Progress Symposium

 Tuesday 4th May 1999

Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research, London

Present

Robert Crawshaw (chair), Eva Eppler, Jessica Abrahams (notes), Sylvie Toll, Simon Hall, Anne Banks, Tim Lewis, Ursula Stickler, Barry Jones

Apologies

Michael Byram, Paul Davey, Philippa Wright, Anthony Howick, Michael Kelly, Ranald MacDonald, Cheryl Winchester, Beth Callen

Welcome

Robert Crawshaw welcomed the participants and thanked them for attending.  He hoped the meeting would offer an opportunity for a discussion of the commitments of each of the partner institutions to the work of the project which would then result in proposals which could be tabled at the Consortial and Advisory meeting due to take place on 25th May and which would help to shape the activities planned for the final year of the project.

Deliverables

The members would need to consider how the sub-projects could convert the work of the sub-projects into deliverables to mark progress towards the final year's work.

The members were asked to draw up a list of suggestions for discussion on May 25th of what activities and deliverables could be planned for the final year of the project.  It was important to consider these in advance of the meeting so the members were asked to submit them for distribution by 15th May 1999.

The discussion of the meeting was primarily to further the progress of the sub-projects but also leading into next year's work.

Bibliography

Lancaster had been storing bibliographic material for some months on Endnote software.  This was available to consortium members.

Dissemination at conferences

It was agreed to draw up a list of research projects and papers for presentation at conferences for all members of the consortium.  Members were asked to send details to Jessica Abrahams in advance of the 25th May meeting so that a list could be circulated.

Report by the Intercultural Activities Working Party
(University of Central Lancashire and St Martin's College, Lancaster)

Presented by Simon Hall, Sylvie Toll and Anne Banks

Simon Hall set the background with a simple exercise on the various meanings of the word "culture".  He then reviewed current thinking on the subject broadly and drew out 4 different definitions of culture and examples to illustrate them. (Appendix 1.1)

It was felt that the project deals primarily with categories 1 and 4 of these definitions.

All 4 categories were represented in the material reviewed from different universities.

A polarity was perceived between categories 1 & 4   /   2 & 3

A parallel was suggested from the applied linguistics field of Interlanguage
where the influence of Language1 / Culture1 and the assimilation of Language 2 / Culture 2 were represented as a hyperbolic curve.  (Appendix 1.2)

The meeting felt that the curve represented was simplistic because it did not show the periodic reversals in the process of assimilation which students reported.

The curve was intended as a visual representation of what an ideal process of assimilation might look like.  In reality, the process is less straightforward, a realistic curve would represent a flux.

The "U" curve and the "W" curve of were cited as possibly more relevant models of culture shock and reverse culture shock (as experienced by returning students).

In the review of Intercultural, Social and Self-awareness preparation for the PRA currently taking place in UK HE institutions  Appendix 1.3) it was noted that the majority of activity taking place was factual rather than experiential in nature.

However it was noted that "Teaching 'about' other cultures as a strategy for reducing prejudice does not work"  (Cormeraie, S., op cit)

A certain amount of exploratory / experiential practice had been encountered in the review of preparation practices, including Personal Development handbooks / portfolios, integrated courses, activities packs, learning in cross-cultural groupings and some individual activities and tasks. 

Example material was examined of an activity on 'Stereotypes' which had been made available on the web by the University of Portsmouth.

Material had also been reviewed which was commercially available e.g. from the Interculture Press (USA).  (Appendix 1.4)

Material which could be of interest to UK HE institutions was highlighted, including a simulation game on cultural clashes.(Appendix 1.5)

  It was noted that though reference to and reviews of such material could be made, institutions who were interested in them would have to purchase copies.

Visit to University of Portsmouth  (Appendix 1.6)

Sylvie Toll spoke to a report on the visit to Portsmouth which the team had made in March to review materials which had been collected by the RAPPORT project team at Portsmouth and the LARA team at Oxford Brookes in reponse to the NRAD questionnaire they had jointly sent out.

There was a lack of clarity in what means were used to carry out IAR (Intercultural Awareness Raising), with a diversity of interpretation, ideas and definitions.  

Most of the material reviewed at Portsmouth had been booklets, leaflets and handouts containing factual, practical information about e.g. accommodation.

There was very little evidence of intercultural elements and what there is, is very varied.

Foreign language teachers may state that intercultural preparation is inherent in foreign language teaching but there is a diversity of interpretation and even of nomenclature, e.g. intercultural / cross-cultural.

Diversity exists in the educational domain and in cultural awareness-raising e.g. in the business domain.  

Bibliography   (See Appendix 1.7)

A review of the literature in the field showed a range from simple reinforcement of stereotypes to the work of Hall & du Gay, Gudykunst, and Landis & Bhagat.

In the educational domain, works ranged from the cognitive to the experiential.
IAR included the domains of various disciplines such as anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology,  linguistics, pedagogy, business and management.

Work by Kelly raised the question whether intercultural communication should incorporated into foreign language teaching or be treated as a separate discipline.

Issues in this connection included the marginalisation of Modern Language teaching and the use of English in foreign language classes, the "relativisation" of the target language, attenuation of the focus of the modern language, and the employability of students with foreign languages and residence abroad experience.

The Thames Valley Oxford Brookes model was given as an example.  Celia Roberts' and Shirley Jordan's ethnographic work suggested that capability in one's own culture is a necessary starting point whereas Sylvette Cormeraie raised the question of whether the ethnographic approach provided tools to deal with "culture shock" or whether skills needed to be discovered experientially.

Byram argued that "flt should not claim sole  responsibility" for ICC (Intercultural Competence Raising) as "successful communication" had to be  judged not only on the basis of information exchanged but also on the strength of relationships being established

Intercultural Training / Education

Simon Hall gave a review of the thinking in the field.  

The cognitive side had been well covered in British HE but the affective and behavioural side less so.  

