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Cultural Awareness in the Foreign Language Classroom

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Language Awareness and Multilingualism

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Language and Education ((ELE))

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Abstract

This chapter discusses the role of cultural awareness in foreign language teaching and learning. It traces the historical development from culture being regarded as an additional dimension of the language taught to being seen as an integral part of it. After a short historical overview, the chapter presents the shift of cultural focus caused by the introduction and the development of the term communicative competence in foreign language teaching. Major contributions to the field are discussed, including definitions and models which have had a great impact on the teaching of culture. Related aspects such as cultural knowledge, literature teaching and dialogue, content and language integrated learning (CLIL), and human rights teaching are dealt with briefly. Certain more recent views and concepts are then presented, including transnational views on culture. The chapter looks at cultural content in the foreign language classroom as well as learning processes, especially related to working with literature. The problem of assessing cultural awareness is also discussed. Which aspects of the concept can possibly be evaluated? In this context, self-assessment tools developed by the Council of Europe are briefly mentioned. In the final section, the chapter puts forward aspects of cultural awareness and language teaching which are likely to be addressed in the near future, trying to point out important areas for decision makers and teachers alike.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    My translation from Danish.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Foreign Languages, University of Bergen, HF-bygget, Sydnesplass 7, 7805, 5020, Bergen, Norway

    Anne-Brit Fenner

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  1. Anne-Brit Fenner
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Correspondence to Anne-Brit Fenner .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept Res Methods Education, University of the Basque Country Dept Res Methods Education, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain

    Jasone Cenoz

  2. UPV/EHU - IKERBASCQUE, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU - IKERBASCQUE, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain

    Durk Gorter

  3. Faculty of Education, University of Auckland, School of Critic, Auckland, New Zealand

    Stephen May

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Fenner, AB. (2016). Cultural Awareness in the Foreign Language Classroom. In: Cenoz, J., Gorter, D., May, S. (eds) Language Awareness and Multilingualism. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_16-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_16-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02325-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02325-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Cultural Awareness in the Foreign Language Classroom
    Published:
    27 December 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_16-2

  2. Original

    Cultural Awareness in the Foreign Language Classroom
    Published:
    19 July 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_16-1

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