Culture and Language Learning in Higher Education

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Culture and Language Learning in Higher Education Byram, Michael. Multilingual Matters 1853592285 9781853592287 9780585195759 English Languages, Modern--Study and teaching (Higher)-Congresses, Language and culture--Congresses. 1994 PB35.C85 1994eb 418/.0071/1 Languages, Modern--Study and teaching (Higher)-Congresses, Language and culture--Congresses.

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Culture and Language Learning in Higher Education Edited by Michael Byram MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD Clevedon • Philadelphia • Adelaide

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Culture and Language Learning in Higher Education/Edited by Michael Byram. Papers presented at a colloquium held in Manchester, England in 1993. Also available as a special issue of Language, Culture and Curriculum, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1993. 1. Languages, Modern-Study and teaching (Higher)Congresses. 2. Language and CultureCongresses. I. Byram, Michael. PB35.C85 1994 418'.0071'1dc20 93-50831 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 1-85359-228-5 (pbk) Multilingual Matters Ltd UK: Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall, Victoria Road, Clevedon, Avon BS21 7SJ. USA: 1900 Frost Road, Suite 101, Bristol, PA 19007, USA. Australia: P.O. Box 6025, 83 Gilles Street, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia. Copyright © 1994 Michael Byram and the authors of individual chapters. This book is also available as a special issue of the journal Language Culture and Curriculum, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1993. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed and bound in Great Britain by Short Run Press, Exeter.

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Page iii Contents Introduction M. Byram

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The Case of Landeskunde: A Vicious Circle? D. Kerl

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Cultural Studies and Student Exchange: Living the Ethnographic Life C. Roberts

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Civilisation/Cultural Studies in Grenoble J.-P. Révauger

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Cultural Studies in English Studies: A German Perspective J. Kramer

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Documentary Analysis in Civilisation Studies: The French Approach 45 F. Poirier New Cultural Studies at Warwick University P. Breen:

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International Cultural Studies at Roskilde University K. Risager

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From NIMkhnBY Landeskunde to IMBY Cultural Studies H. Husemann:

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British Studies in English Language Teaching E.G. Woods:

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Communication in Foreign Lands: The Cause, Consequences and Cures of Culture Shock A. Furnham

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Introduction It has long been a commonplace among language teachers that their pedagogical aims include the encouragement in their learners of an interest in and opening towards a culture, people and country where the language in question is spoken. It is however in the interpretation of 'culture, people and country' that different periods and different forces have brought varying orthodoxies. 'Culture' has been variously interpreted as 'high' or 'classic' culture, in particular literature but also philosophy and fine art, or as the modes and conventions of social interaction in daily life and their reflection in literary and non-literary texts. Approaches to the 'country' include study of its history, and of the contemporary affairs reflected in its media. 'Peoples' have been studied in terms of national characteristics or through descriptions of the mundane events of their daily lives. The ways in which study of culture, people and country are related to learning and language per se, its grammar and lexis or its functions and notions, are also various. In the early stages of language learning, learners usually find themselves with one teacher who introduces them to the language and a society where it is spoken. This may be done in an integrated fashion, where for example the dictionary meanings of words are extended by references to their use in social contexts. It may also be done by providing separate 'background' information about the institutions of the society, leaving the learner to make connections. At advanced stages of learning, typically in higher education, the separation of language learning from study of the society is often symbolised for learners by their different teachers for linguistic and social or cultural studies. At all levels of learning, it is clear that a reconsideration of the relationship between linguistic and cultural, social or sociocultural learning is taking place; the lack of an agreed adjective parallel to 'linguistic' learning is just one sign of the process. For example, in the influential work on language learning at the Council of Europe, a new programme on 'Language Learning for European Citizenship' includes the formulation of objectives and modes of evaluation for 'sociocultural competence' in advanced language learning. In times of re-evaluation, traditions and innovations in different education systems can be juxtaposed to the profit of all concerned. It was in this spirit that a colloquium was held in Manchester in 1993 with the supportboth intellectual and financialof the Goethe-Institut (Manchester), the French Délégation Culturelle de l'Ambassade de France (Manchester) and the British Council. It brought together teachers and researchers in higher education in Germany, France, Britain and Denmark who could both describe and analyse the traditions

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of teaching culture and language in their countries, and give accounts of innovative practices in their own right. The papers written from that colloquium and presented here can be read in a number of ways. The broad structure of the collection is as follows: • Articles by Kerl and Roberts which question the nature of teaching for cultural learning and the disciplinary basis for the study of language and culture in higher education. • Articles by Révauger, Poirier, Kramer and Breen which describe national traditions and particular innovations in their institutions and in their own teaching. • Articles by Risager, Husemann and Woods which give particular prominence to project and fieldwork as innovative approaches - two of them drawing from anthropology and ethnography as a new disciplinary basis, as proposed by Roberts in her article. • An article by Furnham who, as a social psychologist, offers yet another disciplinary foundation from which to consider language and culture learning, especially when it involves residence in a foreign country; this provides a new perspective on those innovations, as described by Roberts, Woods and Husemann, which take students 'into the field' and into the wealth of emotional and experiential learning which inevitably ensues. There are other themes running through the articles which might also have been used as organisational principles: • Several authors, for example Roberts and Husemann, emphasise the 'reflexive' dimension of intercultural learning: learners are brought to analysis of their own cultural practices and modes of thinking as part of their preparation for the study of others. Breen similarly describes a course in cultural studies in which foreign and British students analyse aspects of British culture together. Risager's students do project work which has both an international and a national (Danish) focus. • Many of the students described in these articles will themselves become teachers and the particular importance of helping them to reflect upon learning processes and gather material for their teaching, is discussed by Roberts and Woods. Poirier, describing the French tradition of explication de texte, relates the qualities of mind generated through this exercise to the needs of the teaching profession and the modes of selection used in recruitment. • Almost all the articles provide insights into particular courses, into the ways in which they are organised and into the specific teaching methods used. Kramer, Révauger, Woods and Risager give examples of courses, themes and materials which might be borrowed and adapted for use elsewhere. Poirier and Kramer discuss in detail the methods they use in their classrooms. Woods, Roberts and Husemann describe how their methods take students out of the classroom and 'into' the country, culture and language which become constituents of their professional identity as 'linguists'.

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The issue of identity and of a disciplinary base in the 'academy' for those who teach culture and language is clearly one which underlies many of the articles here and much of the wider debate on cultural and linguistic learning in higher education. Kerl's opening article provides a perspective from a country in which, for culturally specific reasons, the question has been much debated in the last 100 years of language teaching. Révauger's argument, from a French viewpoint, stresses the need for a research base to support teaching as well as to underpin our position in the academy. One of the purposes of this collection is to support that argument further. Another is to provide readers with an opportunity to reconsider their own practice by learning about others'. It is this kind of reflection on self and one's own cultural practices which is at the heart of intercultural learning. It was a significant dimension of the Manchester colloquium and if this collection of papers extends the experience to other colleagues, it will have served one of its principal purposes. MICHAEL BYRAM SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM, LEAZES ROAD, DURHAM DH1 1TA, ENGLAND

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Culture and Language Learning in Higher Education Edited by Michael Byram MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD Clevedon • Philadelphia • Adelaide

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The Case of Landeskunde: A Vicious Circle? Dieter Kerl Universität Jena, Institut für Fremdsprachen, Leutragraben 1, D-07740 Jena, Germany Abstract Cultural Studies has a history of some 100 years in Germany, where it is known as Landeskunde or Kulturkunde, during which time it has been widely debated and written about. Yet its status is still low, relative to language teaching, and it is not certain that it will survive. The paper looks at the principal reasons for the predicament of Landeskunde and identifies the steps necessary to rectify the situation. Landeskunde tends to be eclectic in content and method, with the result that its status as an autonomous discipline is in question. It is trapped in a vicious circle because the only avenues of development open to it relegate it to a subsidiary role within language education. If it is to develop in the long term it will be necessary for it to define its objectives independently of language learning, as the understanding of other cultures and the promotion of international understanding. A special issue of the Journal of Area Studies, published in 1987, contained a number of thematically related articles which continued the long-running debate concerning the definition, history and status of language area studies as a discipline, and its relationships to other disciplines relevant to its work. The title of the special issue was: 'Area Studies: The Controversial Discipline' (Brierly, 1987). Such a title sounds familiar, because whenever area studies were discussed in the last century (the debate began at least in Germany around 100 years ago), it was discussed as a controversial issue. This controversy is also reflected in the Journal mentioned above, where both theoretical aspects as well as status questions of area studies (or Landeskunde, as it is called in Germany) are discussed. The Problem Brierley makes the attempt to define area studies using a systems approach. He criticises the fact that area studies as a relatively recent form of intellectual endeavour is attracting growing numbers of self-professed practitioners but relatively fewer theorists. Therefore, area studies seem to lack a consistent approach to the development of a conceptual model of the area under study, i.e. a methodology. For him, the 'synthesis' required in area studies should have a multidisciplinary basis. But he asks: 'How can we expect this synthesis to take place in the minds of our students when it has not yet taken place in the minds of many lecturers and course designers?' He therefore strongly advocates a systems approach in order to overcome the current confusion in course structures and teaching methods. His article makes clear what a close connection there is

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between theory and practice, and that questions about one cannot be answered satisfactorily without dealing with the other. This fact is underlined in another article of the same issue. Hahn (1987) gives a critical assessment of area studies at German and British universities. He criticises the fact that the majority of German Departments in British institutions of higher education still believe in the traditional language and literature course, with some lectures on history, thought and institutions. The teaching of Landeskunde is frequently delegated to the visiting Lektor and combined with language teaching. Such an attitude finds its expression in the fact thataccording to Hahnof the 73 British universities and polytechnics only 18 offered a course in area studies in a more specific sense (in 1986/87). Because of this unsatisfactory situation he formulates three needs: • the need to re-examine the course curriculum; • the need for methodological reform of area studies; • the need for closer co-operation internationally. For Hahn it is absolutely necessary to intensify research in these fields because otherwise he sees a real threat to the survival of area studies courses. Yet these courses are vital to improve the students' knowledge of the basic sociopolitical and socio-economic issues. 'A much more informed, specific and detailed knowledge of the target culture is now required', Hahn says. He puts a special emphasis on the historical dimension to the curriculum. There is nothing new in such demands. Again and again the comparatively low and insecure status of Landeskunde in German universities is debated by those who teach it. But little is seen which can be called an improvement or, still less a breakthrough. It seems as if most of the attempts of the past were futile. The dominance of the language and literature is obviously unchallenged, and Landeskunde departments, or even chairs for Landeskunde, are rare. Landeskunde is still lacking the general recognition as a discipline in its own right, with a function not only in language teaching but also in research. The question is how to overcome such a situation in the foreseeable future. One step forward would be to formulate a more clearly defined place for Landeskunde in the curriculum. At the moment there are many ways of teaching Landeskunde. It can be done from a social science standpoint, or under a literaturebased approach, or you can call it 'Cultural Studies', which is probably the least clearly defined approach to Landeskunde. Whatever you do, it will be accepted provided there is a link to the country in question. The attitude that Landeskunde can be taught unsystematically has unfortunately not yet been overcome. Despite so many attempts in the past, including conferences, books, and articles, we are still far from having a consensus on the basic questions: 'What should be taught as a minimum?', and, 'What kind of knowledge is required to enable somebody to understand a foreign culture, policy or everyday life?' A glance at Landeskunde seminars or lectures at German universities will reveal a mixture of almost everything. (In this regard, German universities do not differ much from British universities.) Instead of a systematic study of the subject, i.e. the country's geography, its history, culture, economy and politics, there will be

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a patchwork of topics chosen completely at random. Grube-Hell (1980) comes to the conclusion that there are 'only eclectic and largely unsystematically designed contents in curricula, syllabuses and textbooks'. Hohne & Kolboon (1982) come to a similar conclusion: 'In German universities, the study of the country, in the form of Landeskunde, is still largely taught by representatives of linguistic or literary sciences, or by specialists in teaching methods as a secondary activity, because there are scarcely any trained promoted specialists . . . Landeskunde becomes the football of institutional decision-making or personal whims'. It is very frustrating to see how many attempts have been made in the past to improve the situation and how little has been achieved, especially in the field of British Studies. Two of the clearest and most convincing documents are Empfehlung der Kommission Landeskunde (1974) and Kolloquium über Landes- und Kulturkunde (1972). It is there we can read the following demands: (a) The grounding of Landeskunde in formalised and, as far as possible, operationalised courses of study. (b) The systematic development of British, Romanic and Slavonic Studies in respect of Landeskunde in, initially, some universities. . . (c) The extension of staffing in institutions of higher education in respect of Landes- and Kulturkunde with appropriately qualified personnel. (d) The participation of the appropriate specialist disciplines in the teaching of Landes- and Kulturkunde and in interdisciplinary research. If these recommendations had been implemented in the meantime there would have been no need to quote them again. But unfortunately almost nothing has happened. On the contrary, in the so-called 'new states', i.e. East Germany, Landeskunde was (in Thuringia at least) abolished as a separate part of the final exam in the English teacher training programme. The Need for Landeskunde Yet there is no alternative to a proper study of Landeskunde. Just as a student of medicine has to study systematically the anatomy of the human body, a student of English has to study the 'anatomy' of Britain and the USA first before she/he can start teaching the language. And the teaching at university level has to be done by qualified staff. But so far there is no institution to be seen which trains people to enable them to teach this subject properly. This must have priority in the future. The present situation, where language teachers usually qualify in a long and sometimes painful process to do the job, must be overcome. A possible combination could be the study of history and political sciences together with the relevant languages. But even then the teaching of Landeskunde means life-long learning because the subject you teacha country and its peopleis constantly changing. There is no time to lose. International integration, especially here in Europe, has reached a point which makes it absolutely necessary to introduce Landeskunde as a field of study and teaching, both at the university level and in general education. The single European market is a real challenge for everyone working

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in the field, and, apart from these positive developments, there is a rising number of ethnic conflicts in Europe and in the world. These conflicts can only be successfully solved if we know the reasons for them. At the moment our knowledge of foreign civilisations, including those in Europe, is underdeveloped, to say the least. One of the reasons for rising xenophobia, especially in East Germany, is the lack of information about foreign civilisations. In a world which seems to get smaller and smaller for its inhabitants, points of disagreement can only be solved in a spirit of mutual understanding and the readiness for compromises. It is obvious that almost no problem in today's world can be solved by one nation alone. The peoples of the world depend on each other more than ever before. The recognition of this international dependence was one of the reasons for the policy of the 'new thinking' which ended the cold war. But as we know, the end of the cold war did not automatically bring about a peaceful world. On the contrary, while the 'great war' could be avoided, a large number of smaller wars have broken out both in Europe and in many other places in the world. Such wars are dangerous because they could easily get out of control at a time when the nuclear potentials are still there and could be made use of. The east-west conflict has now been replaced by a militant nationalism. The least we can do in such a situation is to make the outbreak of new conflicts less likely. The systematic teaching of Landeskunde as part of the general curriculum could contribute to an education for peace. There is no reason why when natural sciences are taught to a high level at school, the teaching of foreign civilisation is either non-existent or greatly underdeveloped. A systematic study and teaching of Landeskunde could help to develop a consciousness of mutual understanding and respect among peoples. Without that, necessary international co-operation cannot be developed. If we look upon Landeskunde debate from such an angle, it becomes quite obvious that the purpose of this subject is not just to enable students to understand a foreign language text more easily. Landeskunde has to be more than simply providing the necessary background information to facilitate understanding and avoid mistakes in the translation of words and phrases. Such a purely language-orientated concept of Landeskunde is no longer applicable. The aim of Landeskunde must be to provide the knowledge of a foreign country necessary to understand its problems, its politics and culture. How necessary it is to improve our knowledge about our neighbours' political and social life can be seen even in the relationship between two friendly nations like Britain and Germany. The recent past has shown so many examples of 'misunderstandings' and tensions which could have been at least partly avoided by a more profound knowledge of 'the other side' and by being more tactful and sensitive. Therefore it is not just an academic dispute whether Landeskunde is accepted as a discipline or not. The introduction of Landeskunde as a field of systematic study and teaching becomes a necessity, even though there are a number of obstacles.