With reference to the 4 "savoirs" identified by the work of Coleman, Byram and Zarate, it was suggested that "savoir être" might be the crux of the Interculture Project.  (Appendix 1.8)

Could this be achieved by training or by raising awareness?  

A listing of the aims and objectives of IAR (Intercultural awareness raising) and SSAR (Self- and social-awareness raising) (Appendix 1.9) led to a discussion of whether intercultural competence was definable.

Additional objectives suggested by the meeting were 

•	to develop strategies for observing and adapting to living in another culture

•	It was felt that the objective of establishing a framework for observing and adapting to living in another culture could be too ambitious as part of IAR but might develop out of debriefing of students returning from the PRA.

Byram's work had raised the question of how intercultural competence could be assessed, but the question was now raised of whether it was desirable to try to asses it, as there was not a continuum against which it could be assessed.

The discussion of ethnocentricity raised the comment that the notion that behaviour is rule-governed went against accepted theories of anthropology and sociology.

It was suggested that it was possible for an individual to be culturally competent or incompetent in their own culture.

Was "being intercultural" related to self-awareness or to circumstances?

The Sheffield counselling dept. had suggested that homesickness experienced by students in their 1st year was comparable to culture shock in PRA.  

•	Culture shock may not be translinguistic / transnational

•	Students may already have experience of this before going abroad.

Although language teachers might need to deal with an aspect of this, they might not be the right people to deal with it in general, as the academic milieu is relatively stable and fixed.

Interview data from Homerton suggested that intercultural competence was synonymous with dealing with change.  The ability to deal with this was primarily an individual, personal matter and not a question of going from one country to another.

The conclusion was that it was difficult to define the boundaries of responsibility of the language teacher.

With regard to the proposed aims and objectives of IAR, it was suggested that they omitted the personality factors of the individuals.

It was questioned whether there were too many objectives or whether they were too ambitious.  It was felt that some of the objectives might be achieved during the PRA rather than in preparation for it.

It was suggested that an individual might swing from being interculturally "open" to being interculturally "closed" yet still be consistent within that personality.  The framework of such adaptation would be organic.

Awareness raising activities / tasks should offer students insights into the processes involved in adapting to change and, ultimately, "being intercultural", without pretending to be empirically "psychoanalytical" or "psychotherapeutic". Such activities, if well-designed, should help students to contextualise and learn from their prior and future experiences.

In assessing the list of materials available it was recognised that a lot less experiential than cognitive material was available yet it was the experiential material in which the sub-project was primarily interested.  

Suggested and pointers made included the Southampton booklet, ethnographic courses piloted by Celia Roberts and Shirley Jordan and tandem learning which puts students in touch with native speakers of the target language.

It was noted that Tandem Learning could include face-to-face contact and email contact.
RHC asked if examples of Tandem Learning material could be shared within the consortium.

Other material mentioned were diaries or log books completed before the PRA and some school materials containing materials for sensitisation of 14-18 years olds, which might be contained in the CiLT library.

Conclusion (Anne Banks)

It appeared that not very much experiential material was available and in use, therefore there was scope for development.  

A need had been identified and the sub-project wished to propose the development of a package or units of experiential learning.

It was suggested that the project's dissemination strategies should include not just creating packages and making them available on request promoting them through e.g. workshops.

It was also felt important to define what materials the sub-project wished to produce and to take account of copyright issues on existing materials.

The sub-project could not re-publish but it could describe and evaluate existing materials.  

A final note of warning was raised in connection with the proposed timetables for the project members concerned for the coming academic year.

Diaries as Learner Support during the Year Abroad
(University of Sheffield)

Presented by Tim Lewis and Ursula Stickler

A bibliography on diary use was distributed to the meeting.  (Appendix 2.1)

The sub-project team had reviewed the HEFCE QA reports to find evidence of the use of diaries for the year abroad in UK HE institutions.

The team had not yet reviewed the NRAD database material to find further evidence of diary use.

The results of the search were displayed in tabular form.  Some examples of use made of diaries by particular institutions were then described  (Bolton Institute of Higher Education;  University of Leeds (German dept).)
(Appendix 2.2)

The use of diaries noted so far included

•	diary studies - often unpublished
•	journals used in classrooms, also used in language classes e.g. English
•	logs

The purpose of each of these could be

•	research tool
•	source for research data
•	enhancing autonomous learning
•	venting emotion

Members of the group felt that the results to date did not include some known uses of diaries for the year abroad, e.g. Portsmouth.

Development of the Sheffield Year Abroad Diary for Semester 2

Examples of the Semester 2 diaries for France, Germany, Spain and Italy were distributed.  These had been amended to take account of feedback from students on previous diaries.

The Foreign Language Assistant diary has been developed following feedback received on our general Year Abroad Diary that it was not specific enough for FLAs. Some amendments have been made and an additional 3 pages had been created, some specifically relating to teaching (Tips for Improving Language Teaching Techniques) (Appendix 2.3)

It was noted that the Central Bureau was producing a new guide which would be ready in June/July 1999.  Barry Jones offered to send a list of titles of books targetted at FLAs.  It was also suggested that material might be found in the CiLT library.

It was pointed out that attendance at the course organised by the Central Bureau was recommended.

The return rate for the 1st semester diaries, in spite of it being voluntary, was very high in the MLTC (100% for French) because other options were perceived as being more demanding.

The return rate for the 2nd semester diary cannot yet be established.  

Students' self-evaluation pages (S.YAD) had been compared (Y1 and Y2, specialists and non-specialists), tabulated and presented in the form of a poster.
(Appendix 2.4)

A new questionnaire about diary use had been created and sent out on the mailing list, which would enable the diary to be evaluated.  It was planned to send out the questionnaire to all students or alternatively to attach it to the Interculture questionnaire for homecoming students.  It would be useful if all institutions could use a similar format of questionnaire for their Cohort 3 students.

It was concluded that models of good practice depended on what purpose the instrument was being used for.

A review of nomenclature was needed, as the names journal/diary/logbook were used for instruments with different aims and objectives.

