Revisiting ‘foreignness’: Nationalism and language education

ABSTRACT

Although language education should be ideally positioned to help students develop a nuanced understanding of languages, cultures, nations/countries, and identities these concepts have often been conflated in practice (see, e.g. Reagan & Osborn, 2021). This can result in othering in depictions of speakers of the language being learned (e.g. Osborn, 2021; Palfreyman, 2005) and delegitimizing certain language use(r)s. We share preliminary results from a study in which language educators who adopted critical approaches, such as teaching for social justice (Osborn, 2006) or intercultural citizenship (Byram, 2008, have addressed these questions in practice and discuss ways to disrupt harmful practices.

Obwohl Sprachunterricht ideal positioniert sein sollte, um Lernenden ein nuanciertes Verständnis der Verhältnisse zwischen Sprachen, Kulturen, Nationen/Ländern und Identitäten zu vermitteln, werden diese Konzepte in der Praxis oft missrepräsentiert (vgl. z.B. Reagan & Osborn, 2021). Das kann zu Othering in der Darstellung von VertreterINNen der Sprachen führen, die gelernt werden (z.B. Osborn, 2021; Palfreyman, 2005) und bestimmte Sprachgebräuche und SprecherINNEN delegitimieren. Resultate einer Interviewstudie mit Lehrenden, die mit kritischen Ansätzen wie Sprachunterricht für soziale Gerechtigkeit (Osborn, 2006) und Intercultural Citizenship (Byram, 2008) Sprachen unterrichten, zeigen, wie mit solchen Fragen in der Praxis umgegangen werden kann. Wir diskutieren, wie diese schädlichen Praktiken unterbunden werden können.

KEYWORDS:

• Nationalism
• social justice
• intercultural citizenship
• foreignness and criticality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Terry A. Osborn

Terry A. Osborn, Ph.D., is a Professor of Education at the University of South Florida. He taught secondary German for six years in Georgia and Florida prior to entering higher education. Osborn served twice as Interim Chancellor and as Vice Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus. Osborn was previously Dean of the College of Education and held administrative roles on the faculties of Fordham University, Queens College of City University of New York and the University of Connecticut. Osborn researches and publishes in the areas of foreign/world language education, interdisciplinary education, and critical pedagogy. Osborn’s research has received a number of awards, including the American Educational Studies Association’s Critic’s Choice Award for his book, Critical Reflection and the Foreign Language Classroom. Osborn was also awarded the Stephen Freeman Award by the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages for the best published article on foreign language teaching techniques.

Manuela Wagner

Dr. Manuela Wagner specializes in the integration of intercultural dialogue and citizenship in education with the goal of fostering an environment in which students can sustain different parts of their identities . She is particularly interested in the interplay of theory and practice and enjoys collaborating with colleagues in K-20. Examples of projects can be found in her co-authored and co-edited volumes: Teaching Intercultural Citizenship Across the Curriculum: The Role of Language Education (2019) Teaching Intercultural Competence Across the Age Range: From Theory to Practice (2018), Education for Intercultural Citizenship: Principles in Practice (2017). Other research interests include intellectual humility and conviction, humor in a variety of contexts (language education, German-speaking cultures), and first language acquisition (pragmatic development in infants and children and language development in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder).