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The complex ecology of college-level foreign language instructors in the U.S.

The complex ecology of college-level foreign language instructors in the U.S. Claire Kramsch, UC Berkeley UC Davis, 8 November 2017. From:

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The complex ecology of college-level foreign language instructors in the U.S.

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  1. The complex ecology of college-level foreign language instructors in the U.S. Claire Kramsch, UC Berkeley UC Davis, 8 November 2017

  2. From: Kramsch, Claire & Zhang, Lihua. In press. The Multilingual Instructor. What foreign language teachers say about their experience and why it matters. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  3. “How vain and foolish, then, thought I, for a timid untraveled man to try to comprehend aright this wondrous whale, by merely poring over his dead attenuated skeleton, stretched in this peaceful wood. No. Only in the heart of quickest perils; only when within the eddyings of his angry flukes; only on the profound unbounded sea, can the fully invested whale be truly and livingly found out.” Herman Melville Moby Dick, Ch. 103 “Measurement of the whale’s skeleton” p. 464

  4. Researchers in applied linguistics have pored over the pedagogical “effectiveness” of language teachers (Harris & O Duibhir 2011), their “knowledge base” (Hiebert et al., 2002) or “teacher cognition” (Kubanyiova & Feryok, 2015), their beliefs and practices (Fives & Gregoire, 2015; Phipps & Borg, 2009), their identities (Fichtner & Chapman, 2011; Barkhuizen, 2017), their “teacher talk” (Tasker et al., 2010), their pre-service training and in-service development, and their ratings on student evaluations (Coffey forthcoming)—but this is, as Melville would say, like studying a “dead attenuated skeleton”, not the true, “wondrous” living being “on the profound unbounded sea” of life experiences and educational endeavors.

  5. The globalized context of FL instruction Globalization and our “network society” (Castells 2009) have changed students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the nature of language, culture and language instruction itself. • Instrumentalization of language (skill, resource, repertoire) • A-historical view of language users (“communication for communication’s sake”) (Castells 2009) • Commodification of culture (“tourist gaze”) (Thurlow & Jaworski 2010) • Generational divides (pre/post – internet/social media) • Paradoxes • “NS is dead!”, but “authentic NS” is sought after • Diversity is global, but meaning is local • Multilingualism is in, but lg.instructors must represent monolingual NS • Multilingualism is in, but intercultural mediation is not • Digital culture of social media and the Internet > changes in attention/concentration, empathy, tolerance of difference

  6. In this study, Lihua Zhang and I wanted to understand the ecological relationship between foreign language instructors’ mental, cultural and pedagogical functioning on the one hand, and the cultural, institutional, and historical situations in which their teaching occurs, on the other.

  7. A complex ecological system Rather than unidimensional individuals, viewed by students and administrators as monolingual native or non-native speakers, effective or less effective teachers, competent or less competent instructors, or even as intrinsically in- between third-place individuals, foreign language instructors are in fact multilingual agents in a complex ecological system characterized by three main features: heterogeneity/ relationality non-linearity adaptivity.

  8. Heterogeneity and relationality of elements • Speakers of various languages • Have to adapt to various local and global circumstances, incl. English • Have multiple loyalties • Consequence: challenge of legitimacy Non-linear, dynamic and open system • Change over time in the relation of home country, Self, Other etc. • Constantly reflect on who they were, who they are, who they represent, stand for etc. • Have to deal with the fundamental monolingual/multilingual paradox • Consequence:historical challenge Adaptive system • Have changing relationship L1/L2, teacher/students over time • Struggle with their ethical role : changing the students’ worldviews? • Wonder about the transformative power of foreign language education • Consequence: educational challenge

  9. An ecological theory as the framework for our study Complexity thought modeling Larsen-Freeman & Cameron (2008: 41) suggest exploring complex dynamic ecologies by engaging in a process of “complexity thought modeling” that involves: • Identifying the different components of the ecology, including agents, processes and subsystems (emergent processes rather than structures) • Describing the relations between and among components (non-linearity) • For each component, identifying the timescales and levels of social and human organization on which it operates (timescales) • Describing the dynamics of the ecology: how the components change over time, and how the relations among components change over time (“double arrow of time”, see Mishler 2006:30)) • Describing how the components and the context adapt to each other (reflexivity) Complexity thought modeling served to design our study of native and non-native language instructors at the University of California (2013 – 2015).