It was suggested that different models of instruments could be produced, but finally the burden of selection rested on the end-user.

The Year Abroad Mailing List

This was an electronic mailing list which students could use to communicate with the home institution and with each other.  

72 students were currently included on the list.

Between October '98 and April '99 58 messages had been sent by students to the mailing list.

Logging the messages enabled tracking of the communication but raised issues of confidentiality and the willingness of students to make certain types of comments if they felt they were being "overheard".

The majority of the comments were positive, recording the student's enjoyment rather than complaints.

It was suggested that the reasons students did not wish to complain could relate to the point at which they were in the assessment cycle - if the students felt they were still being assessed by the tutor they might be less willing to complain.

Although it was felt that a comparison of media could be interesting, the specific relevance of the mailing list to the intercultural work of the project was questioned.

The purpose of the mailing list was 

•	to sustain, support and advise students during the PRA.

•	to feed back into preparation of Y2 students who were going to the same place

There was an indirect intercultural awareness-raising dimension in the retailing of experiences, allowing comparison and relativising.

It also heightened the self-awareness of the students reporting / trying to advise.

The mailing list could be used to generate critical incidents but there would be an issue of confidentiality in this.

Conclusion

Steps needed in the coming year included

•	modify diaries
•	improve level of takeup and return

Feedback from students was needed for this - a debriefing element needed to be devised, to assess how students fit back into the UK system, and to follow up what happens to them in the final year to embed the importance of the experience of the PRA.

Student-teachers' perceptions of a European Teacher project;  the PGCE and Maîtrise:  Français Langue Étrangère (FLE)
Homerton College, Cambridge

Barry Jones spoke to a paper introducing a CD ROM produced for the European Commission, March 1999.  (Appendix 3.1)

8 French and 3 English universities had collaborated in the project exploring the experiences of a cohort of students who had taken the dual teaching qualification course in 1997-98.  The participating institutions had decided to make their report to the European Commission in the form of a CD Rom.  Each institution had decided what to contribute to the CD.

Homerton College's contribution took the form of verbatim excepts from student interviews.   

Altogether 4 interviews had been conducted with the students during the course.  The details of the interview intervals are noted in the report.
The material included on the CD was from the 4th (final) interview.

It was noted that the material in the interviews was always considered provisional because there were often modifications or even contradictions of previous comments by the same students, e.g. there were often negative comments about French universities directly after the students returned from France but by the end of the course these experiences had been put in perspective and the comments were much more positive.

In order to be able to search material on the CD the comments of the students had been allocated to 7 categories (details given in the report).  It was not possible to search by keyword.

The aims were 

•	to allow easy access to, and interaction with, extensive verbatim comment

•	to permit freedom of choice, since it is user interaction with the data that produces understanding.

•	to minimise bias by avoiding analysis and interpretation

•	to search student accounts by category

•	to construct student profiles
This was aided by the long period of the course - 42 -44 weeks.

Observations on data from Interview 4

•	Provisionality of comments recorded at one moment in a continuum

•	An ability to cope is personal and nationality is only one of many factors

•	The location of an experience often determines whether it is perceived as a cultural or social phenomenon

•	Sharing experiences with a partner/cultural interpreter minimised risk and ambiguity, and helped produce positive outcomes.

(Appendix 3.2)

RHC asked if there was any other way in which the material could be flagged up as part of the ICP i.r.o. hefce/deliverables, as part of the envisaged ICP CD ROM, profile studies, or a pedagogical goal outside Homerton.

Barry Jones noted that interview material had been collected from 27 students on the course but that 27 student profiles would be unmanageable.  He therefore proposed to identify 4 students (2 English and 2 French) and produce profiles including all interview and diary data from these students, together with some recommendations for its exploitation in preparation work.

Other consortial members could try out or respond to the selected 4 profiles, and this could be an objective for the coming year.

It was suggested that the 4 selected students would represent "profile types".  They would be selected for their interest but the selection would avoid any extreme cases.  The variety of things coped with would be a criterion.

It was hoped that keyword search mechanisms could be developed for this material.

It was questioned whether it would be economically sensible to have a double exploitation of Homerton data or whether this should be produced separately from the rest of the project data.  

Conclusion

This was an issue which needed to be discussed and resolved at the meeting on 25th May.  

There was a need for sub-projects to come to an endpoint in July, for a final report to be produced in September.

Each sub-project was asked to prepare a brief report on its activities to date that could be submitted to hefce in the report that would be submitted by 31st May.

The members of the consortium were reminded to submit ideas for deliverables by Friday 14th May for circulation before the meeting on May 25th.  

The meeting closed at 5.00pm

JA
9th May 1999

Appendix 1.1
CULTURE

Jenks, C. 1993 Culture London: Routledge

1.	Culture as a cerebral, or certainly a cognitive category: culture becomes intelligible as a general state of mind. e.g., the cultured woman [...]
2.	Culture as a more embodied and collective category: culture invokes a state of intellectual and/or moral development in society. This is a position linking culture with the idea of civilisation. [...]
3.	Culture as a descriptive and concrete category; culture viewed as the collective body of arts and intellectual work within any one society. [...] It includes a firmly established notion of culture as the realm of the produced and sedimented symbolic, albeit the esoteric symbolism of a society. [...]
4.	Culture as a social category; culture regarded as the whole way of life of a people: this is the pluralist and potentially democratic sense of the concept.

a)	The Aztecs were a highly cultured people by the time of the arrival of the Spaniards.
b)	The bacteria are grown in a culture, then dyed with a flourescent chemical.
c)	The Irish potato famine was the dire consequence of monoculture.
d)	The siesta isn't as much a part of Spanish culture as we're lead to believe.
e)	This year Glasgow has been chosen to be the European City of Culture.
f)	Tarquin is simply fascinating to talk to. He's so cultured.