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Conclusion Landeskunde as an academic field of study is faced with the problem that it is not one of the well-established disciplines which enjoy general recognition. Those who deny that Landeskunde is an ordinary discipline claim that it has no convincing theory and can therefore not be looked upon as a discipline. The consequence of such an attitude is that the subject is not properly dealt with in an academic way. In most cases emphasis is therefore laid on teaching only. Research is neglected, and there are no incentives to specialise in this field because degrees are not conferred in this field and academic careers are less likely. Such a discrimination against Landeskunde makes it very difficult if not impossible to develop its theory and eventually its disciplinarity. Quite apart from the fact that there is no generally accepted definition of the term 'discipline', the evolution of scientific disciplines is a very complicated and long-term process. Therefore there is a close connection between the provision of favourable organisational conditions and the development of the discipline itself. It is a vicious circle, indeed. How can a scientific discipline develop when it is constantly prevented from doing so and looked upon only as an 'auxiliary' means for the promotion of other sciences? The unsatisfactory state of affairs in Landeskunde is perpetuated as long as there is no recognition of the simple truth that Landeskunde has to have a place in the spectrum of social sciences, because its field of study cannot be dealt with properly by any other already existing discipline. The only way to break the vicious circle is to accept Landeskunde as a separate and independent field of study. There are good reasons to do so, because otherwise society as a whole will have to bear the consequences. References Brierley, W. (1987) Area Studies: A systems approach? Journal of Area Studies 15, 6-9. Hahn, H.J. (1987) Prolegomena towards the development of Area Studies in German. Journal of Area Studies 15, 10-13. Grube-Hell, I. (1980) Landeskunde als Teilbereich des Anglistikstudiums. Miinchen: MinervaPublikation. Höhne, R.A. and Kolboom, I. (1982) Landeskunde ohne Landeswissenwissenschaftler? Reihe Romanistik Nr. 27. Rheinfelden: Schäuble. Empfehlung der Teilnehmer am Internationalen Kolloquium iiber Landes- und Kulturkunde vom 10.-12. Oktober 1972 in Nürnberg. [Recommendation of the participants at the international colloquium on Landes- and Kulturkunde of 10-12 October 1972 in Nürmberg]. Praxis des neusprachlichen Unterrichts (1973) 1, 91.

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Culture and Language Learning in Higher Education Edited by Michael Byram MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD Clevedon • Philadelphia • Adelaide

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Cultural Studies and Student Exchange: Living the Ethnographic Life Celia Roberts School of English, Walpole House, 18-22 Bond St, London W5 5AA, England Abstract The paper discusses the value of both textual and ethnographic approaches to cultural studies. While recognising the importance of textual cultural studies, I suggest some limitations to it and argue for the centrality of 'living the ethnographic life' for any students spending a period of time abroad. Such approach combines the analytical and the experiential, based as it is on a methodology in which data and concepts illuminate each other. Language is no longer separated from social and cultural knowledge but 'lived' and developed within a community in which the student participates and studies. An ethnographic approach requires an intense engagement in the routine lives of ordinary people and as such brings both rigour and personal development to a cultural and language learning experience. Introduction This paper is based on a research and development project aimed at improving the cultural learning element of the modem languages degree in Britain. 1 The rationale of the project is that the period of residence abroad, which is an obligatory element of virtually all modern languages degree programmes, provides a unique opportunity for cultural learning. However, on most courses, it is assumed that such learning will take place by osmosis and little or no systematic preparation or follow-up is offered. So, a great opportunity for understanding different cultural practices from the inside is lost. Over the last three years, students on the Applied Languages Degree at Thames Valley University have participated in a new course, specifically designed to prepare them for the period abroad. This course is modelled on the kind of programme an anthropologist might need if they were to undertake an ethnographic study overseas. 'Ethnography' both as a methodology and as a written product provides concepts and methods which enable the student to undertake their own field work and write their own ethonographic project. (For an account of the project, see Barro, Byram, Grimm, Morgan, C. & Roberts, 1992.) The course takes into account that the students are linguists, with a particular interest in language use, and have no background in anthropology. In fact, its novelty is one aspect that the students are most positive about. They also appreciate the systematic approach to introducing cultural concepts and the experience-based work. Once they are abroad, the ethnographic experience acts as a spring-board and they find they have both the need and the confidence to

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start participant observation, while other students, who have followed a more conventional programme, are more likely to stay within their own language groups and rely on print-based material for their projects. The rest of this paper will discuss some of the broader issues in introducing cultural studies into language learning. It will argue that text based approaches are a useful but only partial solution to cultural learning and that ethnographic approaches make increasingly good sense as more students spend time abroad, in the field. Textual and Ethnographic Methods in Cultural Studies Cultural studies is, at the moment, a very elastic term. Within foreign language learning it may be synonymous with 'civilisation'. But this, in turn, is often seen as analogous to Landeskunde or 'area studies'. Yet, most 'area studies' courses at British Universities focus on the socio-political and economic aspects of a country and would not describe themselves as cultural. Outside mainstream language learning, cultural studies is dominated by cultural theory, drawing on Marxist and neo Marxist traditions and literature. There is little focused linguistic study within the definitions of cultural studies and the level of abstraction in much of its post-modern analysis makes it difficult to connect it with applied language studies. The 'cultural' in much language learning still remains at the level of unproblematic facts about the beliefs, values and behaviours of a nation. Where the conflictual and minority aspects of a nation are admitted, there is a tendency to focus on minorities to the exclusion of the majority. This may well be because minorities are stigmatised as different and their 'cultures' made explicit to the majority and so are more readily available for study by foreign language students. At the root of the difficulty in a culturally defined syllabus is the notion of studying another culture. It assumes that knowledge about belief systems and ways of behaving will provide the necessary 'background' for learning and using a language. But there is a fundamental problem in the way that such study positions the learner in relation to cultural knowledge and practices. She is constantly presented with information from the outside and never experiences, from the inside, the gradual accretion of ideas, values and ways of organising interaction which is the means by which anyone becomes a competent cultural member of their own community. Because learners rarely experience directly the contexts in which patterns of meaning and action are gradually learnt, language learning can become a technical, code-cracking exercise. As Bakhtin (1981) so suggestively puts it: 'the word in language is half someone else's . . . each word tastes of the context and contexts in which it has lived its socially charged life'. Recently, textual analysis and, specifically, critical textual analysis have been proposed as a solution to at least some of these problems. Drawing on both critical theory and media analysis, critical linguistics and critical discourse analysis have established a strong tradition in the English-speaking world. The close, critical analysis of texts solves a number of the problems in teaching about culture. Instead of a generalised overview of social and historical movements, the great

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moments in a nation's history, students are actively engaged in interpreting meanings from texts and linking them to the dominant ideological formations of society. In a recent study on cultural studies in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language, Brøgger (1992) has suggested an approach which draws on texts from the media, political speeches and tracts, and literature. A critical, or what Brøgger calls a cultural, analysis of these texts draws on anthropological and more general social knowledge. The texts are at the centre of the study and are used to bring out the ideological resonances of such topics as gender, politics and popular culture. This is a persuasive approach and should represent a significant element in a cultural studies course. (Peter Breen's article in this volume is an interesting example.) But there are limitations to it which relate both to the type of texts used and to the positioning of the learner. Brøgger makes the point that 'textual cultural studies' creates a world of discourse that can only be understood if the reader is culturally competent. But this is somewhat of a circular argument since the texts are being used to develop cultural competence. This circularity becomes a difficulty if the majority of texts used are from the media, both general features and advertisements. The world of discourse created by such texts is a very specific world which feeds off the dominant or majority value systems, and of course helps to construct them, but is always and only a representation of social views. Media texts are the icons of both implicit and explicit general belief systems. They are a commodity constructed by journalists and, like all commodities, are there to be sold. As such they must be newsworthy, or as in the case of articles on style or fashion, appealing to and constructing a particular lifestyle. Once they become texts for analysis, they take on an explicit iconic relationship to general or dominant cultural values. There is the danger of 'reading off' generalised values and beliefs in an unproblematic way. (The selection of a particular text within the media domain is itself also problematic. I have begun to wonder why the deconstruction of advertisements for female underwear is such a popular choice among male linguists.) A comparative perspective may help here, since students can draw on their own critical awareness of how media texts position them as readers and they can reflect on their individual compliance or resistance and on the more general role of the media in expressing and constructing popular meanings. But such a comparative approach assumes that there is a similar relationship between the media and its readership in the lives of the students and in the lives of those being studied in the foreign language and culture. The greater the differences between these lives, the more difficult it is to interpret the relationship between media texts and readership, and the more likely that these texts come to stand for the systems of thought and action which are seen as general characteristics of a country or a linguistic group. This brief discussion of media texts will serve as a more general critique of a sole reliance on texts in cultural studies, as cultural products to be de-coded. It seems that the critical theory and textual deconstruction of much cultural studies

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work is being slowly but gradually appropriated by language studies, but that the ethnographic element has been missing. Ethnography and Student Exchange The remainder of this paper will discuss both the importance of this ethnographic element and some ways in which it can be developed as a significant component in an undergraduate languages programme. There is both a theoretical and practical case for cultural learning through ethnography. Dell Hymes (1992) has made the point that we are born ethnographers of our own cultural world, but that as we grow up, we lose this capacity. The implication here, is that an ethnographic way of learning about our community is essential in our early years but that we close ourselves off from this reflective socialisation, start taking things for granted and sum up the differences in other communities in terms of stereotypes. The gradual process of learning and changing which fits us snugly into our repertoire of identities is forgotten and instead we rely on generalisations about others or, at best, as suggested above, use texts to provide us with scripts for understanding. An ethnographic approach is as near as any student can get, in the few years of an undergraduate programme, to learning new cultural systems and practices from the inside. From a practical perspective, increasing numbers of students, through ERASMUS and other programmes, are now being offered a period of residence abroad as part of their programme. The analogy with the anthropologist's field study and ethnography is apt, if rather optimistic. Language students like anthropologists can develop a methodology and set of techniques which draw them into the field, focus them on the activities and practices of a particular group and help them to make sense of and rationalise these activities and practices in ways similar to those they are studying. In addition to ethnographic methods of participant observation, interviewing and reflexivity in the analysis and writing up of data, students need a conceptual framework in order to discover a line of argument in the mass of detailed notes, transcriptions and documents. They work all the time between the particular and the patterned and more general, seeking a way of looking at things which gives meaning to that group's practices at a conceptual level. For example, the managing of contradictions within a particular social identity can account for why a group present themselves in a certain way. One student's 'home ethnography' (a short study on some aspects of their own study which all students are required to do before their ethnographic project abroad) was concerned with the macho image of leather wearing despatch riders. They dress and present themselves as representing free-wheeling independent riders but the reality of their jobs is highly constraining. Managing the tension between their ideal and the banal reality, forced them to construct an identity of themselves as free and autonomous beings which they attempted to live out with each other. Another student while in Spain, asked the question 'What impact does a major socialising force like the Catholic Church have on a family group?' She was interested in the way religion entered into the everyday life of a particular family,

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for example, how the ritual of meal times was influenced by religious practice and the extent to which social space was marked out and used for religious purposes. A conceptual framework is, therefore, an important part of any ethnography for language learning course. Looking for meaning in terms of concepts provides students with a vocabulary for accounting for what they discover. Instead of noticing and rationalising differences in terms of evaluative, and often negative, stereotypes, they can use concepts to illuminate the data. There is not the space, here, to describe the conceptual work that students are expected to cover, instead will focus on two aspects of ethnography which take students into the field and which are at the linguistic end, so to speak, of ethnographic work. Communication The first of these is the ethnography of communication (Gumperz & Hymes, 1972; Hymes, 1974; Bauman & Shrzen, 1974; Saville-Troike, 1982). In the traditional use of this term, the ethnography of communication is a way of accounting for the rules of interaction in ritual events. In order to be a competent member of a community, these rules of speaking and interacting must be known and used. An ethnography of an event such as a religious ceremony, an act of litigation, a formal story telling or even asking for a drink (Frake, 1964) needs to account for both the behaviour and the values, assumptions and beliefs which give it meaning. For example, on the Ethnography course at Thames Valley University, an excerpt is shown from the BBC's Vanishing World series, Onka's Big Mokka. This is a documentary about tribal practices in New Guinea in which power and influence is asserted, by one tribe over another, not by acts of violence but by the obligation of gifts. Over the years, Onka's tribe accumulates sufficient gifts, in the form of livestock, to have a 'Mokka' for the neighbouring tribe. This giftgiving ceremony overpowers the other tribe, who in accepting the gifts, admit their lower status. The notion of exchange as a way of winning a victory over a local tribe stands as a metaphor for the rituals of exchange and gift giving in modern urban society. More recently, within urban ethnography, the ethnography of communication has moved away from formal ritual events and now focuses on the more informal rituals of routine and institutional encounters in classrooms, at work, within family and other aspects of social life (Gumperz, 1984; Erikson & Schutz, 1982) There is increasing emphasis on the linguistic and interactional specificity of routine interactions, borrowing techniques from conversation analysis (Atkinson & Heritage, 1984) and focusing on the conditions under which shared interpretation takes place (Gumperz, 1984). For language students out in the field, focus on the fine grained details of how hidden ritual and practical reasoning combine to jointly construct shared understanding is both a highly intense language learning experience and an experiential way into the 'fabric of meaning' (Geertz, 1957) which constitutes cultural practices.

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The second aspect of ethnography which may be particularly attractive to linguists is an approach generally known as ethno-semantics (Agar, 1980; Werner & Schoepfler, 1989) with its roots in cognitive and linguistic anthropology. This approach is concerned with an understanding of the cultural world of informants through elicitation of the folk categories they use to describe and make sense of their everyday lives and a semantic analysis of these categories. Werner & Schoepfler describe two typical kinds of ethnographers who rely on participant observation only in their studies. They describe them as either 'lurkers' or 'soakers'. They argue that although participant observation is a key element in ethnography, it is important, also, to elicit the language and perceptions of informants if ethnographers are to understand their world from the inside. The insider perspective is achieved through extended informal interviews or ethnographic conversations in which informants are encouraged to describe and account for the cultural practices of their day to day lives. For example, Spradley, in his study of American tramps elicited a number of what he called 'cover terms' such as 'making a flop' (Spradley, 1970). Through further interviews and semantic analysis he derived a network of associations around this term which accounted for the many different ways in which tramps found shelter for the night. For example, he discovered the different kinds of 'flops', different ways of making a flop (means/end), different reasons for making a flop (rationale), different places to do a flop (location) and so on. In this way, he gradually built up a picture, systematically, of what it meant to be a tramp. Another approach within ethno-semantics is to look for and work on what Agar calls 'rich words' (Agar, 1991) These are lexical items which have particular significance and depth within a community. He explored the meanings around the Austrian German word 'schmäh' (a rough gloss on which would be that things are not what they seem but are much worse). He collected data on this word through anecdotes and ethno-semantic interviews, trying to chip away beneath the surface of a term, which as he says is 'heavily puttied' with associative meanings or, as Bakhtin would say, 'socially charged'. For students writing ethnographic projects, ethno-semantics provides a framework for undertaking detailed semantic analysis within a more holistic approach in which the emergent values and belief systems are gradually made more explicit. Student ethnographers need to lurk and soak up the atmosphere, but as linguists, this focus on the linguistic/conceptual patterns of their world may be especially relevant. Notes 1. The project Cultural Studies in Advanced Language Learning is funded by the ESRC for the period 1990-1993. It is directed by Mike Byram and Celia Roberts and run with Ana Barro and Hanns Grimm at Thames Valley University. A full set of teaching materials for the Ethnography course will be available in the Autumn 1994. Details from the author.