  10. How we designed our survey Two survey questionnaires. N instructors: Early 2013, sent to some 100 N instructors through language programs directors at the 11 UC campuses Responses: 43 instructors teaching 17 different languages on 9 UC campuses. NN instructors: Mid-December 2014, sent to 90 potential non-native speaker instructors through the language program coordinators of five UC campuses. Responses: 35 respondents teaching 9 different languages on 5 campuses.

  11. How we designed our interviews Based on the responses to the surveys and on the availability of the respondents, Claire and Lihua conducted together one-hour individual semi-structured interviews with 18 native and 12 non-native instructors in summer 2013 and early 2015, respectively. We designed our interviews along the five dimensions of Larsen-Freeman & Cameron’s (2008) complex thought modelling. As interviewers, We were aware of being ourselves components of a system We wanted to find out the relationsbetween our interlocutors’ various roles as faculty, language teachers, citizens, and educators. We were keen on exploring the different timescalesand social conditions under which multilingual teachers are operating We wished to find out how they had adapted to their various roles over time and how they dealt with the many contradictions between educational demands and institutional constraints. Our behavior during these conversations was attuned to our awareness of change and of differences in generational and educational scales.

  12. An example: Amy’s story 46 year old, PhD in linguistics, 12 years in the US, teaches 3rd year Korean. Did you experience misunderstandings or misperceptions on the part of Americanstudents regarding Korean culture? Amy: I wonder if this example can be the answer? There’s a famous um fairytale in Korea that everyone knowsand of course I learned it when I was young. So when…I mean like a long time ago but…when I began to teach um upper third levelI read it as an official material.It’s a story about um this um fairywho came to the um world to the the earthand then like they were um taking a bath in the pondbecause they didn't have enough water in heaven [laughs].So they were like doing the bathing and then um a very nice woodcutter he was like um hidingand then watched it. And the the fairies they had this um kind of special costumethat they can fly back to heaven.And then the woodcutter he was he didn't get marriedso he wanted- but he lived in the forestso he didn't have a chance to meet women.So he kind of like picked the cloth, the fairy’s costumeso she couldn't go back to heaven. And she was the princess of the heaven.Something like that.

  13. So they got married and they lived happily ever after.But there was one uh thing that the woodpec-woodcutter had to be cautious aboutis that until the fairy got three children,he was not supposed to say ok you know I hid your costumecuz with three children she couldn't go back you know.But she was you know homesick. So after they had two children, she said“oh honey you know I still love you blah blahblah, but…”I mean she loved him but still she really missed her father. So with her children in her arms, she went back to heaven. Something like that. So… I thought …I mean...what do you think? It’s just fun story ?.

  14. Claire: It’s a very interesting story =. Amy: = Interesting story. And I you know (.) just everyone knows about this story and of course I learned it when I was young.. And we learned it you know we heard it. (Claire:.Yes) So I used it and then (.) at that time advanced class there was a (.) the (.) nonheritage student. And also even (.) heritage students got shocked. “You know the woodcutter he’s (.) is a bad guy you know watch-hiding and (.) you know the naked women and then he stole it and then she got married and what about the stupid fairy you know. She was they just were naked and she followed him and got married. Ridiculous. And I was really shocked. (1.0) I mean it was …between old and new could be? Or Eastern / Western? You know (.) all intermingled. But I (.) it's um kind of (.) moral issue and we talked about it. (Claire: Yes) So eventually we (.) decided not to teach the materials…cuz it may be offensive. (Claire: Ah) But (.) still I think it's still (.) famous story in Korea and (.) without learning or knowing this specific (.) story I mean they may not know the basic (.) Korean culture. So so I’m not sure still? But anyways something like this… so some gaps… I try to bring it up (Claire: yes) and then discuss about it (Claire: yes) so then we can practice language….

