This case study demonstrates how the process of culture learning and global citizenship skills development is implemented in the modern Arabic and Hindi (two of the less commonly taught languages) classrooms at a North American university. It seeks to enrich the current conception of foreign language education as a complex agenda built on the integration of the intercultural and the global citizenship approaches into the overarching framework of the communicative language classroom. The study bears the typical characteristics of scholar-practitioner research, in which the researchers actively participate in the settings they study, observing and interacting with other participants (students) to gain deeper insights. Active participant observation is the main method of data collection, complemented by analysis of the documents we utilize: our syllabi and lesson plans. We share illustrations of the themes and topics chosen for our classes and the strategies we employ regarding activities that contribute to creating a student-centered classroom and stimulate active, task-oriented learning. We analyze these data through the prism of Byram’s (1997) “savoirs” framework. We argue that the synergistic effect of the communicative, intercultural, and global citizenship approaches is a powerful factor shaping our students’ development as interculturally competent and productive global citizens. The goal of this research is to contribute to a better understanding of foreign language education as a complex effort promoting communication but also cultivating an insider’s perspective into the cultural fabric of the studied societies and creating opportunities for building alliances across cultural divides in tackling global issues.

Authors:
Elena Galinova, Pennsylvania State University, United States
Reham Aly, Pennsylvania State University, United States
Ritu Jayakar, Pennsylvania State University, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Elena Galinova is the academic director of the Penn State Language Institute. Her research interests focus on international, intercultural, and global citizenship education.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Friday Schedule

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