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References Agar, M. (1980) The Professional Stranger. New York: Academic Press. (1991) The biculture in bilingual. Language in Society 20, 167-81. Atkinson, M. and Heritage, J. (1984) Structures of Social Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bakhtin, M. (1981) The Dialogic Imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press. Bauman, R. and Sherzer, J. (1974) Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Brøgger, F. (1992) Culture, Language, Text. Scandinavian University Press. Barro, A., Byram. M., Grimm, H., Morgan, C. and Roberts C. (1992) Cultural studies in advanced language learning. In D. Graddol, L. Thompson and M. Byram (eds) Language and Culture. Clevdon: Multilingual Matters. Frake, C. 0. (1964) How to ask for a drink in Subanun. American Anthropologist 66, 127-32. Geertz, C. (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books. Gumperz, J. (1984) Communicative Competence Revisited (Berkeley Cognitive Science Report Series). Berkeley: University of California. Gumperz, J. and Hymes, D. (1972) Directions in Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Hymes, D. (1974) Sociolinguistics and the ethnography of speaking. In B. Blount (ed.) Language, Culture and Society. Cambridge, MA: Withrop Publishers. (1991) Remarks made at a roundtable discussion. Conference of the Ethnography of Communication, Portland State University, August 13-15. Quoted in J. Hall (1993) The role of oral practices in the accomplishment of our everyday lives. Applied Linguistics 14, 145-66. Saville-Troike, M. (1982) The Ethnography of Communication. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Spradley, J. (1970) You Owe Yourself a Drunk. Boston: Little Brown. Werner, O. and Schoepfler, G. (1989) Systematic Fieldwork. Vols 1 and 2. California: Sage.

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Culture and Language Learning in Higher Education Edited by Michael Byram MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD Clevedon • Philadelphia • Adelaide

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Civilisation/Cultural Studies in Grenoble Jean-Paul Révauger Université Stendhal, Grenoble III, Department d'Etudes Anglophones, BP 25 F-38040 Grenoble Cedex, France Abstract Programmes in Civilisation/Cultural Studies at the University of Grenoble are described and discussed. It is argued that the professional core of Civilisation/Cultural Studies lies in the study of the relationship between context and discourse, the latter in the broad sense that includes cultural artefact generally. Here the necessity for the perspective of the outsider, combined with some linguistic competence, creates the possibility of a distinctive disciplinary basis for Civilisation/Cultural Studies. The work of Pierre Bourdieu has been found especially helpful in the Grenoble programme because of its focus on the relationship between ideas and their socio-historical context. In spite of increasing demand, many problems remain for the discipline, ranging from restrictive interpretations of 'culture' to commercial competition from private language schools. As progress is made towards European integration, it may be that the future of Civilisation/Cultural Studies lies outside the language departments in the new structures developing to promote exchange of students and academic staff. The teaching of Civilisation at Grenoble takes place in two types of institutions: (1) those devoted to the teaching of the sciences, including the social sciences, and (2) those devoted to the training of specialists, including language specialists. We will begin with a brief description of the two programmes Civilisation/Cultural Studies for Science Students Many of the academic institutions which are not primarily in charge of the training of specialists in languages include Civilisation/Cultural Studies in their language curricula. However, their main purpose is not the training of specialists in English. Colleagues have found that the study of civilisation/culture could make language learning more attractive and efficient, in spite of the heavy bias of the academic community in favour of sciences. Demand in this field is considerable, and will remain very high over the years to come, since the campus at Grenoble, which currently accommodates 40,000 students, is due to expand to 60,000 by the end of the century. Indeed, a language centre is being built. It is hoped that it will include a 'civilisation/cultural element', which will be combined with modern methods of language teaching. The emphasis on modernity and innovation is not just rhetorical. It is due to the fact that language teaching in French secondary education tends to be considered very critically. The average linguistic competence of young students

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is usually seen as very low, and the degree of satisfaction of secondary school students is thought to be fairly low. Such subjective judgements should be taken into account, for what they are worth. It is quite clear that language teaching in Universities must not be seen to be the logical sequel to language teaching in secondary schools, but, on the contrary, that different methods should be used. Civilisation/Culture is very rarely taught on a systematic basis, with a logical progression and curriculum, for several reasons: (a) because of the wide variety and rapid turnover of teachers, with different backgrounds and degrees of competence or interest in the subjectthis situation will obviously not improve in the years to come, since demand widely exceeds our capacity; (b) because civilisation/culture is seen mostly as auxiliary in the teaching of the language; (c) because it is supposed to make language teaching more attractive, which would not be the case if a formal curriculum was imposed. In spite of this, a number of 'enlightened' successful pilot courses have been set up over the years (e.g. on Canadian society at the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, Prof. Hélène Gréven). However, should language teaching be closely related to the different European exchange programmes, it should be possible to introduce as part of the aims of the course, the understanding of the alien culture and a certain amount of knowledge about this culture. Civilisation/Cultural Studies for Specialists The training of specialists takes place in the English department at Grenoble University and, for teachers, in the teacher training college (IUFM), from their 4th year onward. 'Specialists' include prospective teachers of English and clerical/ executive staff in the private sector. The latter also receive tuition in some social sciences (economics/law) and learn another language. 'Specialists' follow a curriculum including DEUG and post-DEUG courses. DEUG Courses 1st Year: British political institutions and political life (one lecture a week and half an hour of seminar). The seminars are devoted to the study of documents (xeroxed) relevant to the curriculum, and of a questionnaire. This takes place during the second semester. The first semester is devoted to US Civilisation, on similar lines. On top of this, a limited cohort of students (50), chosen among the future teachers of English, follows two hours a week of lectures on British/American history of ideas and civilisation. This includes a course on Britain in the 1960s, a course on British History of ideas in the 18th century, the British media, and American history. Students are offered written exercises, in the form of the essay (the French 'dissertation').

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2nd Year: The course is different for prospective teachers (who concentrate on one language) and future private sector staff. In both cases, the courses will be historical, but the future teachers will start with the Industrial Revolution, others with the post War World. The methodology is that of a lecture, supplemented with set books (e.g. Sked & Cook's PostWar Britain) The limited cohort of specialists will study The American Dream, and British History of Ideas from 1945 to the Present Day. Post-DEUG Courses 3rd year ('licence') The difference between 'applied languages' and the 'specialised course' is much greater during the 3rd year. The reason for this is that the best students from the 'applied languages' stream follow fairly heavy courses in social sciences, and that only those who were not accepted in this selective stream, i.e. weaker students, are left. Therefore, the civilisation curriculum becomes very light, and only includes a small number of historical lectures on the British Welfare system and Britain's integration in the European Community. This is supplemented by seminars, during the second semester, in which texts are discussed. Conversely, the 'licence' for specialists is a very difficult year. Students have to follow compulsory courses and choose from a number of options. The compulsory course, also based on lectures (there are over 150 licence students), includes Britain from the 19th to the 20th century. One of the options, which has a sequel in the 4th year, is devoted to cultural studies. It is introduced by a historical presentation of the discipline, focusing on the relationship between the socio-political context and the evolution of 'cultural studies' as an independent field. A central point of cultural studies (the relationship between the context and discourses) is therefore developed and used to problematise and understand the development of cultural studies themselves. It starts from Richard Hoggart, moves on to Raymond Williams, E. P. Thompson, then Stuart Hall and the CCCS, and finally recent developments in the field e.g. the study of popular culture, John Fiske, etc. The methodological element is present, but to a limited extent. This introduction (10 hours of lectures) is followed by courses on 18th century ideas, (Swift), the urban novel in Scotland today, the novels (John Braine, Room at the Top) and plays (Osborne) of post-war urban Britain. The total number of hours is 50 for the year. The 4th year (maîtrise) is an introduction to research. Students can choose to focus on civilisation or cultural studies, or anything else (linguistics, lit., American studies etc.) A seminar is therefore offered to students wanting to choose cultural studies/civilisation. The Dissertation (in the English sense of the word, 'mémoire' in French), which is the backbone of the maîtrise, can be written on an agreed topic in civilisation/cultural studies. However, all students also have to follow a weekly course in the 'methodology of civilisation' (as well as a course on the methodology of linguistics and the methodology of literature). The methodology course includes a mixture of the following. • Lectures on developments in history (French Nouvelle Histoire, The British Marxist historians), or in sociology (including the study of contemporary

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French authors, Pierre Bourdieu, Jean Baudrillard, but also the Frankfurt School etc.). • Critical presentations by students of a number of books which are either suggested by myself or by them. Such books illustrate or announce the lectures on such and such a topic, i.e. a talk on Pierre Bourdieu's La Distinction leads to a discussion and lecture on Bourdivine theory. The books can range from the highly abstract to the descriptive, from the polemical to the 'academic'. Any kind of document can lead to an analysis. • A few (very few) texts, illustrating recent developments in GB, presenting an interest from an ideological point of view. The aim is to teach students about the different theories present on the intellectual market in the field of social sciences and to encourage them to analyse critically discourses by relating them to the determinisms which weigh upon them. This also applies to academic discourses, which, until the 4th year, had been presented to students as 'objective science'. Critical analysis is all the more difficult since language students have so for always been encouraged to identify with the target culture, mimic its language and to some extent mental processes. Indeed they have chosen to study the language precisely because they enjoyed assuming a different identity. Standing back, highlighting differences between French and British cultures, refusing to take reflexes or 'commonsense' for granted is therefore not easy. The emphasis laid on the work of Pierre Bourdieu is not solely due to the teacher's obsessions. The study of determinisms, of the combination of personal strategies and socio-historical factors, and of the relationship between 'taste' or 'ideas' and the context has proved very useful. It encourages students to treat civilisation artefacts or cultural documents as testimonies of particular contexts, evidence of the authors' strategies, not as works of genius that should necessarily be admired or discourses that should be absorbed or taken on. A contradiction appears during this 4th year course between on the one hand the needs of students who would be happy to contemplate the teaching profession, and on the other hand those wanting to branch off into research. Research students should be geared towards those areas with the greatest potentialities, both intellectually and in terms of job opportunities. Prospective teachers need to master those exercise which will help them with their competitive exams. The gap between the two seems to widen gradually, for a number of reasons which include the dramatic improvements in the French doctoral schools system (the DEA is now a proper course, with 300 hours of seminars), the rapid increase in the number of research positions and jobs in higher education (Allocataires de recherché, moniteurs, ATER), which make research an attractive prospect, and, conversely, the reforms introduced in the recruitment and training of secondary school teachers, which are much more oriented towards vocational activities and pedagogy than they used to be. The gap between 'education' and 'research' seems to be widening. Research in education, in spite of a number of convincing projects, of rising demand (and of polite noises), is still regarded patronisingly by academia, and by most of our 4th year students. Research in civilisation/

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culture will therefore not be primarily devoted to pedagogical issues, although this occasionally happens. 5th year: DEA courses are much more specialised and will focus either on fields which the team of researchers has decided to investigate (e.g. in our case, social policy) or methodological issues, i.e. problems with comparative work, cultural studies etc. Methods The emphasis in civilisation teaching is laid during the first two years on the acquisition of a certain amount of knowledge, and during the 4th year on methodology, the 3rd year including both elements. This is the result of a deliberate choice on the part of the Department but is also due to the fact that we have a considerable number of students, and that lectures are thought to be the most economic form of teaching, although their effectiveness is controversial. The two types of exercises a specialist in English is supposed to master are textual analysis (commentary) and essay ('dissertation'). This is vital to students who want to embrace the teaching profession, since the competitive exams leading to it (CAPES & Agrégation) include both exercises. The commentary is found particularly useful in so far as it requires students to situate the document in its context, placing it in the continuum of British history and culture. Students are expected to provide an explanation whenever difficult concepts or specific events are mentioned, but the point is not primarily to check their knowledge on the question. The strategy of the authors, the nature of the document, as well as the relationship between the issues found in the text and the contemporary approaches to the question are much more important. Students experience three types of difficulties: (1) First of all not to embark in a debate with the authors of the texts. This is a natural tendency with modern documents, especially since secondary school pupils are encouraged to respond to challenging texts, and produce some sentence in a foreign language, irrespective of what they actually say. (2) The second temptation is to reproduce the lectures they have grown accustomed to ever since they entered university, and abandon any critical judgement on the documents. (3) The third type of problem arises with students who concentrate on an analysis of the form of the document, the rhetoric etc. and tend to neglect the ideological or historical aspects. This is due to the influence of literary textual analysis. Ironically, the secondary effects of our teaching are just as bad as those of some medical treatments. The Future: Pedagogy and Research On the one hand, language departments have a number of needs. Given the current explosion in demand for languages, we must keep in mind the fact that

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the training of specialists and that of non-specialists cannot be met in the same way (volens nolens) Prospective specialists need to acquire not only the empathy or the scepticism of the anthropologist, but a body of knowledge in the field of political science, history, sociology, economics. The curriculum of language departments should therefore include an element of civilisation roughly equivalent to the volume of literary topics. Given the traditional importance of literature in language studies, this will take a long time, and because of the shortage of qualified staff, language departments might have to open positions for some time to colleagues poached from the social sciences. 3rd, 4th and 5th year teaching should gradually emphasise methodology. On the other hand, immediate pedagogical needs should not be the only guiding principle. Whenever teaching is divorced from research, it loses touch with the evolution of the field, runs the risk of dogmatism and it can easily encourage the uncritical absorption and servile reproduction of other people's thoughts. A discipline, or even a pluridisciplinary field such as ours, should have a scientific life of its own and find its own ways of assessing the work of its members if it is to make any progress at all. Civilisation/Cultural Studies should have a scientific logic of their own. This is not the case today. Being a pluridisciplinary field is quite an asset, since most scientific advances today are made at the boundary of traditional disciplines. However, pluridisciplinarity can only function if it attracts several researchers with a high degree of competence in one discipline, and an understanding of others. The problem we have, as an institution partly devoted to the training of tomorrow's researchers and teachers, is to define what exactly should be the kind of competence expected from 'civilisation' specialists. This means we must identify those areas where original research can be undertaken by our own students and staff. If 'civilisation' is construed as the entirety of human knowledge and practice from Lucy to Madonna, it is quite clear that most fields are already covered by existing scientific communities. We can obviously interact with them, but we will be expected to bring some kind of competence other than an amateurish veneer in economics or history. My contention is that, as far as research is concerned, there should be a hard core in civilisation studies that we should concentrate on, an area which we can understand better than others, thanks to our position as outsiders, and to our training in language, literature and social sciences. This might be the case in several areas, but the most obvious candidate seems to be the study of the relationship between context and discourse, which is a tentative definition of cultural studies. Discourse is here understood in the widest possible sense as any cultural artefact, be it literary, architectural, legal, political, contemporary or historical. The study of the historical, social, political, ideological determinisms which weigh upon decision making, upon the production of culture, and social behaviour in a foreign country is something only language specialists can engage in. This is of course not to say that we should shun common projects with colleagues from the Social Sciences. On the contrary, our contribution to those