  15. Claire: It’s almost the story (Amy laughs) your story wh- you have your students here and you are the- but now you’re in America. I mean how much do you ident = Amy: = I think that's the same thing. I live here but whenever I go to Korea I miss here but whenever I live here I miss Korea. Something like (.) I’m in between.

  16. In this exchange we have three stories: 1.the original folktale told by Amy to Claire and Lihua, which is an English summary of the story she told her students in Korean in the classroom; 2.the story of the storytelling event itself with the negative reactions of the students, followed by Amy’s disappointment and subsequent decision not to tell that story any more; 3.in the end, the personal story of Amy herself mapped onto the Korean folktale. Each story features a greater personal emotional involvement on the part of Amy, the third one giving a clue as to why the rejection of the folktale by the students was so painful to her, namely because of her identification with the main female protagonist in the story.

  17. If interpreted through an ecological lens, i.e., • Positionality and multiple perspectives (East/West; young/old) • Different historical timescales, fractals (Amy here/Amy there) • Answerability in education (what is Amy’s role?) this story illustrates three discontinuities or gaps encountered by foreign language instructors in an age of globalization: • legitimacy gap • historical gap • educational/ethical gap

  18. To ‘interpret’ these gaps we need to be attentive not only to what these instructors say but to: • the way they use language in discourse (e.g., narrative structure) • The Discourses they draw on (e.g., pedagogic, intercultural) • the emotional intensity of their saying (e.g., metaphors of in-betweenness) • the way they are positioned by their profession, institution, status • the way they position themselves vis a vis their interlocutor • the way they frame their story (e.g., genre) We need to draw on: Blommaert, Jan. 2005. Discourse. An introduction. CUP Bruner Jerome. 1986. Actual minds, possible worlds. HUP Johnstone, Barbara. 2008. Discourse Analysis. 2d ed. Blackwell Stibbe, Alan. 2015. Ecolinguistics. Language, ecology and the stories we live by. Routledge

  19. In Amy’s story we notice: A legitimacy gap - Professional: professional judgment problematized - Intellectual: adult intellect put in doubt - Cultural: national culture ridiculed - Ethical: probity put into question

  20. An historical gap Different timescales • Korean folklore vs. American TV shows • Generational gap (45 year old teacher vs. teenagers) Layered simultaneity • Biographical gap (Amy as child, adult, immigrant) The double arrow of time in narrative • The joint construction of meaning in dialogue Narrative erasures - Self-censorship in FL classes

  21. An educational / ethical gap The “transformative” role of the multilingual instructor ? Ethics of conviction vs. ethics of responsibility (Ricoeur 1991) Semiotic unfinalizability and the open-ness of meaning Ricoeur, Paul. (1965/1991). Les tâches de l’éducateur politique. Ethique et morale. Lectures 1. Paris: Seuil

  22. Amy and her colleagues decided not to teach that story anymore and to “practice the language” instead. How do other multilingual instructors bridge those gaps?

  23. Legitimacy Damien, a 43-year-old non-native Irish-American instructor of Chinese in California and native instructor of English in China, struggles with his linguistic legitimacy as a white Chinese instructor. Claire: you said that teaching Chinese in the U.S. is like being an impostor Damien: Students expect on the first day of class to have a Chinese person walk into the class. I come in to the class and sometimes they don’t even think I’m the teacher. I’m – I’m another student or I’m lost or something. And I can hear them y’know : “who’s that guy?’ Many times the first week some students walk in and go out, they think they’re in the wrong class Claire: so what’s your little spiel? Damien: well, I begin by trying to make a joke about it… after about 15 minutes, “you’ve probably realized by now that I’m not a Chinese guy” I try to lighten it up a little bit. I explain who I am and I try to make a connection with the students that um I’m right there with you, learning the language, you know. I’m always going to be a student of the language, so let’s do it together, kind of. Claire: So what do you tell them why you became a teacher of Chinese. Damien: I like making people excited about the subject and about the [Chinese] characters and the etymology and all that stuff. So I like to think that my love of the language comes across every time I walk in there.

