Page 45 - LanGuide Project: Research and Professional Insights
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What Kind of l s p Does LanGuide Propose?
are situated within the lived experiences and frames of reference of stu-
dents, they are more personally meaningful, have higher interest appeal,
and are learned more easily and thoroughly’ (Gay, 2002, p. 106), still the
focus should be on the target language culture, if not out of methodolog-
ical reasons, then at least out of pragmatic ones, even under very atypical
circumstances as the ones provided by the LanGuide project, again, as ex-
plained above.
In Tomalin and Stempleski’s (1998, p. 5) opinion, to be culturally aware
encompasses ‘sensitivity to the impact of culturally-induced behaviour
on language use and communication’ and integrates the aspect of con-
sideration to the other’s culture in communication, thus inferring that
without it, the speaker may be deprived of what Stern (1992, p. 217) re-
ferred to as ‘the native speaker’s perspective.’ In this way, what could be
built is the unwanted profile of the ‘fluent fool,’ according to Barnlund’s
concept (1982, p. 6), i.e. the perfectly fluent and proficient user of a lan-
guage in laboratory terms, who lacks any trace of contextualised social
and cultural input. Thus, ‘learning the cultural roots of a language is es-
sential for meaningful fluency’ (Seelye, 1993, p. 275), which can be attained
only if the second step is taken, activating the concept of cultural compe-
tence. According to Nechifor and Borca (2020, p. 297), cultural competency
occurs when
on the one hand, as a student in a multicultural class, one can not
only be aware of differences and complexities, but can already know
how to deal with them, handle them, and respond to their specificity.
On the other hand, as an instructor, after becoming aware of the dif-
ficulty of teaching to a multicultural class exactly due to the same
differences and complexities, one can manage the entire process in
a professional way, having correct reactions, politically correct an-
swers, a lot of bibliography to cover from this point of view.
Starting from The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy of 2002 which at-
tempts at profiling the American culture: ‘people, places, ideas, history,
politics, American literature, wireless technology, gene therapy, science
and technology, and events that shape the American cultural conversa-
tion’ (Hirsch et al., 2002, p. viii), the most important concept is practically
defined, that of cultural literacy. This one actually represents the last mile-
stone on the road leading to the establishment of ‘culturacy,’ a term coined
by Nechifor and Borca (2020, p. 298) referring to:
45
are situated within the lived experiences and frames of reference of stu-
dents, they are more personally meaningful, have higher interest appeal,
and are learned more easily and thoroughly’ (Gay, 2002, p. 106), still the
focus should be on the target language culture, if not out of methodolog-
ical reasons, then at least out of pragmatic ones, even under very atypical
circumstances as the ones provided by the LanGuide project, again, as ex-
plained above.
In Tomalin and Stempleski’s (1998, p. 5) opinion, to be culturally aware
encompasses ‘sensitivity to the impact of culturally-induced behaviour
on language use and communication’ and integrates the aspect of con-
sideration to the other’s culture in communication, thus inferring that
without it, the speaker may be deprived of what Stern (1992, p. 217) re-
ferred to as ‘the native speaker’s perspective.’ In this way, what could be
built is the unwanted profile of the ‘fluent fool,’ according to Barnlund’s
concept (1982, p. 6), i.e. the perfectly fluent and proficient user of a lan-
guage in laboratory terms, who lacks any trace of contextualised social
and cultural input. Thus, ‘learning the cultural roots of a language is es-
sential for meaningful fluency’ (Seelye, 1993, p. 275), which can be attained
only if the second step is taken, activating the concept of cultural compe-
tence. According to Nechifor and Borca (2020, p. 297), cultural competency
occurs when
on the one hand, as a student in a multicultural class, one can not
only be aware of differences and complexities, but can already know
how to deal with them, handle them, and respond to their specificity.
On the other hand, as an instructor, after becoming aware of the dif-
ficulty of teaching to a multicultural class exactly due to the same
differences and complexities, one can manage the entire process in
a professional way, having correct reactions, politically correct an-
swers, a lot of bibliography to cover from this point of view.
Starting from The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy of 2002 which at-
tempts at profiling the American culture: ‘people, places, ideas, history,
politics, American literature, wireless technology, gene therapy, science
and technology, and events that shape the American cultural conversa-
tion’ (Hirsch et al., 2002, p. viii), the most important concept is practically
defined, that of cultural literacy. This one actually represents the last mile-
stone on the road leading to the establishment of ‘culturacy,’ a term coined
by Nechifor and Borca (2020, p. 298) referring to:
45