Appendix 1.2
Interculture / Interlanguage?

influence of L1 / C1

assimilation of L1 / C1

time

Appendix 1.3
Intercultural, Social & Self-awareness preparation for the PRA in UK HE institutions

Cognitive activity

•	Planned / unplanned content of a cultural nature in language classes
•	Classes with the FLA
•	Courses / units of study on: 
literature / the arts
history, geography, politics, society
•	Study of cultural phenomena through text & media (e.g. UEA)
•	Assignments / projects on cultural topics (e.g. German re-unification, the French Political system)
•	Specific classes / tutorials / language exercises focusing on country-specific info. (e.g., opening a bank account)
•	Role Plays / Simulations focusing on transactional language
•	Handbooks & country specific guides containing helpful information (accommodation, travel, etc.)
•	Talks by returnee students / international students in residence (e.g.Central Lancashire's "European Week", John Moores's "Centrefair")
•	Talks by host institution representatives (e.g. Central Lancs.)
•	Virtual Visits
•	"RAPPORT" / NRAD web pages
•	Quizzes (e.g. Lancaster preparation week)

Exploratory / experiential practice

"Teaching 'about' other cultures as a strategy for reducing prejudice does not work" 
	Cormeraie, S. op. cit.

Personal Development handbooks / portfolios
•	Getting the Most from your Year Abroad (Southampton)
•	Making the Most of the Year Abroad: Creating a Personal and Career Development Dossier (Portsmouth)
•	Using Your Year Abroad (Reading)

Integrated courses: 
•	"Ealing Ethnographic Programme" (Thames Valley, Oxford Brookes)
•	"Cross-Cultural Training Workshop" (Sussex)
•	"Intercultural Communication" (Leicester)
•	Intensive weeks (e.g. Central Lancashire's "European Week", John Moores's "Centrefair")

Activities packs
•	"Making the Most of the Year Abroad" partnership between Peter Hawkins Associates, University of Leeds & University of Liverpool 

Learning in cross-cultural groupings:
•	Tandem learning
•	Pilot bilingual language course integrating systematic cross-cultural conflict management (Sussex)
•	Comparison of intercultural experiences project (St. Martin's)

Activities & tasks:

•	Individual elements of the Ealing Ethnography Project (e.g., Food values)
•	Daily routine survey 		Portsmouth (http://www.hum.port.ac.uk/slas/fdtl)
•	Sociogram			Portsmouth (URL as above)
•	Stereotypes			Portsmouth (URL as above)
•	Critical incident analysis 	Lancaster "Good-time girls"

Appendix 1.4
Intercultural, Social & Self-awareness preparation: examples from Intercultural Press
Intercultural Press, Inc., P.O. Box 700, Yarmouth, Maine, 04096 USA

Intercultural Sourcebook: Cross-Cultural Training Methods Vol. 1 
Fowler, S.M. & M.G. Mumford (eds.) 1995
Role Plays
Contrast-culture activities
Simulation Games
Critical Incidents
Case Studies

Studying Abroad / Learning Abroad
Hess, J.D. 1997
"Noting Differences"
"Interpreting Nonverbal Clues"
"Identifying American Value Orientations"
"Studying Influences on Values"

Experiential Activities for Intercultural Learning
Seelye, H.N. (ed.) 1996
Sections:
"Knowing Yourself as a Cultural Person"
"Courting the Intercultural Perspective"
"Working Together"
"Analyzing Cross-Cultural Incidents"

Developing Intercultural Awareness: A Cross-Cultural Training Handbook
Kohls, L.R. & J.M. Knight 1994 (2nd edition)
Many activities, including "Barnga" below.

Appendix 1.5
Barnga 

Thiagarajan, S. and B. Steinwachs 1990 Barnga: A Simulation Game on Cultural Clashes Intercultural Press
ISBN 1-877864-04-8 (text) 

In Barnga participants experience the shock of realizing that despite many similarities, people of differing cultures perceive things differently or play by different rules. Players learn that they must understand and reconcile these differences if they want to function effectively in a cross-cultural group. 

Participants play a simple card game in small groups, where conflicts begin to occur as participants move from group to group. This simulates real cross-cultural encounters, where people initially believe they share the same understanding of the basic rules. In discovering that the rules are different, players undergo a mini culture shock similar to actual experience when entering a different culture. They then must struggle to understand and reconcile these differences to play the game effectively in their “cross-cultural” groups. Difficulties are magnified by the fact that players may not speak to each other but can communicate only through gestures or pictures. Participants are not forewarned that each is playing by different rules; in struggling to understand why other players don’t seem to be playing correctly, they gain insight into the dynamics of cross-cultural encounters. 

Some key features which contribute to the simulation’s effectiveness are: 

•	As few as nine players—or large groups—can play it. At least three and preferably four groups are needed, with three to six players in each group. 
•	The game and debriefing can take as little as forty-five minutes. 
•	Participant instructions are provided in French and Spanish as well as English. 
•	Barnga lends itself easily to effective experimentation. Several variations are suggested in the manual. 

Directions and master copies of handouts are included. Standard playing cards must be purchased for use in the simulation. 

Appendix 1.6

Report for the Lancaster Inter-culture Project Consortium following consultation on 19th March 1999 of the NRAD bank of materials at The University of Portsmouth by The University of Central Lancashire & St Martin's College Working Party on Intercultural Awareness Raising Activities

The objective of the visit to Portsmouth was to identify examples of good materials and activities for Intercultural Awareness Raising (IAR) and Social and Self-Awareness Raising (SSAR) in preparation for the period of residence abroad (PRA). The National Residence Abroad Database (NRAD) team at the University of Portsmouth kindly invited the Lancaster Inter-culture Consortium team to consult the database and search a bank of materials donated by other institutions with their returns of the NRAD questionnaire. 