  24. By acknowledging his non-nativeness, Damien is gaining the personal trust of his students, leveling the playing field, denying the racial difference. But at the same time he is opening himself up to threats to his institutional legitimacy which relies on a perfect linguistic knowledge and an expertise that he might not have. Lihua: What is the greatest challenge you’ve encountered as a non-native instructor of Chinese? Damien: That I would make a mistake Lihua: Can you say a little bit more about that?

  25. Damien: (sigh) I have this idea, um, there is this idea that the native speaker is an expert in a language, and that the non-native speaker would be viewed as less competent when making a mistake, that in the same situation a native speaker would not be questioned, because – you know in English when I’m teaching English if I make a mistake, I just say “Oh I made a mistake, hahaha” – keep going”. The students would not question or – and this is just in my mind – because they see me as a native speaker and they see me as an expert of the language – when in fact it’s not true. But in Chinese they see me as someone learning the language, so if I make a mistake in their minds I think they see me as like I don’t know enough to avoid that mistake. And it causes me to do a lot of work, cause I want to be prepared to not make the mistake. One year when I was teaching here we were doing a lesson on time: It’s 12 o’clock, it’s 1 o’clock, it’s 2 o’clock – but in Chinese I said “it’s 1:30 o’clock”, and taught the lesson saying “it’s 2:15 o’clock”. And then I went home and I realized the whole – I did it wrong, and I just apologized to the students and said “I’m really sorry, I just made a mistake in class. Let’s start over on this lesson” And um I went on hoping that they wouldn’t think any less of me and in fact they didn’t, at that point. But in my mind, it’s tough to get beyond that myth of the native speaker, that that person is perfect and that the non-native speaker is not perfect. That’s my fear.

  26. Claire: Is it difficult to get a job in the U.S. teaching Chinese if you are not Chinese? Damien: very very difficult. But if you’re an American born Chinese who wants to teach English in Chinese schools in China it’s very difficult also. Lihua: yeah, somehow for Chinese people your language and your looks should go together.

  27. The legitimacy challenge Self-and other perceptions of teacher legitimacy have changed . - Academic legitimacy (diplomas?) • Linguistic legitimacy: monolingualismand standard lg required for FL teachers, but “translanguaging” encouraged for bilingual teachers • Racial/ethnic legitimacy • National legitimacy (loyalties?) • Professional legitimacy (lecturers? GSIs?)

  28. Historicity Two modes of thought (J.Bruner 1986 Actual Minds, Possible Worlds ) • Paradigmatic: argumentative, factual. • Narrative: purposes, intentions, causalities, the double arrow of time

  29. Zhao Jing is a 29 year old native instructor of Chinese from the Peoples Republic. She has been teaching heritage and non-heritage students for 1.5 years in the U.S. THE PARADIGMATIC MODE Claire: So what kind of experie-what kind of story would you tell that they would find interesting? Zhao Jing: Uh for example uh in one lesson uh the textbook tells the students that uh a-in the past a Chinese woman had to have small feet (Claire: Yes). Bound feet/ a bound yeah bound feet [laughs] (Claire: yes) so I will tell them uh how grandma uh bounded her feet. And yeah the thing is very interesting to know. Oh someone ah near you has had the uh experience? And they may feel it’s real. Yeah. Claire: Did you speak to your grandmother about having bound feet? Did she share with you-did it hurt? Zhao Jing: Uhh they shared with me when I was a child. Claire: What did she say about her bound feet? Zhao Jing: [laughs] She said uh she didn’t like it. So uh in the morning her mom helped her to bound her feet but uh in the afternoon she would just loosen the bandage. At night – actually I meant they should uh the feet should be bounded. But she just leave it loose. [laughs] (Claire: It was a little bit of a..) Yeah she said oh look at my feet it’s not very bounded. It’s bounded but it’s not that small. Yeah. So it’s very interesting story.