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projects is much easier whenever social scientists can see clearly what we have on offer. The current situation is the worst we can imagine. A small minority of 'civilisation' specialists obtain access to and recognition by the social sciences, but the discipline as such is ignored. The existence of cultural studies as a semi-autonomous field in Britain, and the English-speaking world generally is a considerable asset, in so far as it provides us with a series of methods, a lively and controversial scientific production to which we can relate. The openness of the field towards foreign theories and its relationship with anthropology pave the way for new advances. Among the obstacles that have to be overcome are the mutual distrust and competing strategies of the upholders of traditional language studies, for whom the apex of knowledge is classical literature, and on the other hand those of us who have been striving, over the years, to broaden the scope of language studies. The potentialities of an ecumenical view of 'civilisation' (including cultural studies) but also the strength of the resistance to it appeared quite clearly in the conference on the methodology of civilisation studies organised in Grenoble in January 1992. 'Culture' is a very contentious term and could be interpreted as 'legitimate' classical, i.e. recognised literary or aesthetic production. Cultural studies must not be a mere repackaging of literary lectures. There is no easy way out of this debate, and the interpretation that eventually dominates in European language studies will depend heavily on the overall ideological and political context. Should traditionalism prevail, the gap between legitimate subjects and illegitimate ones would widen very quickly. On the other hand, there is little point in developing a descriptive kind of 'civilisation' that deliberately excludes cultural issues and merely depicts the features of the target society in an uncritical way. If no questions are asked, description could lead to a conservative approach in which institutions and social features are presented as works of nature, and national identities as time-hallowed objects of worship. In this case too, we are heavily dependent upon which way the wind is blowing. With European integration, demand for languages and for 'Civilisation/ Culture Studies' is bound to grow very rapidly. Plenty of room will be available for experiments, but material constraints, the pressure of tradition, and competition from profit making language schools might well maintain the experiments within very strict limits. It may be the case that the most innovative sectors will not be the traditional and prestigious language departments or language centres, but institutions deliberately geared towards European exchanges which integrate as part of their fundamental objectives the understanding of the mental mechanisms of Europeans. Autonomous research activities and the training of young academics and teachers is an absolute necessity if Civilisation/Culture Studies is to become a fully fledged discipline, or even a recognised pluridisciplinary scientific field.

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Culture and Language Learning in Higher Education Edited by Michael Byram MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD Clevedon • Philadelphia • Adelaide

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Cultural Studies in English Studies: A German Perspective Jürgen Kramer Universität Bielefeld, Oberstufen Kolleg, Postfach 8640, D-33615 Bielefeld, Germany Abstract A unit from an English Studies programme at the University of Bielefeld is analysed and commented on. The topic, Colonialism and Slavery in the British Empire, was presented to students using a wide range of materials, including songs, illustrations, literature, and social history. The objective was to help the students, future teachers of English, to use the target language as a means of access to the wide range of cultures and societies all over the world that it has affected. This should encourage them to reflect on their own language and culture also. Teaching Cultural Studies: Principles Over the past ten years or so, a tentative consensus has developed amongst people concerned with the discipline of Anglistik in Germany that its traditional tendency of stressing philology, linguistic history and literary hermeneutics and concomitantly of neglecting culture, politics and didactics should be transformed and that English Studies, newly conceived, should be the study of English as a foreign language, that is as a means of access to a wide range of cultures and societies all over the world. The primary goal of English Studies should then be that students are enabled to use English in the greatest possible variety of contexts in Britain, Europe and the world. Consequently, English Studies (as defined above) should certainly focus on but not be confined to England (or Britain), but should include those parts of Europe (Ireland, Scotland, Wales) and North America (Canada, USA) in which English is spoken, as well as those countries in the world in which English is either the first, second or one of the official languages (cf. Crystal, 1987: 3579). If this is agreed upon the traditional Anglistik university curriculum for future teachers of English, combining Language Practice with Language and Literary Studies will have to be complemented by Didactics (or the skill to mediate learning process by) and Cultural Studies. Both additions demand that those who train and who are trained to use English learn to work in an inter-disciplinary way. The relevant contributions of the neighbouring disciplines have to be included. Historically speaking, Cultural Studies as a distinct area is the latest addition to the fields which need to be covered in the training of teachers, journalists and other cultural mediators concerned with English-speaking cultures and societies in the world. Formerly, other concepts for bringing in the cultural dimension were practised.

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In the 'old Bundesländer', Landeskunde (if it was on offer at all) either was thought to provide the indispensable context for linguistic and/or literary studies, or is was regarded as a body of factual knowledge (of British life and institutions) added on to the language practice which was mainly provided by native speakers. Both approaches were ancillary and therefore unsatisfactory: the former did not go beyond providing the context for something else, i.e. it did not present any conceptual or systematic knowledge of the foreign culture in its own right which then could have been applied to other problems; the latter did not sufficiently connect the knowledge of the 'facts and figures' it provided with concrete and current issues possibly relevant to the students (and their future work). In the 'new Bundesländer' attempts at providing systematic, transferable knowledge of the foreign culture(s) existed (cf. Autorenkollektiv, 1989)and this challenge has still to be metbut these suggestions were, at least in part, impaired by the fact that they presented one instead of a variety of competing views of the foreign culture(s) under discussion. I should like to briefly introduce a concept of Cultural Studies (cf. Kramer, 1990) which tries to avoid the mistakes mentioned above by starting with very concrete cultural and/or social problems, but linking them to wider issues so that the cultures and societies as distinctly structured entities come into view; forging a link between the subjective needs and/or interests of the students and what is required of them in their future work; concentrating on the fact that trying to understand a foreign culture always implies taking a critical view of one's own. Cultural Studies Coming into contact with a foreign culture usually triggers off a very complex process: we feel a certain distance towards it (or towards its representations) and, at the same time, we are curious, we want to get nearer to it, overcome the distance, bridge the gap. We feel drawn towards it and, perhaps at the same time, repelled. We detect features which appear very familiar to us at first sight (we almost feel at home) but which become quite unfamiliar if we take a second look at them, and we also detect features which, we think, we will never understand, but sometimes we get accustomed to them in the briefest time possible. Handling these intercultural differences demands appropriating diverse signifying practices of a foreign culturemost notably the linguistic onethrough the medium of one's own means of signification. This process produces a double effect. On the one hand, our appropriation of a foreign means of signification (like the English language) does not leave it 'untouched': in acquiring bits and pieces of it we transform it (usually through reduction) in such a way that we can use it. On the other hand, our appropriation of a foreign means of signification does not leave us 'untouched', either: in the process of acquisition, our world-view changes; it is, however subtly, transformed by bits and pieces of information; by a certain feeling engendered by a

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particular sequence of words or sounds; by our developing competence to use words and phrases and, thereby, evoke reactions which, again, may trigger off a new chain of exchange. Moreover, learning a foreign language is a hermeneutic process in which we expose our own cultural identity to the contrasting influences of a foreign language and culture and in so doing possibly, hopefully take hold and make use of the possibility of re-living and reflecting that process in which we learnt our mother tongue. We can even go one step further. If learning a foreign language and, in the process, learning a foreign culture implies exposing one's cultural identity, it could also be said that we gain and develop our identities in and through the processes in which we differ from others. The others are the ones who let us know, who make us perceive and realise who we are in our cultural specificity. And, of course, as this is a dialectical process, we do them the same service. This mutual experience of otherness shapes our different identities. This process, however, is anything but easy. It demands that we actively seek the encounter and that we listen to those others: the better we listen to them, the more we understand ourselves. And we can say that, paradoxically, we best understand ourselves, when we most successfully adopt the perspective of the others. If we learn to see the world from different perspectives, we will realise that our view of the world is not the only possible one, but that there are other views which are of equal worth or which are even better. To assume the perspectives of the others, if only for some time, can produce tolerance and the willingness to accept them in their difference from us. Teaching Cultural Studies in English Studies means that we have to enable our students to approach the most relevant processes of (a) social development (b) signification and (c) identity formation of the foreign culture(s) so that they, by communicating about them, can learn about and compare these processes with what they know about their own (and possibly other cultures). Furthermore, we have to organise the approaches to the foreign culture(s) on different levels of abstraction and concreteness. Cultural knowledge has to be more than just establishing a context for a text, a song or any other cultural product because if we do not provide this kind of knowledge on an (exemplary) micro-level and on an (intermediate, configurative) mezo-level and on a (systematic) macro-level, we prevent students from seeing and understanding the examples, the particular cultural processes (and their products) under discussion as parts of larger social configurations, structures and systems. But if exemplary (contextual) knowledge is developed, if it (then) becomes a logical part of configurative and systematic knowledge, it may enable students to use it productively in (i.e. transfer it to) new contexts. Reggae Let me give you an example: many German students of English like listening to music and quite a number of them have a preference for reggae. Now, listening to music and, perhaps, communicating about it (either in the native or in a foreign context) is a realistic everyday situation for which we have to prepare and equip

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our students because this is most probably the level on which they (as teachers) will have to meet and engage with their pupils. Bob Marley's Redemption Song, for example, provides us with the opportunity of using it as a lead-in to a discussion of reggae and its meaning for the students. But in addition, this particular song offers a great variety of possibilities for developing different case studies in Cultural Studies. The beginning of the song, for example, 'Old pirates yes they rob I/sold I to the merchant ships/minutes after they took I from the/bottomless pit' suggests questions like 'What kind of pirates? What has modern reggae to do with them? Weren't there black people in the Caribbean from the beginning? If not, where did they come from?' To answer these questions the students could be asked to study material on the history of the Caribbean, the slave trade, its origins and development as well as its particular form on the Atlantic. They could also do some research on the Blacks' living conditions in Africa (before they were captured), on the life on the ships during the Atlantic crossing (the 'Middle Passage') and on the plantations in the Americas. In discussing these topics, we would move to and fro between the micro-level and the mezolevel: relating examples of particular histories (e.g. slave narratives, log books of slavers, parliamentary documents) to each other, thus making visible a larger network which enables us to make a guess at the way in which a particular social formation functioned. When we reach the problem of linking Europe and the slave trade (key term: triangular trade) we have surely reached the macro-level. The configuration 'slave trade' and its larger context 'triangular trade' are not really understandable without reference to a more systematic analysis of the history of European expansion. In short, we have to describe and analyse the ideas of Mercantilism (and their refutation by Adam Smith and the proponents of Free Trade). Moreover, we have to introduce concepts such as Merchant Capital, and we have to make these terms understood, in turn, in the framework of a more comprehensive idea, i.e. Primary Accumulation Capital (cf. Figure 1). After this one could invite the students to attend once more to more specific issuesbut this time to current issues, e.g. processes of migration in the present. They could try to • find something out about the way in which Germany, Britain and other European countries deal with immigrants, • compare the problematic across cultures and across different historical periods, and • evaluate and judge their findings. To repeat: I am as much interested in teaching an important aspect of world history relevant to English Studies as in forging a link between the initial attraction of a certain kind of music with a particular history and the lives (the interests, the identities) of my students. Because if they learn to connect their (and, later, their pupils') selective interests (e.g. in reggae) with their wider implications (here: processes of migration), if they succeed in viewing the elements of their (and their pupils') lives (e.g. the preference for a certain kind of music) from a more systematic point of view (here: this particular kind of music as a cultural

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Figure 1 element in a specific struggle of resistance and/or for survival), they also will, hopefully, acquire (and mediate) a different (and possibly more coherent and/or critical) view of the world and their part in it. Teaching Cultural Studies: A Case Study Background I teach English at the Oberstufen-Kolleg, University of Bielefeld (Germany). The Oberstufen-Kolleg (OS) combines the 'Sekundarstufe II' (upper school level) with the initial two to four semesters (varying in accordance with the subjects chosen) of university study in four years for ca. 800 students. The OS is not only an educational institution but it is also a research institution; this consists of the development of units and sequences of curricula, new forms of learning and teaching, new modes of tutorial counselling, methods of evaluation, opportunities for student participation in planning and organisation etc., all of which are to be developed and tried out in such a way that they can possibly be adopted by other institutions of education at school and higher education level. The dual character of the OS as an experimental Kolleg and curriculum workshop makes it necessary for the teachers working in it to function simultaneously as teachers and curriculum researchers. This means that curricula are not developed here by a group of researchers at the 'drawing-broad', as it were, and then put into practice by teachers in schools elsewhere; much more it implies that they are devised, put into practice, revised, and published by the same people in the same institution. The curricula at the OS can be defined in terms of the five types of courses:

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(1) The OS sets out to make available to every student a planned choice of study area and later profession (English is one of more than twenty disciplines), and for this reason from the very first semester the student is faced with the necessity to work in a specialised field of study. This is provided especially by the 'Wahlfachunterricht', which occupies 30% of the whole study time. (2) The OS sets out to offer the student a general 'wissenschaftspropädeutische' education (study in the techniques of interdisciplinary scientific learning). This is covered especially by the 'Ergänzungsunterricht', which occupies 25% of the time. (3) The OS sets out to give the students some experience of the advantages and limitations of interdisciplinary projectwork. This receives special attention in the 'Gesamtunterricht' (large group project study phase), which occupies 15% of the study time. (4) The OS tries to meet some of the demand for greater individualisation of study by incorporating in each semester a period of individual study in order to help the individual to make up ground in various areas insufficiently covered by his or her school or origin. This takes place in the so-called Intensive phase: 25%. (5) The OS attempts to emphasise and safeguard the relationship between the kind of education it offers and the spheres of practice in the world outside; this takes the form of the 'Praktikumskurse' (Practicals). On the institutional level of the OS every teacher is obliged to be active in at least three functional spheres: • as far as the courses are concerned he must work as a teacher; • in the sphere of curriculum development he must make his contribution as a researcher in the science of education; • and in the internal administrative committees he must work as an administrator where his activities must relate both inwards to the OS and outwards to the Ministry of Education and the public. The Unit Rule, Britannia, rule the waves, Britons never will be slaves. (James Thomson, 1740) The following unit is taken from a course entitled 'Empire and After: The New Commonwealth'. This course consists of 36 ninety-minute units. One third of the course is taken up by a dozen lectures on the history of Britain and the British Empire. The other two thirds are devoted to other topics which I vary from time to time: last year (1992) we concentrated on (a) 'How the colonisers viewed the colonised' (with extracts from Christopher Columbus's Journal, Thomas Hariot's Brief and True Report of the New-found Land of Virginia, Francis Drake's Account of his circumnavigation of the world, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels amongst others), counterbalancing these views with modern re-readings and re-writings of the colonial situation (as, for example, in

