Teachers as Mediators in the Foreign Language Classroom

by Michelle Kohler

Overview

Language teachers are key figures in preparing young people for participation in an increasingly multilingual and culturally diverse world, yet little is known about how they go about this in practice. This book uses examples of classroom interaction to reveal how teachers of languages act as intercultural mediators and the implications of this for practice. To date, there has been little exploration of how teachers mediate language and culture learning from an intercultural perspective, and what underlies their mediation practices in terms of their conceptions of intercultural language teaching and learning. This book offers an account of what teachers are thinking, feeling and doing as they enact an intercultural perspective on language teaching and learning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781783093052
Publisher:	Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Publication date:	01/12/2015
Series:	Languages for Intercultural Communication and Education , #27
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Michelle Kohler is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Research Centre for Languages and Cultures at the University of South Australia, and Lecturer in Languages Education and Indonesian language at Flinders University. Her research interests are mediation, particularly in relation to intercultural language teaching and learning, languages pedagogy, curriculum and assessment, and Indonesian language education.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Context of the Study 1

Why Mediation Matters 3

An Overview of the Study 5

About this Book 14

1 Understandings of Language and Culture in Language Teaching and Learning 17

Language, Culture and Their Relationship 17

Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning 26

2 Teachers' Understandings of Language and Culture and Their Relationship 39

Collette's Understandings of Language and Culture in Language Teaching 39

Kelly's Understandings of Language and Culture in Language Teaching 63

Maria's Understandings of Language and Culture in Language Teaching 95

Conclusion 126

3 Understandings of Mediation 129

Mediation From a Language Teaching and Learning Perspective 129

Mediation From a Sociocultural Learning Theory Perspective 132

An Understanding of Mediation for Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning 142

4 Teachers' Ways of Mediating 145

Collette's Ways of Mediating 145

Kelly's Ways of Mediating 156

Maria's Ways of Mediating 168

Connections Between Teachers' Conceptions and Ways of Mediating 185

Conclusion 190

5 Understanding Language Teachers as Mediators and the Implications for Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning 193

Revisiting the Concept of Mediation 193

Implications for Language Teacher Education 196

Reflections on the Experience and Directions for Further Research 196

Continuing the Dialogue 198

Appendices

1 Materials Used in Establishing and Guiding the Study Overall 199

1.1 Schedule of Collaborative Planning, Observation and Debriefing Sessions 199

1.2 Considerations in Observing Lessons 200

1.3 Notes from the Initial Group Discussion 200

1.4 Notes to Guide the Mid-Year Group Discussion 202

1.5 Questions to Guide End-of-Year Debriefing with Each Teacher 204

2 Examples of Materials Developed by Participating Teachers 205

2.1 Collette 205

2.2 Kelly 211

2.3 Maria 217

3 Data Analysis 223

3.1 Description of the Data Analysis Process 223

3.2 Matrix for Analysing the Two Data Sets 224

References 225

Index 235

What People are Saying About This

Angela Scarino

Little work has been done to understand how the concept of mediation works in practice. This book addresses this gap. It provides a rich account of the way in which three teachers seek to mediate language learning, with their students in the day-to-day lived experience of teaching and learning as they themselves come to terms with an intercultural orientation to language learning. The value of this book resides in the sensitive understanding of the reality of classroom language teaching and learning and its demonstration of how, in language learning, people matter.

Joseph Lo Bianco

This interesting, well-written and important volume takes readers into the promising and exciting domain of intercultural communication in which speakers are not just representing, but enacting, different cultures in discourse. Michelle Kohler's highly readable and theoretically well-grounded contribution to this emerging field of specialisation is a tribute to her but it also distils a now well established Australian tradition of intercultural theorising that is attracting worldwide interest.

Anthony J. Liddicoat

This timely and engaging book makes a significant contribution to our knowledge about language teaching. It provides a detailed and thoughtful examination of teachers' practice in language classrooms that opens up new insights into how teachers work with complex ideas of language and culture and mediate these for their learners. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the intercultural in language education.