  30. THE NARRATIVE MODE Lihua is a 65 year old teacher from Mainland China and coordinator of the Chinese language program. She has been teaching Chinese for 20 years in the US. Claire: Did they in fact go and work in the fields with bound feet? Lihua: In feudalist society women were supposed to be at home. Claire: around what time was that? Zhao Jing: Uh 19...25 to 30 Lihua: Actually my mother had the experience. Her mother still told the same story you know. So my mother also was against that. And uh my mother’s sister. In poor families, women worked in the field but in rich families they stayed at home, of course. Bound uh feet was one of the good features about a woman. To get a marriage. So basically to be a good woman every woman should do that. Zhao Jing: Yes and not all the women around that age, my grandma age, bounded their feet. Cuz my grandmother’s father was a landlord and they’re very rich. So [laughs] = Claire. =That must be an interesting story.

  31. Paradigmatic mode of thought content-oriented, argumentative dichotomous (point/counterpoint) appeal to reason/logic morality of conviction search for truth How does Lihua further use the narrative mode of thought to help her students understand Chinese culture? Narrative mode of thought listener oriented persuasive built-in temporality/historicity appeal to reason and emotions morality of the form search for verisimilitude

  32. Here is the personal story that Lihua often tells in her Chinese class, in this case a class of fourth semester heritage students. My aunty (…) she had bound feet. Uh she was the oldest child in my mother’s family, and my mother was the second. Her family lived in a rural area. So think about it, she was not from a wealthy family, but from a poor family, she also had bound feet, it’s because, bound feet at that time were thought of <being beautiful> huh, the family hoped to be able to marry her out. But she had to work in the field so you may think <how painful it was> for women with bound feet <working in the field and doing all sorts of things>. So (..) it’s, as I remember, it’s uh around the time when I was in the first grade in elementary school, uh my mother brought her to our home in the city. Only until later did I learn that it was just the time when her village was <suffering from famine>, ºfood shortageº. So uh when she arrived - because I was quite thin and small, quite short huh, I felt when I saw her on the first day, Aunty seemed to be very tall. Children look at adults all in this way (up-looking gesturing), isn’t it?

  33. Lihua’s mother tells her sister she must wash her feet before going to bed. Her sister refuses adamantly, but Lihua’s mother insists so much that in the end her sister relents and agrees to wash her feet

  34. So we saw this uh uh large wooden pan on the floor, then we, I remember, there were me, my elder sister, also my younger brother, and one younger sister, > we all ran to the pan each tried to grip the pan watching her washing feet, precisely looking at her bound feet< you know? >Each of us tried to hold some edge of the pan, pushing each other and hocking around, and firmly holding the pan< Then Aunty began slowly <taking off her shoes > and then began (..) taking her socks off. Then I took a look, what < SOCKS > are they? They were not <the kind of socks we could imagine> That’s the first time that I saw a <long piece of cloth>. She slowly unwrapped the cloth, slowly unwrapped it off. <After she did so and put her feet into the water, my brother shouted “IT STINKS!” >, ºhe shouted just like thisº. Then we all, because we were just kids huh, quickly covered our noses. Why so ? Because of the steam, it went up from the pan and of course the odd smell rushed into out nostrils, right? >º A child’s reaction is to simply cover his noseº<. You know, my aunty at that moment º lowered her head, lower, lower, lower, lower º. I felt her head almost touched her knees. I <ALWAYS> have this impression. Think about it, after several decades have passed huh, >ºwhenever I think of my aunty, this image appearsº<.