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poems on Columbus by Caribbean writers (cf. Kramer, 1992) or Michel Tournier's Vendredi) And we dealt with (b) The Middle Passage as a form of enforced migration. Very briefly I want to sketch the content of the latter problematic and present the textual and visual material we worked with. The complete list of figures and texts used in the unit is contained in the Appendix. The Middle Passage: A Brief Sketch of the Problematic With Europe's westward expansion at the end of the 15th century an Atlantic system of trade and commerce came into being which involved many countries and their peoples and which reached its first climax in the 18th century prefiguring and determining today's relations between the First and the Third World because of the way in which the European centres developed and, at the same time, underdeveloped their peripheries and thus robbed them of their riches (cf. Inikori, 1992). At first, the Atlantic system rested on a simple triangle of trading relations which (in the course of time) grew more and more complex (cf. Reinhardt, 1985: 142) and intensive (cf. Porter, 1991: 45; see Fig. 2): From Europe manufactured goods (like cloth, iron, rum, guns (cf. Inikori, 1982)) were exported to Africa (cf. Porter, 1991: 45-50; see Fig. 3a) to be profitably exchanged against slaves who could be sold in the Americas. The empty ships were then loaded with raw materials (like sugar, cotton, tobacco) which were processed and consumed in Britain or re-exported to the Continent (see Fig. 3c, a). On all three voyages profits were made which flowed into the European commercial centres (see Text 1). William Blake depicted this triangular relationship very clearly in his engraving 'Europe Supported by Africa and America' (1796) (see Fig. 4): 'Europe is supported by her darker sisters, and they wear slave bracelets while she has a string of pearls' (Erdmann, 1952: 244; 1969: 231). In the 18th century people knew very well of the profitability of the triangular trade, as we can gather from an anonymous pamphlet written in 1749 (see Text 2). And it was also clear to them that the slave trade brought the biggest profit: 'The five-fold expansion of trade during the eighteenth century commercial revolution turned on the axis of the so-called triangular trade, and this, in turn, on the axis of the slave trade' (Frank, 1982: 219-20). Questions Why was it necessary to take African slaves to the Americas? In his book De l'esprit des lois (1748) Montesquieu gave the correct answer: 'Les peuples d'Europe ayant exterminé ceux de l'Amerique, its ont dû mettre en esclavage ceux de l'Afrique, pour s'en servi à défricher tant de terres. (The Europeans, having extirpated the Americans, were obliged to make slaves of the Africans for clearing such vast tracts of land.)' (Montesquieu 1748, quoted in Honour, 1989: 311, 50) We do not know exactly how many people lived in the Americas before the Europeans arrived but the latest estimates give figures of between 80 and 100

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million people (Reynolds, 1985: 59; Inikori, 1992: 93-4). Roughly 150 years later about 8 to 10 million people were left; the others had died through diseases, wars and exploitation. The consequent lack of human labour power impeded the production of agricultural raw materials and the extraction of mineral resources. The Amerindian labourers were succeeded by the poor whites who came as indentured servants, 'redemptioners' or convicts. But white servitude had serious disadvantages. White labourers might wish to rival the mother country in manufacturing: they could escape quite easily: their supply could dry up: they had a right to a piece of the land at the end of their contract. All these disadvantages of white servitude pointed to the African slave as a viable alternative, which had the additional benefit of being cheaper: 'The money which procured a white man's services for ten years could buy a Negro for life' (Williams, 1981: 19). Where and how were the slaves bought? As a look at an historical map (see Fig. 5) demonstrates, African slaves were sold and bought almost anywhere on the West African coast between Senegambia and Angola. In the early days of the slave trade most of them lived on the coast; later, however, when the demand increased, the 'middlemen' (white agents and/or co-operating Africans; cf. Law, 1989) had to resort to the hinterland. But wherever they came from they were 'mainly acquired through warfare, kidnapping, tribute and enslavement through the judicial system' (Reynold, 1985:33). Basically there were two modes of buying slaves for a European slaver: he could either sail from area to area collecting a few slaves at a time until he had a full cargo ('ship trade'), or he could make use of European agents who secured slaves from African traders so that they were ready when the ship(s) arrived ('factory trade'). While the factory trade was usually more expensive (the trading posts had to be maintained, protected etc.) it saved a lot of time (and thereby money): the slaver could quickly leave the African coast which was, at least in terms of health and hygiene, beneficial for the survival of the slaves that were kept in the ship's hold. How many slaves were exported (from Africa)? How much did they cost? Where were they sold (in the Americas)? How much was paid for them? All in all it has been reckoned that 12 to 15 million Africans were taken across the Atlantic, but only 80 to 90% reached their destinations (cf. Lovejoy, 1989; Inikori, 1992), the others died on the 'Middle Passage'. The average mortality rate before 1700 was 20 to 25%, in the 18th century it was 15%, and in the 19th century 10% (cf. Wirz, 1984: 40). In the second half of the 17th century a male slave cost £3 to 4 on the African coast, around 1700 a slaver had to pay £10 for him, and thirty years later £18. The self-same slave cost in Jamaica in the middle of 18th century about £50 (cf. Unsworth, 1992:274). With this sum of money a single person could comfortably live in Britain for one year. How were the slaves treated? On the African coast they were, first of all, examined (see Fig. 6, Text 3); those who were not completely healthy, strong and young were not bought. The barter was a very complex affair: slaves were paid for in bars, but of what (different goods) and of how much a bar consisted was different from place to place and from time to time (see Text 4). As soon as the slaves were

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bought they were branded, their heads were shaved and they had to take off all their clothes. On board of the ship, the men were shackled and put into the hold, the women and children were kept separately (sometimes on deck of the ship) (see Figs 7 and 8): 'Every man was allowed a space of 6 feet by 1 foot 4 inches. Every woman was allowed 5 feet by 1 foot 3 inches, and every child was allowed 4 feet 6 inches by 1 foot' (Patterson & Carnegie, 1985: 89). It could be worth while comparing different texts describing the experiences of the slaves: (1) There is a chapter on the Atlantic crossing in Olaudah Equiano's autobiography The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African (1789) (see Text 5). (2) From 1789 to 1791 a Parliamentary Committee in Britain gathered evidence of the slaves' living conditions on the slave ships (see Text 6). (3) There are six impressive chapters on the Middle Passage in Alex Haley's book Roots (Haley, 1978: 144-80). When the slave ship arrived in the Americas, the slaves were sold either to somebody who had bought them in advance, or they were sold by public auction or in a 'scramble' (as described by Equiano). The journey across the Atlantic could be somewhere between 3,200 and 6,000 miles long (depending on where it started and ended); under average circumstances it lasted for about 40 to 70 days. When it lasted longer (because of the weather or a rebellion or a mutiny), the lives of the slaves were immediately in danger. A well known case of mass murder on the high seas is that of the slave ship Zong (of 1781) (see Text 7); other cases are on record (cf. Honour, 1989: 130; see also Text 8, part three). Knowledge of this incident possibly inspired J.M.W. Turner to paint his picture Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and the DyingTyphoon Coming On (of 1840) (see Fig. 9); another source could be a passage from The Seasons by James Thomson (Thomson, 1971: 89, 11. 1013-1021; cf. Honour, 1989: 162-4 and Gilroy, 1990). What was Britain's share in the slave trade? How high were the profits? In the 18th century, particularly after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, by which Britain obtained the right to provide the Spanish colonies of the Americas with slaves from Africa (the so-called asiento(s)) Britain was the leading slave-trading nation. Its share was 41.3%, while Portugal carried 29.3%, Denmark 1.2% and Sweden and Brandenburg together 0.1% (Wirz, 1984: 25). Early estimates of the profits were most probably too high: E. Donnan and E. Williams wrote of an average profit of 30%. M. Craton's reckoning of 16% was, according to a recent estimation still too high: R. Anstey, in his analysis of 5693 slave trading voyages between 1761 and 1807, ended up with a profit of 9.5% (Wirz, 1984: 34). This was definitely more than could be made in agriculture at homethere 3.5% profit was regarded as normalbut only slightly more than could be achieved in other spheres of commerce.

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Discussion and Suggestions In this unit I have used eleven texts and nine figures/illustrations from various sources. (The complete list is in the Appendix.) There are historical documents, literary texts, extracts from scholarly papers on the one hand, and there are figures from a work of historical reference, engravings and pictures produced in the 18th and 19th centuries on the other. I should like to contend that it is possible to develop from this patch-work of texts and illustrations a small segment of the cultural and social knowledge future teachers of English need, if they want to link their everyday experiences of 'things English' with their future work and their individual lives, if they want to make sense of their discipline (English as a foreign language), its place in the world and their role as cultural mediators between this particular language (with the cultures and societies that for one reason or another are linked to it) and their own. As mentioned above it is worthwhile to start with something the students know and (possibly) like: beginning a course unit like this with Bob Marley usually works. But it may also cause ambivalent reactions: some students may feel cheated if they find out that Marley's Redemption Song is only meant to be the lead-in to a case study in Cultural Studies. In that case, other songs could be introduced which are similar to Marley's song (e.g. Count Ossi's 400 Years) one could refer to and make use of other texts (with or without music) like e.g. Dub and Rapso poetry (cf. Habekost, 1991); one could perhaps also thematise the role popular culture (and particularly music) plays in the lives of the people who produce it (in the Caribbean and/or in Britain) and (compared to that) in our lives: the themes of oppression and resistance, work and migration, 'dread, beat and blood' (Linton Kwesi Johnson) will appear again and again. If our students do not want just to consume this music they will have to face this part of it as well in order to understand what they are listening to. Of course, one could also start with something the students may know about and (possibly) not like: one could ask them what they know about enforced migrationsand quite soon one would probably be faced with a great variety of views, judgements and prejudices about foreigners, migrant workers, persons seeking asylum etc. In that case it would be possible to start with migrant literature written and published in Germany and compare it with migrant literature written in English like, for example, John Agards's poem 'Limbo Dancer at Immigration' (see Text 10) which neatly describes the situation of a black person from a former British colony trying to enter the so-called mother country. Agard makes the historical connection in his lines 'Country of Origin: Slaveship [ . . . ] Slaveship/spaceship/Pan Am/British Airways/Air France/It's all the same/smiled limbo dancer'. Other examples like e.g. Amryl Johnson's poem The New Cargo Ship (Johnson, 1985, quoted in Dabydeen & Wilson-Tagoe, 1988: 142) can easily be found. If the students accept that it is useful to discuss processes of migration in the histories of our nations and in today's world one could start with a personal account of such a migration process. A part of Olaudah Equiano's autobiography (Text 5) provides a good starting point. It is quite easy to read for German

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students (the text is well-structured and the vocabulary is not difficult) and it can usefully be illustrated by reference to Figs. 6, 7 and 8. One should certainly point out to the students that Equiano's book was 'an abolitionist classic' (Blackburn, 1990: 140) so that they understand (i.e. try to describe, evaluate and judge) the moralising tone of the text. (Perhaps some students can be found who are willing to inform the class about the history of British Abolitionism (cf. Blackburn, 1990:131-160 and Fryer, 1984); perhaps some others will read Equiano's text as a whole and report on it in class.) In a next step, the extracts from Barry Unsworth's novel Sacred Hunger (1992; joint winner of the Booker Prize of the same year) could be discussed (Texts 3 and 4). It is immediately evident that, although Unsworth successfully tries to take us back 250 years in time, this is a novel of our times with a strong undercurrent critically dealing with the 'sacred hunger' for profit in the present. (Perhaps a few students can be induced to read the novel as a whole, although it has 630 pages, and report on it in class.) As Unsworth said in an interview, 'It was impossible to live in the Eighties without being affected by the sanctification of greed. My image of the slave ship was based on the desire to find the perfect symbol for the entrepreneurial spirit. The arguments used to justify it are the same used now to justify the closure of these pits and the throwing out of work of all these miners' (The Observer, 18-10-92; 59). Text 3 in particular shows what this 'entrepreneurial spirit' did to people who were its objects. While Fig. 6 (through its detachment) also demonstrates the inhumanity of this traffic in human labour power (thus complementing Text 3), Fig. 7 (which was produced in 1789 and used as propaganda material in the abolitionist struggle (cf. Honour, 1989: 64-5)) and Text 6 are implicit accusations, compared to which Fig. 8 appears relatively idyllic. While the texts considered so far all represent personal and/or individual experiences (be they factual or fictional), Figs 6 and 7 and Text 6 approach the problematic from a different angle: they generalise a certain social condition and thus represent it on a configurational (rather than on an exemplary) level. Here, Text 1 and Figs 2 and 3 could be usefully brought in to describe, analyse and evaluate the configuration of the slave trade and its larger context, the triangular trade. Text 2, an anonymous pamphlet of 1749, could add to the understanding of the views of British 18th century merchants, while Blake's engraving 'Europe Supported by Africa and America' (of 1796) (see Fig. 4) could demonstrate the (self-)critical view at least a part of the population took of Britain's commercial and imperial ventures. At this point, I could refer the students to my lectures (given alongside this course) in which I tried to describe and explain the larger complex of European expansion (with the focus on Britain) from the Renaissance onwards, moving form Britain's unification (after the 'Wars of the Roses') through the centuries of trade, pillage and settlement to the rise and dominance of merchant capital (cf. Kramer, 1980, 1988). If the course structure does not allow for this, suitable texts can be selected from various sources (e.g. Crow & Thomas, 1984; Kramer, 1988; Porter, 1991; Quinn, 1979; Thirsk & Cooper, 1972; Wiener & Plumb, 1972) which allow the students to gain some basic insight into Mercantilism and its complex

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role in the transformation of absolutist feudalism into early industrialist capitalism. Text 7 (with some additional information (cf. Weisbord, 1969; Fryer, 1984: 127-130; Honour, 1989: 130, 1624)), Text 8 and Turner's painting (see Fig. 9, cf. Honour, 1989: 162-4; Gilroy, 1990) are suitable for group work. The first group would have to report on the incident of mass murder on the high seas and on the way in which people dealt with it when it happened. The second group could attempt an interpretation of Turner's painting which was produced 33 years after the slave trade had been abolished in Britain and soon after slavery had been done away with in the British Empire. And the third group could try to understand the poem Middle Passage by Robert Hayden (written in 1962) which, amongst other things, deals with yet another case of mass murder, here on a Spanish ship called Amistad (i.e. Friendship). After this preparatory work an analysis of Hayden's poem as a whole (with the help of the annotations) may be easier. I should like to touch briefly on five points, asking questions rather than providing the answers: (1) In lines 1 and 14 eight names of ships are mentioned: Jesús, Estrella, Esperanza, Mercy, [ . . . ] Desire, Adventure, Tartar, Ann. Is it feasible that these names in this order represent the historical shift from Spanish-Portuguese to British dominance of the seas? (2) Words of a Protestant hymn are inserted into the poem in lines 20-21, 25,47, 69. Do they ironically refer to the missionary ideal of converting the heathen to Christianity, which was very prominent in all justifications of imperial ventures? Or are they meant to remind us of the close affinity between the Protestant ethic and the spirit of Capitalism (cf. Weber, 1976 (1904-1905; 1920-1921); Tawney, 1972 '1926))? Could this idea be linked to the 'blindness' of which slaves and slavers have become victims (lines 34-40), signifying that the formers' intolerable sufferings are caused by the latter's blindness to their abominable trade? Or does the image of 'Life's Tempestuous Sea' forge a link between the anxieties and brutalities of the Middle Passage endured by the black Africans but also by the white slavers and thus, perhaps, point to something slaves and slavers may have had in common? (3) A passage from Shakespeare's Tempest is alluded to twice (lines 17-19, 108-110; cf. note 4). What is the meaning of these re-written Shakespearean passages? Why Shakespeare, why The Tempest (cf. Zabus, 1985; Vaughan & Vaughan, 1992)? (4) Part II of the poem is created from the view-point of a slave trader (possibly also an agent/trader organising 'factory trade' on the African coast). How does this part contrast with and thereby add to the meaning of the other parts of the poem? (Part II of Hayden's poem could be usefully compared with Caryl Phillips's narrative Heartland (Phillips, 1990: 9-60) which depicts a similar situation from the view-point of an African 'middleman' who acts as interpreter to white slave traders.) (5) Hayden's poem is a collage trying to represent the multiplicity of voices on a slave ship, and in the gaps also those who are silent. The final view-point

