of the world based on a simple but intuitive view of knowledge.
Cultural Orientation: A framework for dealing with and predicting intercultural interactions.
Cultural Anthropology: The study of human culture and all its aspects and which uses the methods, concepts, and data of archeology, ethnography and ethnology, folklore, and linguistics.
Teletandem: A video-based language exchange program which pairs native speakers and foreign learners.
Emotional Intelligence: The ability to recognize, understand and manage emotions.