  35. Later after the passing of many years, when I gradually grew up, each time when I recalled my aunty (…) at that scene huh (.), º I felt terribly sorry and had a deep heartbreak º. Then I gradually came to realize huh the reasons for my aunty to lower her head huh, so ashamed to < see anyone > that she seemed to drill herself into the ground. Later I realized huh that my mother had exposed her <privacy> as it’s her private thing, that’s uh (..) “privacy” (write the word in Chinese on the board), my mother forced her to wash her feet, and she already (..) showed such reluctance. Then later the remarks and the gestures that we children made caused my aunty to lose face completely.

  36. This story, vividly recounted through the eyes of an eight year old, is made accessible to the learners through a variety of strategies: • repetitions, (she lowered her head, lower, lower, lower, lower) • recastings (famine..food shortage), • simplified structures • non-verbal language (looking up) • pragmatic foregrounding (my auntie, she had bound feet; warm water, she brought her warm water) • direct discourse (“you must wash feet!”) • dialogic structures (what socks are they? They were not the kind of socks…) • tag questions (right uh? you know? isn’t it?) • interpellations of the audience (think about it! I don’t know if you have ever seen it),

  37.  Lihua: I wanted students to know my understanding of my auntie’s feelings in later years. She felt ashamed because my mother exposed her privacy (隐私).I wanted students to learn the Chinese word隐私. Claire: But does the word privacy mean the same thing in Chinese and English? Lihua: In those days there was no such thing as privacy in China! We didn’t have a word for it because the concept didn’t exist. Today the Chinese word is a translation from the English and everybody knows what ‘privacy’ means. Claire: Shuliang used that word to explain why she doesn’t tell stories about herself in the classroom. Lihua: Yeah, so washing your feet is part of your private life. Claire: Well I don’t think that in English washing your feet is such a private affair – which shows that when you learn Chinese you have to understand both what the Chinese and what Americans consider to be “private.” Lihua: The original meaning of the Chinese word 隐私 is very different from English “privacy.” Although “privacy” is translated into 隐私, the Chinese lifestyle doesn’t show the same understanding of the concept of privacy. Chinese people still ask about one’s age, job, salary, marital status, political opinions, and do not pay much attention to “private space”.

  38. The historical challenge Zhao Jing & Lihua have different ways of teaching “culture”. Zhao Jing (29) takes a tourist gaze on her grand’mother’s bound feet, seeks to render a stereotype more “authentic” and to make it feel “real” to her students, and therefore “interesting”. Paradigmatic, Facebook mode. Zhu Hua (65) gives a personal reflexion on her auntie’s bound feet, seeks to convey cultural emotions (shame) and values (privacy) within an historically contingent frame. Narrative mode.

  39. Educational/ethical gap Out of the 35 instructors interviewed, two instructors forcefully agreed that it was “the role of foreign language instructors to change the worldviews of their students”. Dong, native NorthVietnamese instructor : Any teacher, not only a language teacher, has a role to change the students' worldview ! Because I think as an educator I think from early on it's one of the educational role of any educator to uh to keep constructing, and changing is also a way to construct and reconstruct…Clearly, if not, then I have failed at my job. You know the root word educere is bring the inside out. Let's try to help them to change from the inside!! Carlee, American non-native German instructor: It doesn't matter what I go in and teach, they’d better have a more sophisticated and robust and complex opinion when they come out of there, otherwise I didn't do my job.