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is that of the rebelling slaves who try to get back to Africa. In Hayden's poem they succeed with the help of the American judicial system. In Unsworth's novel (cf. above) and in Herman Melville's Benito Cereno (of 1855), which could be used for comparison, they do not. Another (less demanding, but also less interesting) attempt at representing the problematic of the 'Middle Passage' in the form of a collage can be found in Paul Metcalf's book The Middle Passage, which consists of three parts, one on the Luddites, one on whaling, and another one (called 'Efik') on the Middle Passage (Metcalf, 1976). The next part of this unit is difficult: for learners of English as a foreign language Derek Walcott's poetry is not an easy task. Nevertheless, I ask my students to read a brief extract from Omeros (see Text 9), I ask them not to despair (and not to think that they have to understand everything) but to feel into the text's rhythm, to approach the words and phrases as dynamic entities, recalling memories, connecting Africa and America, liking past and present, unexpectedly producing images which 'tell' but which cannot be pinned down. As a kind of preparation and/or contrast I let them look at William Blake's engraving A Negro Hung Alive by the Ribs to a Gallows (of 1792) (see Fig. 10). It has been observed that Blake's engravings 'extol the physical and moral nobility' of the African slaves. This one in particular 'expires with Roman fortitude, alone among the bones and skulls of earlier victims on the shore of the sea which so many thousands of his fellow Africans had crossed' (Honour, 1989: 90). But I think there is another dimension to this engraving. By the way in which Blake depicts the African not only as punished, humiliated and tortured, but also as surrounded by skulls and bones of his fellow Africans he skilfully uses, subverts and transforms the cliché of the black people as cannibals and barbarians: the true cannibals are the white Europeans who abduct, transport, exploit and finally kill the Africans. I cannot read Walcott's lines 'and from our curved spines, the rib-cages radiated/like fronds from a palm-branch' without recalling the figure in Blake's engraving: there is the curved spine, there are the rib-cages radiating like fronds from a palm-branch. But there is more in Walcott's text: there is the memory of chained shadows, nature appropriated and subjected, of dead brothers and sisters, but also of those who survived: each of them becoming a nation to him or herself, 'without mother, father, brother'. It is not enough that they are remembered in the text; the last lines the griot mutters are quite explicit: So, when you see burnt branches riding the swell, trying to reclaim the surf through crooked fingers, after a night of rough wind by some stone-white hotel, past the bright triangular passage of the windsurfers, remember us to the black waiter bringing us the bill. The 'stone-white hotel' houses the tourists, the 'windsurfers' who do not trade in slaves in the same way as their 18th century predecessors did, but whose profits enable them to be served by a 'black waiter'. His dead ancestors want to

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be remembered to him so that they and their history of oppression and resistance, captivity and freedom, death and survival is not forgotten. At the beginning I suggested starting either with some reggae songs or one or two poems thematising modern migration processes. If the first approach works one can now take a look at John Agard's poem 'Limbo Dancer at Immigration' (see Text 10). Although the historical connection pervades the whole poem, the focus clearly is on the present. The passport term 'identifying marks' is here used to refer to a history of suffering, torture and death, starting with the Christian 'tale of nails' which finds its continuation in the slave trade ('ankles/bruised with the memory of chains') and the persecution of the Blacks in the United States of America ('a neck/that bore the brunt of countless lynchings'). And 'the authorities sniggered', i.e. they can't, they don't, they won't understand. 'So limbo dancer bent over backwards/& danced/& danced/& danced'. Is that not Blake's African again, bent and twisted into some unnatural shape? Don't we associate limbo dancer's movements with those his ancestors were forced to make aboard the slaveships, singing and dancing in time to the music of the whip (see Text 6)? Conclusion From here a number of new departures are possible. One could • add more case studies in forced migrations (dealing e.g. with the Ilois of Diego Garcia (cf. Benson, 1989)); • read and discuss more general observations on processes of migration (cf. Text 11); • view and discuss the film The March (written by William Nicolson, directed by David Wheatley) which describes the fictitious march of Africans who want to cross the Mediterranean to Europe; • investigate (during a project plus excursion employing ethnographic fieldwork) the lives of migrants in Germany and compare them to those in Britain (cf. Green, 1990) etc. The governing principles of all these undertakings should be (1) to help the students connect their lives with their object(s) of study, i.e. the target culture, (2) to forge links between the concrete examples and the wider structures of the target culture, and (3) to challenge the students to look at their own culture with the eyes of a member of the target culture. References Autorenkollektiv (1989) Landeskunde. Überlegungen zur Theorie und Methode. Potsdam: Karl Liebknecht. Benson, Peter (1989) A Lesser Dependency. London: Macmillan. Blackburn, Robin (1988) The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, 1776-1848. London: Verso. Brathwaite, E. and Phillips, A. (1984) The People Who Came. Book Three. Harlow: Longman Caribbean.

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Baym et.al. (eds.) (1989) The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton. Crow, Ben and Thomas, Alan (1983) Third World Atlas. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Crystal, David (1987) The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dabydeen, David and Wilson-Tagoe, Nana (1988) A Reader's Guide to West Indian and Black British Literature. London: Hansib. Edwards, P. (ed.) (1982) Equiano's Travels. London: Heineman. Erdman, David V. (1952) Blake's vision of Slavery. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 15, 242-52. (1969) Blake: Prophet Against Empire. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Fage, J. D. (1978) Atlas of African History. London: Edward Arnold. Frank, Andre Gunder (1982) World Accumulation, 1492-1789. London: Macmillan. Fryer, Peter (1984) Staying Power. The History of Black People in Britain. London: Pluto. Gilroy, Paul (1990) Art of Darkness. Third Text 10, 45-52. Green, Jonathon (1990) Them. Voices from the Immigration Community in Contemporary Britain. London: Secker and Warburg. Haley, Alex (1978) Roots. London: Picador. Honour, Hugh (1989) The Image of the Black in Western Art. Vol. IV: From the American Revolution to World War 1. Part 1: Slaves and Liberators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Inikori, J.E. (1982) The import of firearms into West Africa, 1750 to 1807: A quantitative analysis. In J.E. Inikori (ed.) Forced Migration(pp. 126-53). London: Hutchinson. (1992) Africa in world history: The export slave trade from Africa and the emergence of the Atlantic economic order. In B. A. Ogot (ed.) Unesco General History of Africa. Vol. V: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century (pp. 74112). Oxford: Heineman. Kramer, Jürgen (1980) A Materialist Introduction to the Social History of Britain. Bielefeld: Ambos. (1988) The British Empire. Aspects of its Economic, Social and Political History. Vol. 1: 1485-1807. Bielefeld: Ambos. (1990) Cultural and Intercultural Studies. Frankfurt: Lang. (1992) Christopher Columbus als literarische Figur in englischsprachigen Texten, Unterrichtsmaterialien 32. Bielefeld: Oberstufen-Kolleg. Law, Robin (1989) Slave-raiders and middlemen, monopolists and free-traders: The supply of slaves for the Atlantic trade in Dahomey c. 1715-1850. Journal of African History 30, 45-68. Lovejoy, Paul E. (1989) The impact of the Atlantic slave trade on Africa: A review of the literature. Journal of African History 30, 365-94. McNeill, P. (1988) Forever on the move. New Statesman & Society 7-10-88, 25. Metcalf, Paul (1976) The Middle Passage. Highlands: The Jargon Society. Parry, J. H., and Sherlock, P. M. (1971) A Short History of the West-Indies. London: Macmillan. Patterson, Patricia, and Carnegie, James (1985) The People Who Came. Book Two. Harlow: Longman Caribbean. Phillips, Caryl (1990) Higher Ground. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Porter, A.N. (ed.) (1991) Atlas of British Overseas Expansion. London: Routledge. Quinn, D.B. (ed.) (1979) New American World. A Documentary History of North America to 1612, 5 vols. London: Macmillan. Ramchand, K. and Gray, C. (eds) (1989) West Indian Poetry. Harlow: Longman Caribbean.

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Reinhard, Woldfang (1985) Geschichte deer europiiischen Expansion. Band 2: Die neue Welt. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Reynolds, Edward (1985) Stand the Storm. A History of the Atlantic Slave Trade. London: Allison and Busby. Tawney, R.H. (1972) Religion and the Rise of Capitalism. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Thirsk, J. and Cooper, J.P. (eds) (1972) Seventeeth-Century Economic Documents. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Thomson, James (1971) Poetical Works. London: Oxford University Press. Unsworth, Barry (1992) Sacred Hunger. London: Hamish Hamilton. Vaughan, Alden and Vaughan, Virginia Mason (1992) Shakespeare's Caliban: A Cultural History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Walcott, D. (1990) Omeros. London: Faber. Weber, Max (1958/1976) The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Weisbord, Robert (1969) The case of the slave-ship Zong 1783. History Today XIX, 561-7. Wiener, J. H. and Plumb, J.H. (eds) (1972) Great Britain: Foreign Policy and the Span of Empire, 1689-1971. A Documentary History, 4 vols. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. Williams, Eric (1981) Capitalism and Slavery. London: Andre Deutsch. Wirz, Albert (1984) Sklaverei und kapitalistisches Weltsystem. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp. Zabus, Chantal (1985) A Calibanic tempest in anglophone and francophone New World writing. Canadian Literature 104, 35-50. Appendix Figures and Texts: The texts and figures/illustrations referred to in this paper are listed below. Readers who have difficulties in obtaining them can contact the author. List of Texts 1. The Triangular Trade (1) (Williams, 1981: 50-1). 2. The Triangular Trade (2) (Parry & Sherlock, 1971: 40-1). 3. Examining the Slaves (Unsworth, 1992: 202-6, 207-8). 4. Paying for the Slaves (Unsworth, 1992: 210, 212-13). 5. The Slave Ship (Edwards, 1982: 25-32). 6. Conditions on a Slave Ship (Braithwaite & Phillips, 1984: 44-5). 7. Mass Murder on the High Seas (Fryer, 1984: 127-8). 8. Rober Hayden, Middle Passage (Byam et al., 1989: 2449-53). 9. Omeros: Chapter XXVIII (Walcott, 1990: 148-50). 10. John Agard Limbo Dancer at Immigration (Ramchand & Gray, 1989: 43-4). 11. Forever on the Move (McNeill, 1988). List of Illustrations 1. Teaching Cultural Studies (Jürgen Kramer). 2. The British North Atlantic Trading System, c. 1768-1772 (Porter, 1991: 45). 3. The British North Atlantic Trading System, c. 1768-1772 (Porter, 1991: 45). 4. William Blake, Europe Supported by Africa and America (1792) (Erdman, 1952). 5. Europeans in West Africa: Seventeenth to Eighteenth Centuries (Fage, 1978). 6. Le commerce de l'Amérique par Marseille, 1764. Marché d'esclaves (Honour, 1989: 52).

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7. Description of a Slave Ship (Honour, 1989: 65). 8. Johann Moritz Rugendas, Nègres à fond de calle (1827) (Honour, 1989: 145). 9. J.M.W. Turner, Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and DyingTyphoon Coming On (1840) (Honour, 1989: 163). 10. William Blake, A Negro Hung Alive by the Ribs to a Gallows (1792) (Honour, 1989: 88).

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Culture and Language Learning in Higher Education Edited by Michael Byram MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD Clevedon • Philadelphia • Adelaide

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Documentary Analysis in Civilisation Studies: The French Approach François Poirier Université Paris-Nord, avenue J.B. Clément, F93430 Villetaneuse, France Abstract The paper examines the approach to civilisation used in a number of universities and secondary schools in France. The traditional technique of explication de texte, associated in the past with philology and the translation of classical texts, re-emerges in a new form as a viable compromise between the conflicting demands of the communicative approach for practical language skills and the broader linguistic and cultural objectives of foreign language learning. The way one country develops its studies on other foreign countries is much more representative of its own idiosyncrasies than of those it purports to unravel. It is a well documented subject, for instance, that travellers stories tell more about the country of origin of the writers than about the areas visited and described (Marandon, 1967; CRIDAF, 1988; Levatic, 1991; Poirier, 1988b, in press a,b; Tholoniat, 1993). And it is probably impossible to study modern foreign languages without taking on board the fact that students and teachers have at the back of their minds representations of the foreign peoples and their territories that, consciously or unconsciously, impinge on the linguistic skills they try to master. In addition, the very methods deployed owe much more to the intellectual tradition of the home country of such studies than to the specificity of the object country. One very specific trait of the scholarly tradition of France is something called l'explication de texte, originally translatable as 'textual analysis' for philological or translation purposes, an invention to serve the teaching of ancient Greek and Latin, and perhaps something in tune with the existing tradition of the scriptural comment which was the basis of any good church sermon, whether Catholic or not. This established itself at the time of the Renaissance or earlier (Davy, 1931) and was later developed into general education by the Jesuits. It must not be forgotten that the two key exercises of the humanities in French republican and secular education, explication de texte and dissertation, were developed as sophisticated drilling in jesuitic casuistry. In more recent timesI mean in the 19th centurythe explication de texte was further developed into classical forms of training from secondary schools onward and differentiated into a literary exercise and a historical exercise. (This is a lasting differentiation, and still applies to dissertation as well. When I enrolled as an Arts student in 1965, I had to choose between three options: dissertation philosophique, dissertation littéraire and dissertation historique.) At the same time, its

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virtues in the field of translation were extended to the study of modern languages. At the turn of the century, when France began to develop the then so-called 'natural' method of teaching modern languages, so as to cater for the needs of an already growing public, the explication de texte became central to any language teaching, and it has remained so since then. The idea is that an 'authentic' or nearly authentic document (it can be heavily edited to protect innocence or to be made accessible in terms of syntax and lexicon), then is the starting point of a debate between the teacher and the students, a debate which, in true Socratic fashion, will elucidate the deeper meaning of the said document. In terms of methodology, this is one of the vaguest of exercises: it is neither historical nor literary, neither strictly linguistic nor philosophical, it is an instinctive hotchpotch of everything. According to periods, it has varied from a literary ambition (the inter-war period) to a debasement of all contents, the debate and the text itself becoming a mere pretext for structural drills (the 1970s). (On the contents of textbooks as related to national French preoccupations, see Poirier & Rosselin, 1982; Poirier, 1985.) This was especially the case in the teaching of English which piloted such methods, while other languages resisted the move. Meanwhile, in the classes of French literature, explication de texte became more and more refined, while in history, it was introduced at an earlier and earlier age, albeit on a small scale, rather illustrative of a general point than training students in the critical attitudes necessary to historical research. Since the 1980s, secondary school teaching of modern languages has been moving towards an increasing civilisation input through so-called 'authentic documents'. But at the same time, with the emphasis increasingly laid on 'communication' in our teaching of the mother tongue, French in our case, and its literature in secondary schools, the tradition of textual analysis has often been reduced to a mere paraphrase of the initial written document. This rather negative trend has been offset positively by the fact that the range of documents deemed suitable for the purposes of this particular exercise has extended to the non-written or the not-only written, such as the fixed, moving or animated image in painting, photography, film and video, comic strips and cartoons, or to the purely audio document, such as radio programmes, interviews, and music. Thus, despite the long tradition of explication de texte, students of modern languages in higher education are ill-equipped for the much more demanding exercise they are requested to perform, much more specialised also as regards the differences between the literary, linguistic and socio-historical approaches, although they are readier than most academics to address the non-written document, be it sound or image. For they are prepared for the production of any mish-mash of thoughts that proves their ability at playing with syntactic structures and an elementary vocabulary, but are not prepared for the type of textual analysis increasingly insisted upon at various levels, and in particular in the competitive exams necessary, after graduation, to obtain a public appointment. At the baccalauréat level, they have only an inkling of what might be expected from them. And it resurfaces time and again in their curriculum, whether they want to become public administrators, diplomats, agricultural engineers or teachers of English.

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As that type of recruitment sets the trend, similar forms of assessment can be found in the private sector selection procedure, for instance in airline companies and business schools. The first question I would raise, then, after this lengthy introduction, is simply why there is such dominance of one form of exercise in nearly all humanities and social sciences and whatever occupation is envisaged. Beyond the value of a tradition described earlier, there is also the belief among many in the teaching professions that their prime objective is to train critical minds while ascertaining that the basic data of knowledge properly is stored up: it is, you might say, the encyclopaedic tradition, of combining erudite knowledge with philosophic scepticism, and explication de texte does require a dose of both. And many perceive it as an even greater necessity in the media age, as a provision of strong defences against the hypnopaedic effects of TV and the rest, as an antidote against the poisons of uniformity and demagogy. But just as many people would rather consider that the defence of explication de texte is a rearguard action in the last resistance of an obsolete education system, when the teaching of practical skills and know-how is much more important than old-fashioned knowledge. It is then easy for the friends of explication de texte to point out that it is indeed a very practical exercise, that the sort of skills developed with it form the basis of an intelligent communicative response to communication, etc. I would simply say that explication de texte has survived because it is a convenient compromise, and one which is plastic enough to respond to diverging demands. And I personally like it to be that way. To give an example of this range of perceptions of the exercise, allow me to quote from the panel's report at one of the national competitive exams for teachers of English. It was in 1989 and quoted a passage from the 1988 report (Becquelin, 1989: 74-5) which read: To comment on a document is . . . to offer a critical understanding while refusing to proffer subjective moralising statements . . . A text is never 'neutral' and the commentary is to reveal its flaws, its limits, its tone . . . It is with this critical appraisal of the passage submitted to them that the calibre of the candidates can best be assessed as regards their sophistication and their judgement. And the same 1989 report went on quoting the 1988 report in that passage where itself quoted the 1987 report, to the effect that the commentary required intensive training, for 'too many candidates forget that such an exam requires a know-how that cannot be improvised'. Two elements of a pedagogic compromise are apparent here: knowledge and know-how are both present in the exercise. But further than that, the value of the exercise may have been revitalised in a period of contraction of the ideological consensus of French society, in a period also of disappearance of the great and widely accepted systems of interpretation. If there no longer is any skeleton key that we can mass-produce for our students, that will enable them to open up their understanding of the world, there is a spontaneous growth

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of DIY centres. In all sorts of ways, explication de texte is a ready response to the do your own thing compulsion of our time. In those terms, explication de texte is both reassuring and challenging within the contemporary French system of mass higher education: it remains feasible with large numbers, even though a higher proportion of students seems to be culturally handicapped when compared to the expectations of teaching staff. It is unmistakably an intellectual exercise, but it is also the concrete development of a wide range of skills, from detective instinct to high hermeneutics; it is the production of new ideas by the students themselves, but soundly based on a core of previously accumulated knowledge. It is the education of a research attitude, i.e. a risky attitude, but built on a safe and secure basis (the document), within the pale of established truth. I write 'a safe and secure basis', but apparently there is some confusion as to what is constitutive of such a basis. For instance, in their foreword, the authors of a recently published handbook of civilisation for students of English wrote: Not only is the subject new to first-year students, but it is also at the crossroads of history, of contemporary history, and even of current affairs. (John & Lurbe, 1992: 3) The phrase seems simple enough, but it is, when given a few seconds' thought, typical of the conundrum for many people teaching civilisation with or without a literary background. In the example just quoted above, the looseness in the use of vocabulary is easily concealed under commonsense and a genuine awareness of the difficulty. But the very business of explication de texte is to expose such pitfalls as this: an intellectual approach being confused with its object, 'history' on a par with 'current affairs'. Of course, the word 'history' refers at the same time to the approach, the material of the approach (i.e. what is believed to have actually happened), and the end result in the form of a narrative. Her Majesty's Inspectors were at pains to point out those basic differences during the early debates on the National Curriculum in England (DES, 1988). (This latter document is of course, from a French point of view, worthy of analysis so as to exemplify certain attitudes in a foreign country; see Bernas et al., 1989: 303-7). But is nice to be able to spot the different meanings in context. In our particular case, the more simple and vague opposition between 'past' and 'present' would have been enough, with the addition of 'recent past' instead of 'contemporary history' which introduces another confusion. For the French historian, 'Histoire contemporaine' is history since the French Revolution. For the general public, it is just another phrase to mean very recent historywhat professional historians call histoire du temps présent, 'history of the present time'. And there is no saying whether the authors use the vocabulary of one or the other set of people (see also Brunet & Plessis, 1970; Cottret & Hearn, 1991; Deidda et al., 1993). One way of avoiding these difficulties is to candidly follow the advice: 'Use your own mind'. By the way, this is the very purpose of the exercise we are talking about, and thus, in a rival publication, Colette Bernas reminds us that:

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. . . Something more is conveyed by a text than the straightforward information or the explicit message it carries. A text is an artefact which produces a certain meaning, which causes the reader to think: the aim is therefore to show how and for what purpose this meaning has been constructed, how and why it provides food for thought. (Bemas et al., 1992: 31) What distinguishes the approaches of these two textbooks is what separates civilisation as it was still taught twenty-five years ago and civilisation as it tries to achieve some status as a bona fide academic pursuit. A quarter of a century ago, it was taught as an ancillary subject to literature. It was therefore a selection in history emphasising those elements only that were relevant to the immediate understanding of the great literary texts, to the exclusion of anything else. The main historical document in usage was the literary text and the whole approach was thus further biased towards the psychology of the individual actor cum witness, rather than towards the collective forces at work in society. There was, at that point very little mention of 'history from below' in the French study of Britain and the whole rhetoric was that of pre-nouvelle critique literary criticism, with little sense, but sensibility galore. It moved, during the seventies, towards a rag-bag of anything that was not literaturethe Penguin non-fiction stocklist, except linguistics. Such an impossibly unlimited programme yielded to the new notions of an immediate usage, and civilisation became more and more the preserve of would-be political scientists and sociologists. It is only in the last ten years that its disciplinary diversity has been, at long last, accepted, which raises a whole range of new epistemological issuesissues which it is not necessary to consider when dealing with an explication de texte. The second question I would raise, is whether such an exercise is part of the arsenal which will help the student build a deeper understanding of the foreign societies whose language is studied. And to this I have a very mixed answer, especially when, as I said, the great interpretative systems appear to have failed, or rather, appear to be rejected by most. My view is that, unfortunately, our understanding of the outer world is dependent on our own fear and arrogance and preconceptions of what we are. Stereotyping is the primary level of conceptualisation, it is the overgeneralisation from anecdotal evidence thanks to which we find our bearings when encountering others. Nobody can survive without a system of representations built on a set of stereotypes (see Poirier, 1988a; Robbins, 1992; Marx, 1992). The question, in my opinion, is not the existence of this or that stereotype that we, specialists in the field, define as either negative or plainly wrong. Individually, any stereotype can be demonstrated to be false. But the demonstration does not penetrate beyond brain surface and is readily forgotten, if the system of representations which makes sense of the particular stereotype we target is not modified or replaced by another one. As our system of representations is central to our system of understanding, it may be believed that explication de texte as a discipline of the mind is a good weapon in the war of attrition against the most ossified representations, as it is based on the mistrust of any overgeneralisation

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and applied to a small practical chunk of historical sediment, defined from the start as being just that, and no more. A further question, then, is the role of universities in the training of secondary school teachers. If the exercise described so for is relevant to their trainingand few people in French academia would doubt itit is to be wondered whether this relevance is only related to the shaping of sound teachers' minds, or extended to the training of teaching skills as well. In the latter case, we discover that secondary education, as far as modern languages strategies are concerned, is at present heavily dominated by a monstrous hybrid of pure linguistics and down-to-earth preoccupations such as how to book a room in a hotel, or how to order a meal in a restaurant: the cross-purposes of linguistic rationale and phrase-book practicality. Texts on which to exercise comparative explication de texte are the English 'National Curriculum' for modern languages and the French. 'Instructions pour la classe de langues vivantes'. The actual contents are about the same, but the underlying philosophies are dramatically at odds. The English text insists on practicality in a way that is so detailed as to defeat itself, because it tries, unsuccessfully, to transfer the language and thinking of ergonomics to the complex world of intellectual acquisition. The French text recognises the intellectual dimension of cognition and knowledge and understands the different aspects of teaching and learning as being part of one single process: but it is as a result so loose and vague that it fails to be really helpful for the hard-pressed teachers, who are left to deal with practicality on their own. Both texts, nonetheless, insist on a communicative approach. There is very little room for properI mean rigorouscivilisation studies at this juncture, unless the secondary school teacher of English is capable of two operations: on the one hand, capable of marrying the linguistic drills and the intellectual inputand this is done thanks to one form or another of explication de texte; on the other hand, capable of offering students a framework of understanding, or of challenging received wisdom, all the more systematic as the opportunities for providing it are unsystematic. This in turn implies two other things: using explication de texte as a real exercise, not simply as a loose occasion for a rag-bag of activities, and mastering a minimal understanding of the various social sciences drawn upon to construct any interpretation of any society. This is certainly not self-evident and so far, nobody really knows how to do it. To be more precise, many excellent teachers know empirically how to do it, but their experience cannot be transmitted to their mainstream colleagues until we have defined what is at work. Such a definition poses very serious epistemological problems, which I am not sure we can solve satisfactorily before a few decades have elapsed, although cultural studies do offer some sort of a breakthrough. What can be done, meanwhile, is to study those experiments that work well, and launch others, and study what is at the back of students' mindspractise an explication of their own texte. This is what we are trying to do in the postgraduate scheme jointly operated by the Universities of Paris 8 (Vincennes-à-Saint-Denis), Paris XII (Créteil) and Paris XIII (Paris-Nord-Villetaneuse), with a number of

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colleagues from neighbouring secondary schools engaged in research on this interesting combination of civilisation and didactics. If we bear in mind the solidity and singleness of the objects under study, then the scientific diversity of the variety of methods being used becomes less of problem. And it is clear at the moment that it means more explication de texte for everybody, up and down the education system, not as the ossified medieval discipline in metaphysics, but as a practical and illustrative methodat least in the French socio-cultural context. References Becquelin, G. (ed.) (1989) Rapports de jurys de concours: Certificat d'aptitude au professorat de l'enseignement du second degré, Concours externe, Anglais, 1989. Paris: CNDP. Bernas, C., Gaudin, E. and Poirier, F. (1992) The Document in British Civilisation Studies: Understanding, Analysis, Commentar. Gap: Ophrys. Brunet, Jean-Paul and Plessis, Alain (1970) Explications de textes historiques de la Révolution au XIX° siècle. Paris: Armand Colin. Cottret, Bernard and Hearn, Michael (1991) Manuel de civilisation britannique. Montreux: Bréal. CRIDAF (1988) Répertoire des relations de voyage, mémoires et souvenirs de touristes et de résidents françaislit en Grande-Bretagne et de touristes et résidents britanniques en France entre 1750 et 1980. Villetaneuse: Université ParisNord. Davy, M.M. (1931) Les Sermons universitaires parisiens de 1230-1231: Contribution à l'histoire de la prédication médiévale. Paris: Librarie philosophique J. Vrin. Deïdda, Yvan, Bazin, Claire, Barret-Ducrocq, Françoise and Fischer, Robert (1993) CAPES Mode d'emploi. Paris: Elipse. DES (Department of Education and Science) (1988) History from 5 to 16 (Curriculum Matters 11, An HMI Series). London: HMSO. John, Peter and Lurbe, Pierre (1992) Civilisation britannique. Paris: Hachette. Levatic, Alexandra (1991) Récits de voyageurs anglais en Ecosse (1750-1820). Mémoire de DEA (MA dissertation), Université Paris 8. Marandon, S. (1967) L'image de la France dans l'Angleterre victorienne, 1848-1990. Paris: Arman Colin. Marx, Roland (1992) Stéréotype et décision: le paradoxe du rapprochement francobritannique de 1903-1904. RANAM 25 (pp. 21-34). Poirier, F. (1985) Les langues telles qu'on en parle. In Daniel Thomieres (ed.) Le citoyen de demain et les langues (pp. 46-61). Paris: APLV. (1988a) Les stéréotypes. In Albane Cain (ed.) L'enseignement de la Civilisation (Langues Vivantes, Second Cycle) (pp. 29-45). Paris: INRP. (1988b) Représentations françaises des ouvriers victoriens. Les cahiers d'Encrages, vol. 1, no. 4, May 1988. (in press) Le Royaume-Uni vu de France. Ministère des Affaires étrangères. Poirier, F. and Rosselin, M. (1982) Civiliser l'enseignement. Les Langues modernes 2 (pp. 177-88). Robbins, Keith (1992) Images of the foreigner in nineteenth and twentiety century Britain: Some initial reflections. RANAM 25 (pp. 1-19). Tholoniat, Richard (1993) Londres vue par les voyageurs français au XIX° siècle (18141914). Thèse de doctorat d'Etat, Université Lyon-II.