Searching the NRAD and its collection of materials:

The NRAD succinctly summarises the different formats of practice of UK HE institutions in preparing their students for the PRA. Of particular interest to us were information and materials gathered in response to the following (See appendix for copy of NRAD questionnaire):

Sections: 	C2.3 	Intercultural
		I	Materials and Publications

	Also consulted were sections:
		C2.1 	Everyday Living: Practical and Social
		C2.4 	Employment / Transferable Skills
		C2.5 	Academic
	J	Comments section for descriptions of interesting practice, issues & difficulties

Summary of responses to particular items:

C2.3.1	"Do you provide intercultural preparation specifically for residence abroad?" 
	a total 266 courses from 64 institutions responded "yes". 
C2.3.2	"if 'yes' as....", 
	106 of 266 courses used course materials; 
	177 ran targeted activities within a course element / module;
	??? ran specific course elements / modules 
	(we know of Thames Valley University, Oxford Brookes University and soon the University of Southampton)

I1 & I2	“Has your institution or any of your colleagues produced:
	- Paper based materials designed to help students with residence abroad (e.g., handouts, booklets)?
	- Materials in other forms designed to help students (e.g., videos, audio tapes, CD-ROMs, software)?”
	29 institutions surrendered examples of materials which were filed together with their completed questionnaires. Of these, most materials were of a didactic, factual nature, such as:

•	handbooks containing practical advice (e.g., health issues, financial considerations, accommodation);
or
•	Personal Development Portfolios / Personal Skills Records (Univs. of Portsmouth, Reading & Southampton). 

The Reading and Southampton materials were both based on "Making the Most of the Experience Abroad" (Partnership between Peter Hawkins Associates and the Univs. of Leeds & Liverpool) and the Scottish Enterprise and Employment Department's Scottish Records of Achievement portfolio. These materials were tangible evidence of practice surveyed by the NRAD questionnaire items C2.1 and C2.4 respectively. 

•	Logbook for Experiential Learning (Middlesex)

•	Learning Agreements

•	Project Writing Guidelines

•	Information from link institutions (e.g., prospectuses, international students’ handbooks, a video)

Unfortunately, there were no examples of materials which were designed for intercultural awareness raising, in the sense of  “intercultural” as understood by the project and exemplified by a course such as the Thames Valley ethnography module.

Conclusions from visit

The opportunity to consult the NRAD database and materials provided some detail to our picture of current practice in the field of Inter-cultural awareness raising in UK HE institutions. We are therefore very grateful to the NRAD team for welcoming us. 
Responses to the NRAD questionnaire from institutions (and separate departments within them) had shown great variation in detail; some provided a good deal of material, and others none. Interestingly, from universities who we know do a great deal of work in the area of IAR, there were no materials. The lack of specific IAR materials could be due to any of the following reasons:
•	different interpretations of questionnaire items;
•	varying interpretation of the meaning and scope of “intercultural preparation” (e.g., belief that intercultural awareness raising is inherent to the teaching of languages; belief that practical handbooks dealt with intercultural issues);
•	time constraints encountered by respondents;
•	institutional administrative constraints (e.g., one person responds for a wide number of courses, respondent not necessarily involved with period abroad preparation);
•	practicality of collating and sending a comprehensive range of course materials specifically incorporating IAR;
•	worries about ownership of materials or copyright issues.

We were interested in the concepts of Personal Skills Record dossiers (Careers Development dossiers, etc.) and the Logbook for Experiential Learning for their role in SSAR. With reference to the February 26th workshop at CBEVE in London, in which students’ roles during their period abroad were discussed, these dossiers recognise that students may considerably benefit from setting themselves clear, tangible objectives. 

A significant feature of our visit was our guided tour of the RAPPORT website (http://www.hum.port.ac.uk/slas/fdtl). Once completed, this comprehensive website will include lesson plans for IAR activities. There are already three such lessons provided by Jim Coleman. We suggest that the issue of dissemination be further discussed within the Lancaster Consortium.

We invite advice as to whether we should further pursue our search for IAR materials from UK HE institutions. In view of the patchiness of the information on IAR gleaned from NRAD, we recommend that a second, more focused attempt be made to gather a selection of IAR materials from fellow institutions. Initially it had been proposed by the consortium that we target just a few institutions known for their practice. Do colleagues feel that this is a step we should now take? If so, what might be an appropriate plan of action?

23 - 4 - 99.

Appendix 1.7
Bibliography from University of Central Lancashire and St Martin's College

