6. How can the students be given responsibility for their own learning?
The mainstream activities undertaken by the students while abroad, whether at a university or in a school or other workplace, are important. However, while they represent a major focus of the students' time and effort, it is difficult to guarantee that they will have a very direct relevance to the rest of the course. If the primary objective of the period abroad is to improve the student's linguistic competence and understanding of the cultural context of the country, as seems to be the case for most courses, it is essential that the students be taught how to manage their own learning and how to develop strategies for maximising the educational benefit they can extract from the unpredictable multitude of situations in which they will find themselves. The responsibility of the students lies in carrying forward their own learning process: the responsibility of the home institution lies in teaching them how to do so.
Language learning
In the linguistic sphere, the language course in the year or semester preceding the period abroad needs to have concentrated on those skills the students will have to call on in the range of situations with which they will be confronted. Written translation is unlikely to be in demand; rather, they will need the ability to understand the language spoken at normal speed in different registers, an awareness of the importance of non-verbal communication, the techniques of contributing to a discussion. It cannot be assumed that such skills will necessarily emerge from a generic language course, though some of the published courses available on the market emphasise some of them. Those HEIs that have recognised the need to train their students have produced their own courses.
| At the University of Sussex, the main objective of the second year in the French department is to develop the skills required in order to function successfully, both at the academic and the personal level, in a French-speaking environment. Much of this is achieved through their La France contemporaine course and the integrated work done with the lecteur/trice on oral and aural skills. For the oral assessment, students choose a topic that has been covered in the lectures and seminars of La France contemporaine and prepare a presentation about it in French, using books, journals and newspapers, as well as the Internet research skills they will have developed with the lecteur/trice. In addition, the lecteur/trice uses the lectures from La France contemporaine to teach note-taking and listening comprehension strategies. They also cover practical skills for use in France, such as letter-writing, how to understand and reply to small ads and how to fill in French forms. |
Language learning is a process that requires a full commitment on the part of the student, but for much of the time he or she is likely to assume that a teacher is in control of the process and consequently not be aware of how the learning takes place. While abroad, the opportunities for supervised language work may be non-existent or of an inadequate standard and it is therefore essential that, before leaving the home department, the students should have developed strategies to enable them to carry forward their own independent learning.
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LARA's sub-project on independent language learning has prepared a pack containing a series of Language Tasks and Strategies for Students Abroad to answer this need. They provide a set of materials for independent use while students are abroad. The materials encourage them to focus on their own language progress by undertaking guided tasks relating to their everyday experiences as students abroad. These tasks lead students down routes designed to develop their use of learning strategies and aim to stimulate them to take advantage of the real language resource centre that the foreign society represents. The purpose is to make students more aware of the need to advance their proficiency through their own efforts and practice, and more aware of the possibility of doing it in an enjoyable way. To prepare students for language learning abroad, there is also a template for a workshop that can be run in the students' own university before leaving for the foreign placement. Click here for an introduction. |
Intercultural learning
There is a widespread recognition across the sector that intercultural learning is as important during the period abroad as linguistic learning. At each of the four Residence Abroad Matters workshops held in 1998, the participants identified intercultural preparation as crucial for the success of the period abroad. However, it was agreed that, when it was practised at all, much of it was short-term in its formulation with no adequate framework provided for the students' learning. The consensus view was that there was a need for systematic cross-cultural learning based on training arising out of well-founded theories.
As with preparation for the practicalities of day-to-day living, there was some residual unease that too much preparation might diminish the learning effect during the period abroad and reduce the students' sense of achievement at the insights they gained into the foreign culture. However, the fact that the great majority of the advisory documents prepared by departments for their students mention the importance of at least being aware of intercultural differences demonstrates the seriousness with which this area of learning is treated. The awareness of its importance has increased over the last decade. What used to be seen as a matter of increasing "knowledge, awareness and understanding of the society and its language by observing the behaviour of others, by interaction with them and through intelligent use of the media and other documentary sources of information" (L.Hantrais (1989) The Undergraduate's Guide to Studying Languages, London: CILT, p. 153) has been recognised as a learning process which needs to be grounded in a much more thorough investigation of the foreign culture if students are to progress beyond the point of simply confirming the stereotypes with which they arrived.
| The Interculture Project based at Lancaster University has been investigating the development of intercultural awareness during periods of residence abroad. They have been looking at the ways departments currently prepare students for residence abroad and are identifying best practice. They have also been developing instruments for gathering data from students about their residence abroad and have created a database with all the information gathered. Project staff have used the data to update the present state of knowledge of cross-cultural awareness within the context of the academic discipline. They have also been devising teaching and learning instruments to be disseminated to UK HEIs. Details can be found at: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/interculture. |
A number of HEIs have developed courses designed to take the students beyond the stage of simply registering cultural differences without reflecting on them.
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The University of Leicester has developed a fully accredited second-year module on Intercultural Communication. It examines central concepts such as 'culture' and 'stereotype' as well as covering various aspects of intercultural communication: differences in word meanings, gestures, politeness, directness and indirectness in communication, attitudes towards time, etc. The aim is not only to provide the students with a theoretical understanding of the issues involved, but also to develop intercultural sensitivity. The module involves 12 seminars over one semester in the year preceding the period abroad. At the University of Central Lancashire, a module is being developed called "Acquiring Intercultural Competence". It will span a period of two years, covering the semester prior to the period of residence abroad, the whole of the year abroad and the semester following. Intercultural awareness raising activities will include, among others, several workshops led by a Counselling Trainer, before and after the year abroad. Methods of assessment will include a portfolio of activities and an analytical account by the students of their intercultural learning; this will be based on their personal diary covering the whole period of the module. |
Such courses are a positive step in the right direction but they are very much the exception. In the great majority of HEIs, the most that is achieved is at the exhortatory level, with students being urged to be aware of cultural differences:
"Remember that cultural adaptability is an important skill for a linguist, just as much as knowing your irregular verbs, so take that aspect of the year abroad seriously."
"You should develop an intelligent approach to what is going on around you at all levels of your daily life."
"Make the most of it by being open-minded and receptive."
Yet, if they are to be pro-active in learning from the new cultural situation in which they find themselves, students have to be properly trained in the methodology of investigation and the methodology must arise from a sound understanding of the principles of ethnography. That cannot be done as an addition to a preparatory session on residence abroad or even in a few hours.
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The LARA sub-project on Intercultural Learning has designed an ethnography programme which provides intellectual and practical experience in cultural and intercultural learning. Students take a module 'Introduction to Ethnography' which is based on anthropological concepts and fieldwork. While abroad, they undertake an ethnographic study which is written up on their return and contributes to their final degree award. Language learners as ethnographers develop cultural understanding in a systematic and rigorous way and the ethnography programme integrates this experience with the rest of the course both before and after residence abroad. Click here for an introduction. |
Learning Agreements
A further aid to the transfer of responsibility for the learning process from institution to student is the learning agreement, which makes the student aware of the process and offers guidance to help her or him ensure that the potential of the process is realised. See the LARA sub-project on learning agreements.