Interculturality, Interaction And Language Learning: Insight

Description: This book opens up new lines of debate in language learning and intercultural communication through an investigation of tandem language learning (a method of language learning based on mutual language exchange between native speakers and learners of each other's language) in connection with intercultural learning and identity construction. Through an empirical study of face-to-face tandem conversations, Jane Woodin provides compelling evidence for the re-definition of the tandem partnership beyond the traditional native speaker-non-native speaker (NS-NNS) paradigm. By analyzing conversation shapes, learner identification of self and other and interactants' own focus on culture, this book reveals how interactants themselves address the complexities of language, learning, ownership and meaning. The book also questions the prevalence of models of intercultural competence which describe the competence of the individual, with little recognition of the role of the relationship or interaction. Woodin considers the broader applicability of the tandem framework of autonomy and reciprocity, and suggests new directions for further research on tandem learning.

Contents: 1. Introduction 2 Tandem Learning: Background 3. Second Language Acquisition, Intercultural Competence and Tandem Learning 4. Researching Interculturality and Tandem Learning: Methodological Issues 5, Word Meaning and Conceptual Frameworks: Native Speakerness, Language in Use and Ownership 6. Shapes in the Conversations 7. Ownership of Meaning and Decentring Strategies 8. Identity and Distinction 9. Conclusion

Author Biography: Jane Woodin is Director of MA Studies in the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Sheffield, UK.