Asante, M K and W B Gudykunst (eds), Handbook of International and Intercultural Communication (Newbury Park: Sage Publications, 1989)  
Banks S P, Multicultural public relations: a social interpretive approach (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1995)
Brislin, R and T Yoshida, Intercultural Communication Training: An Introduction (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1994)
Byram M, Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence (Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1997)
Byram M (ed), Face to face: learning ‘language-and-culture’ through visits and exchanges (London: CILT, 1997)
Byram, M and G Zarate, Defining and Assessing Intercultural Competence: some principles and proposals for the European context . Language teaching 29, 14-18 (1997)
Carroll R, Cultural misunderstandings: the French-American experience (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988)
Chalvin, D and F Eyssette, Comment sortir des petits conflits dans le travail (Paris: Dunod, 1986)
Coleman J A, Studying languages: a survey of British and European students (London: CILT 1996)
Cormeraie S, Cross cultural training: perception and personal growth, in : Parker G and A Rouxeville (eds), The year abroad: preparation, monitoring, evaluation (London: CILT, 1995)
Cormeraie S, From Theoretical Insights to Best Practice for Successful Inter-Cultural Education: The Crucial Transmission in Killick D & M Parry (eds) 1997
FDTL Languages, Complete minutes of workshops undertaken by three HEFCE/FDTL Phase 2 projects on residence abroad in April & May 1998
Gudykunst W B, Bridging Differences: Effective Intergroup Communication (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1994)
Hall, S and P du Gay, Questions of cultural identity (London: Sage Publications 1996)
Hofstede G, Culture’s consequences: international differences in work related values (Beverley Hills: Sage Publications, 1980)
Hofstede G, Cultures and organisations: software of the mind (London: McGraw Hill 1991)
Hotho S, Learning to Live Abroad: a mini-project in Leder G et al (eds) 1996
Kabagarama D, Breaking the Ice: A Guide to Understanding People from Other Cultures (Needham Heights: Allyn & Bacon 1993)
Killick D & M Parry (eds) Developing Cross-Cultural Capability Proceedings of the conference at Leeds Metropolitan University, December 1996 (Leeds: Leeds Metropolitan University 1996)
Killick D & M Parry (eds) Cross-Cultural Capability: The why, the ways & the means: New theories & methodologies in language education Proceedings of the conference at Leeds Metropolitan University, December 1997 (Leeds: Leeds Metropolitan University 1997)
Landis D & R S Bhagat (eds) Handbook of Intercultural Training (Thousand Oaks: Sage publications) 1996
Leder G & R Walsh Study Placement Abroad: Cultural Awareness and Language Development in Leder G et al (eds) 1996
Leder G, Reimann N & R Walsh Ab initio Language Learning: A guide to good practice in Universities and Colleges; the example of German (London: CILT 1996)
Mole J, Mind your manners: Managing business cultures in Europe (London: Nicholas Brealey 1996)
Morrison T et al Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands (Holbrook: Adams Media Corporation 1994)
Parker G and A Rouxeville (eds), The year abroad: preparation, monitoring, evaluation (London: CILT, 1995)
Schneider S C and J-L Barsoux, Managing across cultures (London: Prentice Hall 1997)
Theuerkauf B, The Year Abroad Experience: Developing Cross-Cultural Capability with Disability in Killick D & M Parry (eds) 1997
Paper given at the conference on Developing Cross-Cultural Capability at Leeds Metropolitan University, December 1996.
Trompenaars F, Riding the waves of culture: understanding cultural diversity in business (London: Nicholas Brealey 1996)
University materials from:

Bradford
Central Lancashire
Durham
Glasgow
Hull
Lancaster
Leeds
Leicester
Liverpool
Oxford Brookes
Sheffield
St Martin’s
Sussex
Thames Valley	Websites:
http://lang.fdtl.ac.uk
http://lara.fdtl.ac.uk/lara/index.htm
http://www.hum.port.ac.uk/slas/fdtl/
http://www.niss.ac.uk/education/hefce/qar/q222-96.html
http://www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/class/language/translang.htm

Appendix 1.8
"... inter-cultural learning is by nature a cognitive, and also an affective and behavioural affair" 
Cormeraie, S. 1997 "From Theoretical Insights to Best Practice for Successful Inter-Cultural Education: The Crucial Transmission" Leeds: Leeds Metropolitan University acknowledging Brislin R.W. 1990 (Applied Cross-Cultural Psychology Newbury Park CA: Sage) and Smith, P.B. & Bond, M. 1993 (Social Psychology Across Cultures  Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf)

Intercultural Competence
Savoir apprendre	Understanding otherness; using and creating opportunities for observation, analysis and interpretation.	
Savoirs	Cultural knowledge, including sociolinguistic competence; awareness of non-explicit reference points such as values, beliefs, meanings.	
Savoir être	Understanding how an identity and a culture are socially constructed; setting aside ethnocentric attitudes and perceptions; openness and interest towards others; inter-cultural mediation.	
Savoir faire	Integration of the other three into real L2land interactions.	
from Coleman J.A. 1997 "Student Preparation for Residence Abroad: Two Stages in Acquiring Cross-Cultural Capability" Leeds: Leeds Metropolitan University, based on Byram M. & G. Zarate 1997 "Defining and Assessing Intercultural Competence: Some Principles and Proposals for the European Context" Language Teaching 29, 14-18

Appendix 1.9

Intercultural Awareness Raising (IAR)

Aims:
Aid the process of acculturation / adaptation to life abroad through activities which enable:
•	identification / recognition of cultural factors (e.g., own culture & background, stereotype) influencing "being intercultural";
•	identification / recognition of personal factors, attributes and skills affecting ability to adapt to life abroad;
•	development of attitudes & strategies which will help adaptation.

Self- and Social Awareness Raising (SSAR)

Aims: 
To help students adapt to changes in:
personal circumstances;
social life;
professional / academic life & status.

Objectives:
By doing IAR activities, students should be able to:
•	understand levels of meanings of "culture";
•	recognise and understand the nature of stereotype;
•	identify factors which make up their own cultural background;
•	identify differences in cultural background within own peer group;
•	find reasons for similarity and difference;
•	recognise that own cultural background affects perceptions of other cultures;
•	analyse their knowledge of their host culture and start to restructure it;
•	recognise emic and etic values when comparing cultures;
•	establish a framework for observing and adapting to living in another culture.

Appendix 2.1
The Interculture Project
Progress Symposium		04/05/99
Sub-Project Diaries

Bibliography: Diaries

Anson, C. and Beach, R. (1995):  Journals in the classroom :writing to learn. Publisher  Norwood, MA:Christopher-Gordon,  (ISBN  0926842331) 

Ahrens, P. (1993): ‘It made Me Think ... Diary of a language learner / teacher’ In: Modern English Teacher (2/2) pp. 48-52.

Allwright, D. (1983). ‘Classroom-centred research on language teaching and learning: a brief historical overview.’ In: TESOL Quarterly (17). pp. 191-204.

Allwright, D. and K.M. Bailey (1991): Focus on the Language Classroom: An Introduction to Classroom Research for Language Teachers. Cambridge, CUP.

Bailey, K.M. (1983): ‘Competitiveness and anxiety in adult second language learning: Looking at and through the diary studies.’ In: H.Selinger & M.Long (Eds.): Classroom oriented research in second language acquisition. Rowley, MA (Newbury House). pp. 67-102.

Bailey, K.M. (1990): ‘ The Use of Diary Studie in Teacher Education Programs’. In: Richards, J.C. and Nunan, D. (eds.): Second Language Teacher Education. Cambridge, CUP.