  40. The 33 others rejected the suggestion that “the role of foreign language instructors was to change the worldviews of their students”, whether on historical events like, say, Napoleon or Vichy France for Francoise, the Korean war or the adoption of Korean children for Amy, WWII and Hiroshima for Yoshiko, the role of the CIA in Latin America for Victor, or regarding political systems like social democracy in Finland or health care in the Netherlands. While they wished to see their students transformed in some way for having learned a foreign language, they did not see it as their responsibility to transform them. Instead, they chose to lead them indirectly to transform themselves. Here two examples of experienced teachers (10 years college-level): • Kimberly, a 35 year old non-native teacher of Spanish • Inez, a 45 year old native teacher of Dutch

  41. Kimberly: I think that one of the purposes is to see the world from another pers:pective: But for me, having been accused at times o:f indoctrination, I think the line that I draw i:s, I don't-I don't wanna change my students’ perspectives-I want them to be open to them, it's up to them to change themselves. Claire: But if they look at the world from another perspective, isn't it different from the way it was before? Can't you talk about a change there? Kimberly: Yes, but I think that for me the wording here, of it being my role to achieve that, is where I balk. So, I really I would like them-yes, I would very much like to change their worldview. Um, I would like that to be the outcome. But, again there's a line that I draw that I want to stay behind . . .It's my safe zone because then it allows me to get away with saying things in the classroom, tha:t otherwise might be perceived as...too, maybe, provocative, or pushing of students, to be critical of where they come from.

  42. Inez: I tell this story which is a very dramatic story I I still it gives me the chills when I tell it (.) but um I had a friend who fou-found-who was my age two young children (.) um she was terminal. At be – it was one of those cancers that have a horrible sort of end. She didn’t want to have that end. Decided that (.) uh she wanted to pull the plug when she felt she was ready. So (.) she gave this huge party invited all her friends and family. At this party – her father was a GP. She wanted her father to do it. So she says (.) middle of the party (.) party was still going (.)great. She says to her dad “Dad I’m ready.” And they go upstairs and her mother is in the living room and sees them going upstairs and says (1.0) “are you really ready to do it just now (.) you’re still you know.” And no, they went upstairs and they did it. And that is something that is also again it’s a very pragmatic thing. Um (1.0) and it is uh a very dignified way to die. Um (1.0) now euthanasia is is a very problematic uh uh (.) uhm thing to discuss in a country like the States that that is still I think very 19th century in terms of religious beliefs. And what I do is I present them with this story and tell them why euthanasia works for the Dutch. And I’m not telling them that they should accept that as you know their worldview. If they disagree with this story or disagree not disagree with this st- but if they disagree with euthanasia I totally (.) uh respect that. I I understand that. So I am not here to change their worldview. But I am here to to widen their (.) horizon just a little bit so that they can see again sort of get get outside of themselves and take this sort of critica l look at themselves and see hey there are some people in the world that do it differently.

  43. Like Inez, most instructors seem to prefer showing their students the way to intercultural understanding through narratives that : • Appeal to emotions • Draw on familiar Discourses (e.g., pragmatism, functionality) • Manipulate sequence (e.g., chronological), pattern (e.g., repetition of it) and point of view or voice (e.g., nope) • Use the discursive resources at hand: reported speech, lack of pronouns, paratactic constructions to enhance directness and rational/pragmatic feel

  44. The ethical issue Theresistance to the suggestion that FL teachers might view their role as “changing their students’ worldviews” might be due to: • Fear of being accused of indoctrination • Their own professional ethics with adult learners • Sensitivity to their vulnerable position as lecturers • Awareness of the political dimensions of FL education

  45. Conclusion What has an ecological framework gained the researchers? It has brought to the fore the tensions inherent in multilingual instructors’ experience between - the different sources of legitimacy that sustain them • the remembered , the lived, and the imagined communities they belong to • their past and present sense of linguistic and cultural identity • the multicultural geopolitical/global conditions vs. monocultural local textbook and institutional constraints

  46. What has it brought to the participants in this study? • Acute awareness of paradox and contradiction (e.g., demands for authenticity vs. self-censorship, monolingual institution vs. multilingual instructors, low prestige vs. high sense of educational mission) • Historical and political awareness • Value of reflexivity • Potential of narrative to bridge intercultural gaps

  47. THANK YOU! ckramsch@berkeley.edu

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