The separation between language and content in Modern Language degrees: implications for students’ development of critical cultural awareness and criticality

ABSTRACT

The paper reports on the findings of a PhD study exploring the implications of the separation between language and content in Modern Languages for students' development of intercultural competence and criticality across four universities – two in the US and two in the UK. In particular, it exposes the diverse views students developed on the relationship between language and culture and the invaluable role of content courses in fostering students' development of critical cultural awareness and criticality. While there was evidence to suggest that all three strands of the curriculum (language, content and the year abroad) contributed to students' development of intercultural competence and criticality, content modules emerged as a key setting to foster critical discussions on interculturality.

In dem Artikel geht es um die Ergebnisse einer Doktorarbeit, in der die Auswirkungen der Trennung von Sprache und Inhalt in den Sprachwissenschaften auf die Entwicklung interkultureller Kompetenz und Kritikalität von Studierenden an vier Universitäten - zwei in den USA und zwei in Großbritannien - untersucht werden. Dabei werden insbesondere die unterschiedlichen Ansichten der Studierenden über die Beziehung zwischen Sprache und Kultur und die unschätzbare Rolle von Inhaltkursen bei der Förderung der Entwicklung von kritischem kulturellem Bewusstsein und Kritikalität der Studierenden aufgezeigt. Zwar gab es Hinweise darauf, dass alle drei Bereiche des Lehrplans (Sprache, Inhalt und Auslandsjahr) zur Entwicklung der interkulturellen Kompetenz und Kritikalität der Studierenden beigetragen haben. Die inhaltlichen Module erwiesen sich jedoch als wichtige Voraussetzungen für die Förderung kritischer Diskussionen über Interkulturalität.

KEYWORDS:

• Intercultural communicative competence
• criticality
• culture
• language
• critical cultural awareness

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the continuous support received from the University of Hull, my supervisors, as well as all the participating institutions that welcomed me and strongly supported my research project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Elinor Parks completed her PhD in Applied Linguistics at the University of Hull. She is also currently an LFA Tutor of German for the University of York and LEAP tutor of German at the University of Manchester. Her doctoral research explores the complexity behind the separation between language and content in Modern Language degrees both in the UK and in the USA. In particular the research examines implications of the divide for the development of criticality and intercultural competence in undergraduates.

ORCID

Elinor Parks http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6226-6256