Bailey, M. and Ochsner R. (1983): ‘ A Methodological Review of the Diary Studies: Windmill tilting or social science?’ in: Bailey, K., Long, M. and Peck, S. (eds.): Studies in Second Language Acquisition: series on issues in second language research. Rowley, Newbury House. pp. 188-98.

Bassey, M. (1981): ‘Pedagogic Research: on the relative merits of search for generalisation and study of single events’. In: Oxford Review of Education (7/1) pp. 73-93.

Brown, C. (1985): ‘Two Windows on the Classroom: diar studies and participant observation differences’. In: Larson, P. Judd, E. and Messerschmidt, D. (eds.): On Tesol ‘84: a brave new world for TESOL. Washington D.C., TESOL, pp. 121-34.

Donald, Sydney G.: ‘From Logs to Licentiateships: a case-study in natural progression’. Online (Internet). URL: http://www.lmu.ac.uk/hec/journal/CCSS/sdonald.htm

Fleming, H. and Huchings, M.: Report on the Placement Support Project (Bournemouth University). delivered at the “Current Issues in Distance Learning” conference, Loughborough University, Jan. 1998.
http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/service-depts/as/lsu/paper.html

Gaies, S.J. (1983). ‘The investigation of classroom processes.’ In: TESOL Quarterly 917) pp. 205-217.

Howell-Richardson, C. and Parkinson, B. (1988): ‘Learner diaries: possibilities and pitfalls’. In: Grunwell, P. (ed.): Language in Society. British Studies in Applied Linguistics 3. London, CILT, pp. 74-9.

Jarvis, J. (1992): ‘Using Diaries for Teacher Reflection on In-Service Courses’. In: ELT Journal (46/2) pp. 133-43.

Long, M. H. (1980): ‘Inside the “black box”: Methodological issues in classroom research on language learning.’ In: Language Learning (30). pp. 1-42.

Matsumoto, K. (1987): ‘Diary studies of second language acquisition: a critical overview’. In; JALT Journal (9/1), pp. 17-34.

Matsumoto, K. (1993): ‘Verbal-report Data and Introspective Methods in Second Language Research: State of the Art’. In: RELC Journal (24) pp. 32-60.

Matsumoto, K. (1996): ‘ Helping L2 learners reflect on classroom learning’. In: ELT Journal (50/2) pp. 143-9.

McDonough, J. (1994): ‘A teacher looks at teachers’ diaries’. In: ELT Journal (48/1) pp. 57-64.

Miller, L. and Ginsberg, R.G. (1995): ‘Folklinguistic Theories of Language Learning’. In: B.F. Freed (ed.): Second Language Acquisition in a Study Abroad Context. pp. 293-315.

Norris (1997): How to Use Logs and Journals Across the Curriculum. Monterey (Evan Moor).

Numrich, C. (1996): ‘On Becoming a Language Teacher: Insights from Diary Studies’. In: TESOL Quarterly (30/1) pp. 131-142.

Ollerearnshaw, David Ashley (1997): Student perspectives on their English language lessons : a case study using the diaries of Gurkha soldiers. Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Sheffield, Division of Education, 1997.        ISBN  p5950137

Palmer, C. (1992). ‘Diaries for self-assessment and INSET programme evaluation.’ In: European Journal of Teacher Education. (15). pp. 227-238.

Palmer, G. (1992): ‘The practical feasibility of diary studies for INSET.’ In: European Journal of Teacher Education (15). pp. 239-254.

Parkinson, B. and Howel-Richardson, C. (1990): ‘Learner Diaries’. In: Brumfit, C. and Mitchell, R. (eds.): Research in the language Classroom. London, Modern English Publications. pp. 128-40.

Progoff, I. (1975): At a journal workshop. New York (Dialogue House Library).

Schmidt, R. and Frota, N. (1985): ‘ Developing basic conventional ability in a second language: a case study of an adult learner of Portuguese’. In: Day, R. (ed.): Talking to Learn. Rowley, Newbury House. pp. 237-326.

Schumann, F. and Schumann, J. (1977): ‘Diary of a Language Learner: An Introspective Study of Second Language Learning’. In: Brown, H., Yorio, A. and Crymes, R. (eds.): On TESOL ‘77, teaching and learning English as a second language: trends in research and practice. Washington D.C., TESOL, pp. 241-9.

Schumann, F.M. (1980): ‘Diary of a language learner: a further analysis’. In: R. Scarcella & S. Krashen (Eds.): research in second language acquisition: selected papers of the Los angeles Second Language Research Forum. Rowley, MA (Newbury House) pp. 51-57.

Seliger, H. and Shohamy, E. (1989): Second Language Research Methods. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Stefani, Lorraine (1999): ‘Reflections on self-control’. In: THES (16/04/99) 32.

Teng, Jessie Sze Mei (1996): A diary study of the effectiveness of implementing language learning strategies in the acquisition of a foreign language :the diary of an autonomous learner of the Malay language.  Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Sheffield, Division of Education.        ISBN  q8207858

van Lier, L. (1988): The Classroom and the Language Learner. London, Longman.

Appendix 2.2
Modern Languages Departments in UK Higher Education Institutions using Diaries for the Year Abroad
(source: HEFCE QA Reports, searchable database NRAD on http://nrad.fdtl.ac.uk/nrad)

HE institution	department	What?	
The Queen’s University of Belfast	French	learning journal is about to be piloted elsewhere in the school	
Bolton Institute of Higher Education	Modern Languages	log book maintained and assessed	
Bournemouth University	Modern Languages	a personal self-assessment logbook	
University of Birmingham	German	log should be considered	
University of Leeds	German	year-abroad experience log	
University of Leeds	Iberian	logbooks during the year abroad	

Information from Birmingham:  No logs used in German department, maybe other departments

Other departments:

HE institution	department	What?	
University of Bournemouth	Learner Support / various departments	Computer Conferencing as support for students on industrial) placement	

Details: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/service-depts/as/lsu/paper.html

Bolton Institute of Higher Education:
Bolton Business School
Bolton Institute
Modern Languages

log book maintained and assessed

•	“We ask students to produce what we call a logbook of their experiences abroad as part of the assessment of the Period Abroad.” 
•	Length: 		Minimum 3000 words	maximum 5000 words
•	Language: 	Target Language
•	Guidelines in English
•	Assessment of Language and content (content should reflect personal and cultural development)
•	“We expect the students to write their logbooks while abroad. (...) However, I believe that some logbooks are actually written either at the end of the students' stay or on return.”

Information from:			Elisabeth Planella
						Languages Leader
						Bolton Business School
						Bolton Institute

University of Leeds: 
Department of German

year-abroad experience log

•	since 1990-1 (voluntary)  /  since 1994-5 (compulsory)
•	Format:
at first: free-form; students wanted more structure
now: colour coded: 4 parts and 4 questionnaires
Pre-Departure ;YA; End of year review; Comments & suggestions
loose-leaf form (students can ‘censor’ log before handing in)
•	Language:
since 1995 German
•	Preparation:
2 meetings before leaving, log sent out in summer
•	Assessment: “licentiateship” London City and Guilds qualification for personal skills
•	More details: 17/05/99

Information from:		Sydney G. Donald
					Senior Lecturer and Head of German
					Department of German
					University of Leeds

Literature:
	Sydney G. Donald: “From Logs to Licentiateships: a case study in natural 	progression”
	http://www.lmu.ac.uk/hec/journal/CCSS/sdonald.htm

Appendix 2.3
Language Development Awareness Sheet:
Think of all the situations in which you used the target language over the last week / weeks and answer the following questions. In future weeks, when you fill in the diary pages, you might want to look back over these pages and see whether anything has changed.

What expressions do you need in the target language? (Write the equivalent in English!)
.................................................................................................………....…
.......................................................................................................………..
Where do you pick up new language?
....................................................................................................................
Whom can you ask?
....................................................................................................................
Who will correct you / will help you?
....................................................................................................................
In what situations do you relax when using the TL?
....................................................................................................................
Where are you challenged using the TL?
....................................................................................................................

b) Professional Development / Experience
This is the page for noting down your first impressions of teaching or reflecting on your previous experience. Use the first half of the page to focus on personal impressions and feeling about teaching and the second half to focus on practical issues and classroom planning.

Teaching: (e.g. previous own experience of teaching; 
people: knowledge of / access to “experts” in teaching; back-up; peers for exchange of ideas, materials, experience, tips; 
things: teaching materials, possible sources,
school system: in the target language country, timetable, discipline, etc.)
...................................................................................................................…
.......................................................................................................................

Classroom:
Preparation done? Make a note of details (material / source / contacts)
......................................................................................................................
Can you check your lesson preparation beforehand? With whom?
......................................................................................................................
Which materials do you use? How? Where from? How successful?
......................................................................................................................
Back-up: Whom can you ask for help / advice / ideas? Where would you go with a problem?
......................................................................................................................
How is the reaction to your lessons? (class, teachers, colleagues, others)
......................................................................................................................

Tips for improving Language Teaching Techniques

 Be prepared for the unexpected!! Whether you do conversation practice with a small group or have to give a presentation in front of 50, make sure you allow yourself time to prepare for it.
 If you want to take authentic material with you from home, try to look at it / listen to it from the viewpoint of a non-native speaker. You can compare it to a similar article / feature in your target language which might help you to spot the difficulties. Be patient with yourself as with your pupils.
 You can also create your own material. It is creative and it can be fun to try something altogether new. If you have any doubts or worries, you can ask your mentor beforehand whether it will work.
 You are an expert in speaking your native language and your school has engaged you in this capacity but you may not be able to explain grammar or usage. Don’t worry: that is not what conversation classes are for.
  Ask! Many of your colleagues / other teachers, might have an answer to your questions; not necessarily only your tutor or mentor. It might be the Geography teacher who is willing to give you tips on how to keep a classroom quiet.  AND - this might be an opportunity to practise your TL.
 Share! There are hundreds of foreign language assistants out there, they might be stuck with the same problem as you, they might already have found the solution or might just be waiting for someone to compare notes with. Make sure you get some addresses.
 Make sure your students understand what you are saying and try not to use too complicated language (in English there are too many ways to say “Open the book, please”). Sometimes you may have to simplify. Don’t forget, you can use gestures, mimes and pictures to make even quite complex language very easily understood.
 If your students speak to you in their own language concerning a point in class, pretend you don’t understand. This way you’ll encourage them to accept English as a real means of communication. If they are just talking to each other and you can’t understand them and only if this makes you feel insecure, you can take notes. After class, ask a native speaker for help.
 You will be expected to use English in the classrooms all the time, but a little cheating is allowed. A well placed phrase in the TL (when you feel secure to use it) will get you at least a minute of attention (“surprise effect”). But don’t overuse it, it wears off.
 Remember your own language learning experiences: How did the unfamiliar words and sounds make you feel? When did you first start to say something in front of the whole class? What were the other interesting things that were going on in your life at the same time?
 Be aware of your feelings! You are not a teacher (yet) and this year’s experience might help you in making the decision whether this is the right job for you later on.
 Keep in mind how great it will look on your CV: No joke! You are on your year abroad to improve your TL, but you have chosen an option where you can also add “TEFL-experience”, “experience of working in a foreign country” to your list of skills.
 It can be fun! If you love your own culture and language, you can share this enthusiasm with your students.

 Add your own ideas here:

Book:
Michael Lewis
Central Bureau’s Info
CILT-list
Penny Ur: Discussions that Work
Attend the Stage / Preparation for FLAs in the TL country

Any problems? For troubleshooting look at page 33.

Appendix 2.4
Self-evaluation posters / Xcell pages

Appendix 3.1
Barry Jones's paper

Appendix 3.2
Barry Jones's blue sheet