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Culture and Language Learning in Higher Education Edited by Michael Byram MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD Clevedon • Philadelphia • Adelaide

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New Cultural Studies at Warwick University Peter Breen Centre for British and Cultural Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL Abstract The paper describes the structure and content of the new British Cultural Studies programme at the University of Warwick. The courses emphasises the cultural diversity of Britain and has special modules on England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The problems of cultural relativism are discussed, and the difficulty of finding a general description of different cultures, now that many of the old classifications, based on broad political contrasts, are falling into disuse. Outline of the Programme The centre for British and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Warwick has a major development taking place. The Ten-Week Certificate in British Cultural Studies is a course tailor-made for students at home and abroad who wish to study at postgraduate level for part of the academic year and is available in both Term 1 and Term 2. In general, this taught certificate consists of an interdisciplinary programme which draws from a wide range of subject areas and seeks to explore the multifaceted nature of the ensemble of different cultural practices that constitute contemporary Britain. The Certificate Course consists of Core Modules in Literature, Politics and Society in Contemporary Britain which, in fact, is taught jointly with the MA in British Cultural Studies and two approved optionschoosing from 'An Introduction to British and Comparative Cultural Studies', 'Postmodernist and Post-Colonial Cultural Studies in Britain and Ireland' and 'Comparative Literature of Britain' (see Appendix for a course outline). I am going to concentrate here upon the 'Representations of Contemporary Britain' module. The first part of the course embarks upon an intellectual expedition around Britain to look at issues of nationhood within the British State, wondering first about the idea of Britain itself, then looking at its constituent parts: Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England and subsequently investigating regionalism and ethnicity. As a sub-category of the factors of national identity, the first six weeks attempts to sample the myths, stereotypes and narratives which fashion consciousnessto think about the imagery situated not only in the 'real', the political and the economic, but also as part of symbolic and mythic systems of the nation. For example, Week 1 introduces the idea of Britain through looking at gender and island myths of the nation. The idea of England as a rural Arcadia has powerful resonance within English culture. When combined with the island idyll

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it has often had a fatal romantic appeal. Margaret Thatcher said in Parliamentary debate: 'The people of the Falkland Islands, like the people of the United Kingdom, are an island race. Their way of life is British, their allegiance to the Crown.' The Falklands take on the mythic resonance here of an Atlantis, an Arcadian Isle which the Empire must maintain for itself. It might be viewed as a primary narcissism for how the British Isles are conceived in a late or postImperialist political unconscious. In projecting such meaning onto the Falklands, Thatcher is subliminally affected by and defending mythic as well as political ideas of Britain. The gender question can then be ploughed back into the mythic and political matter of Britain. The major mythic representation of the island has been Britanniamanifest in the generic forms of the Warrior Queen: Boudicca, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcherthe Iron Lady. But a particular challenge to the mythic representation of these isles is evident in the Green Movement of the 1980s. Possibly moved by powerful, unconscious forces, the personification of the earth as a Mother in Green mythology has been recently invoked to name the island of Britain. However, Margaret Thatcher is the daughter of a Methodist, the Church which has been represented as the Rebellious Daughter of Englandan apposite description for Margaret Thatcher, some would argue, and is in an intriguing gender relationship to Green versions of the island. It is noteworthy that the feminist movement within Protestantism has been most developed in Methodism with the recognition of God as an androgynous figure and the current Leader of that Church is herself a woman. The course strives to enter into and reorientate mythical, cultural and gender discourses about Britain as they function in economic and political forms. In looking at the material for Week 3 (see Appendix), I can exemplify in a little more detail the kind of activity that goes on in the course. This is the week which deals with issues of myth and identity in Ulster. The object of cultural study is the Field Day Theatre Company dealt with through a BBC Arena documentary. A key theoretical position of the course is the idea that identity is to a significant degree, though not wholly, contingent upon constructions. The film offers information and raises some key questions and introduces some keywords, e.g. centre/periphery. The two accompanying essays, Myth and Motherland by Richard Kearney, and The Whole Protestant Community: The Making of a Historical Myth by Terence Browne offer some analysis and commentary upon historical myths of Unionist and Nationalist identity. The history maps provide a useful shorthand for those without a sound knowledge base. Tongue of Troubles is a contemporary current affairs article which illustrates the 'live' status of the issues being studied. So the study raises issues and mythologies of identity, providing some praxis, some history, some theoretical reflection and discussion, some topicality and some contemporaneous positioning. Weeks 7 to 9 attempt to include factors of economy in the fashioning of practice and identity, and specifically to be aware of the nexus of economy and culture to make the point about the way in which class, gender, culture, nationhood are very much functions of or even recoils from the economic structures of society.

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The Case Study on the Shakespeare Industry in Week 9 represents the attempt to look at the various factors of identity in terms of the forces, dynamics, alliances and contradictions which are at play in the negotiation and mediation of identities. Shakespeare is a good example of this, because in his own time he is a mediator of the fashioning of English identity, especially in relation to Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Missing from the list, there, in fact, is the Kenneth Branagh Henry V play which takes a Celtic as well as English army to France. 'Shakespeare and National Identities' by Graham Holderness not only deals with that issue but brings it into a contemporary mode by looking at the contradictions of Branagh's identity, a Northern Ireland Protestant playing the role of an archetypal Englishman and the article does so by looking at Branagh as archetypal Enterprise Man of the 1980s, a specimen of 1980s Thatcher Ideology, so that here we have the reconstellating of Myths of Nationhood within refurbished versions of Economic Man. Of course, with Stratford on the University's doorstep, it makes sense to do this as the students have an opportunity to visit the theatre and to look around Stratford with the eye of an analyst as well as a spectator and consumer. I should say at this point, that time is made available for the students to view video material and this is supplemented with trips to the theatre, poetry-readings, comedy shows, to encourage a wider experience and understanding of the subject as well as having some fun. Cultural Relativism Finally, I would like to foreground the course's appraisal of language as the bearer of an historical and cultural freight. 'Parable Island' by Seamus Heaney studied at the outset of the course acknowledges the slippery relativism and fictionality built into language. The poem reflects that in the earliest emergence of the written word in the Celtic Christian record of a pagan past, 'you can't be sure that parable is not at work already retrospectively'. It is thus impossible to discern an originally 'autocthonous tradition' in cultures, a transcendent primal authority anterior to the refractions of language does not exist. What history offers is recurrent and changeful glosses upon reality, and in the modern world it is the burrowing historians of prose and poetry, the Foucault-like 'archaeologists', who 'gloss the glosses', inscribing the past through the lens of their own ideologies: 'To one school, the stone circles are pure symbol; to another, assembly spots or hut foundations'. It is hegemony that is thus at stake in the discourses of the island history, with the poem's language implying the contest that takes place between present Nationalist and Unionist versions of Ireland's story: 'the subversives and collaborators always vying with a fierce possessiveness for the right to set ''the island story'' straight.' The representation of the Celtic Christian scribes as 'old revisionists' who 'derive the word island from roots in eye and land', configures the biased eye of ideology and hegemony encoding the territory in its own image. The poem finishes with a legend that deflates the idealism of contemporary Irish political discourse, rendering to it the absurdity of a flat-earth mentality: the belief that the cutting of the Panama Canal 'would mean the ocean would all drain away and the island disappear by aggrandisement.'

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The position outlined in Parable Island means that the speech-act can never be taken for granted. Speaking within an educational institution, through discourses which are humanist and rationalist, the open-minded and alert may consistently experience language as an appropriating medium. Britain is protean according to where you are and who you are within the space it maps out and language may variously waste or irrigate notions of identity and belonging. There is a centre-margin built into discourse. For example, the term civilisation may seem like a noun at the centre but may take on the energy of a verb at the periphery, an historical act committed against the fringe. Thus one experiences the educational space as a centrefrom the Latin centrum, the stationary point of a compass, from Greek kentron, needle, from kentein, to prick. From this etymology I think it is much more fruitful in a Cultural Studies context to think of a centre or the centre not so much as a place at which some specified activity is concentrated, or even as a place where power is concentrated, but rather as a distribution point through which a specified force may be considered to act. During the course these problematics became a subject and issue of discussion, a self-consciousness accreting within a post-modern, and notionally post-imperial culture. We run here into issues of the Enlightenment and Rationalism, the grandiose narratives of European history, with the questioning in post-modern cultures of the veracity and validity of these narratives. Conservative, Liberal and Leftist idea-systems, to name what may now be increasingly seen as sterile structures within the body politic, are deeply embedded in Enlightenment assumptions which canvass the a priori of the cerebral with its positivist, secular versions of the historical world. It could be argued that to interpret Celtic societies within Leftist discourses, for example, with its teleological assumptions of Secularism and Revolution, is itself a problematic imposition. This may be especially so when we consider how the French Revolution and the Enlightenment were mediated in British and Irish culture through Conservative and Protestant cultural formationsand that contemporarily the materialist (see 'mater', 'matter', 'mother' for etymology, notifying the psycho-sexual texturing of language, discourse and practice in English culture) discourse and assumptions of literary and cultural theory are themselves part of this very tradition written into the institutional centres. Brian Friel's Translations takes on this issue. I have a lot of friends in the English Black Country, and a fine intellectual friend who will tell you that the cerebral discourse is a very alien form to the more visceral cultures of the Black Country, and it is the Enlightenment and an enlightenment Leftism which is chary of such speech and conceptualisation of the political and cultural body. Somewhere here lurks the crisis of the 1990s and the idea of what is culture and how is it to be dealt with.

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Appendix Centre for British and Comparative Cultural Studies, Ten Week Certificate: British Cultural Studies: Representations of Contemporary Britain Course Rationale: The complex make-up of contemporary British culture has quickened the need to theorise and objectivise its study in the 1990s. The mechanism, media and discourses through which cultural and institutional identities of Britain and its internal communities are materially, mythically, symbolically and ideologically produced provide the focus of study. Methodology is theoretical and analytical, using contemporary cultural theory to scrutinise popular and educated discourses and practices of TV, radio, film, theatre, newspaper and magazines, spectacle and heritage industries for their representation of British life today. Concepts of traditionalism, post-modernism, regionalism and multiculturalism will provide coherent reference points for the course of study. Course Objectives: To investigate and analyse the construction and mediation of the people of Britain in contemporary ideology, mythology and narrative in popular and high culture. More specifically, the aim is to develop an awareness of the contemporary factors of identitycultural, political and economic. Course Content: Week 1: Britain: The Island Story Week 2: Scotland: Popular History and Myths Week 3: Ulster: Myths and Stereotypes Week 4: Wales: Myths and Rituals of Identity Week 5: England/Britain: The North-South Divide Week 6: The Multicultural Society: Ethnicity and Identity Week 7: The Enterprise Economy and the Construction of Identity Week 8: The Consumer Society and the Constructions of Identity Week 9: Case Study: Shakespeare and National Identities

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Representations of Contemporary Britain Week 1 Week 2 Topic Britain: The Scotland: Popular Island Story Mythologies

Week 4 Week 5 Wales: Myths & England: The Rituals of Identity North-South Divide Cultural Audio-tape: Videos: An Audience Video: Arena: Video: Wales vs North-South Study Myth, History & with Billy Connolly's History Boys on the England: Five Divide from Britain 'Rob C. Nesbitt' Run; Tongue of Nations The Country Troubles and City (British Council) Theme Island Idylls of Tartanry, Kailyadism Mythologies of Welsh NonImaginary Britain and and Clydesideism Unionist and conformity, the Maps of Ireland Nationalist Identity Gwerin, Popular England Identities Reading An Anatomy of Depicting Scotland: The Whole Culture and and the Social Film, Myth and Protestant Politics in Wales Study Imaginary: Island Scotland's Story by Community: The by Tom Nairn; Material Myths of the John Caughie Old and Making of an The Onward British Isles by New Scottish Historical Myth by March of a Small Peter Thomas Nationalism by Tom Terence Brown; Nation by Gwyn Breen Nairn Myth and A. Williams Motherland by Richard Kearney Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Topic The Multicultural The Enterprise The Consumer Case Study: Plenary Society: Black Economy: Society; Shakespeare and Identities 2nd Construction of Constructions of National Gererationalism Identity Identity Identities Cultural Extracts from The Selections from The Video: Class to Collection of Study Intended by Financial Times, e.g. Class, Harry markeing and David Dabdeen; Strategy for Scottish Enfield: tourist brochures, The Rushdie File, Enterprise Loadsamoney e.g. Shakespeare's Out of My Skin by International, Welsh Country 1992, John Barnes, Economic The Poems by RAPP Development and Shakespearian European Business Properties 1993 Centre Theme Ethnicity and Economy, Culture and The Reconsructions At the Nexus of Retrospective Identity Gender Identity of Class and Gender Culture and Analysis of Identity Economy Factors of Identity Reading Language and Images of Enterprise New Times in Shakespeare and and Ethnic Identity by by Tom Cannon; Cultural Studies by National Study James Worrall; Playing With Freire: Angela McRobbie; Identities: What MaterialsMaking a Home Some Reflections on The Politics of is My Nation by in the PostEnterprise by Peter Consumption by Graham Modern by Higgnson Frank Mort Holderness Kiernan Keohane

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Week 3 Ulster: Myths & Stereotypes

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International Cultural Studies at Roskilde University Karen Risager Dept of Languages and Culture, University of Roskilde, POB 260, DK 400 Roskilde, Denmark Abstract The paper describes Cultural Studies in the distinctive project-based degree programmes, basic and specialised, at Roskilde University Centre (RUC). The orientation, in keeping with the traditions of RUC, is interdisciplinary and thematic, with an emphasis on the social and human sciences. The work is required to incorporate the perspectives of Science, Language and Literature, History, and Psychology and the Social Sciences. Students work together in groups that generally combine a number of different cultures. The paper discusses the form and content of Cultural Studies in this setting and provides examples of themes and projects. Roskilde University Roskilde University is one of five universities in Denmark, the others being the universities of Copenhagen (established in 1479), Aarhus (1928), Odense (1964), and Aalborg (1974). Roskilde University, which was opened in 1972, and Aalborg University were created as reform universities with forms of study and structures of programmes markedly different from those of the older universities. The two universities were planned in the heyday of social critique, project work, problem orientation, group work, and interdisciplinarity, and in spite of vehement political attacks on them, especially on Roskilde University in the 70s, they have maintained their specific identity, Roskilde University more so though than Aalborg University. Thus, studies at Roskilde University (or Roskilde University Center, which is its proper designation, in abbreviation: RUC) are all based upon problem oriented project work in groups, and the principle of integration of disciplines is a characteristic feature of the whole structure, especially in the programmes for the first two years, which are explicitly interdisciplinary. Over the years, students and teachers at RUC have proved the sustainability of the qualifications obtained through this kind of study, a combination of generalist and specialist qualifications, and students coming from RUC are quite successful on the graduate labour market, public as well as private. Structure of Programmes Roskilde University, which has about 5,000 students (Autumn 1992), offers courses within three broad areas: the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. Studies within each of these areas begin with a two year Basic

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Studies programme of interdisciplinary work. Basic Studies as the first stage of degree studies is intended to offer a number of advantages: • Delayed specialisation and a surer choice of subject, thus avoiding extending the length of study caused by switching subjects at a later stage . . . • A comprehensive view of the way the subject chosen is part of a larger whole . . . • To learn to study independently and in collaboration with others . . . • Better skills and knowledge as preparation for the specialised degree course . . . (RUC, 1992: 7). Undergraduates studying languages, for instance, are well acquainted with a wide range of approaches to cultural studies when they enter the specialised degree courses after the Basic Studies. After the Basic Studies programme, students pass on to a wide range of subjects, which are offered a both the Bachelor's level, the Master's level and PhD level (see Appendix A). One of the characteristics of RUC studies is that students, e.g. language students, must choose two subjects of equal length, and that they can combine these subjects almost freely. They may choose to combine subjects from different fields: e.g. French and International Development Studies (third world studies), or German and Geography, or English and Computer Studies, or French and Mathematics. In recent years, a not insignificant number of language students have chosen combinations with subjects from the social sciences, especially Geography and International Development Studies. The International Cultural Studies Programme The Basic Studies programme in the Humanities has two variants: The Danish language variant dating from 1972, and the international variant, called International Cultural Studies (ICS), opened in 1989 (plus an open university variant). The two variants are virtually similar as to scope and organisation, both offering a broad introduction to the study of language, culture and society, but International Cultural Studies uses English, German and French as working languages, and receives both Danish students and foreign students from a wide range of countries, e.g. Italy, Spain, France, the UK, Germany, Greece, Holland, Poland, the USA, China, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and the Baltic countries. The curriculum focuses on the contemporary and historical situation of the Nordic and other European countries, both in the European and the global perspective. The Basic Studies Programmes have a specific organisational structure. The students are attached to a 'house', that is a section of a building, where they can work together in group-rooms, organise plenary meetings, attend lectures and seminars, and cook on a small scale. Typically, a house comprises 80-120 students. In addition to the students, the house also has a secretary, and a team of teachers, coming from the relevant subject studies, e.g. in the ICS: from English, German, French, History, Communication Studies, and Philosophy. The number of teachers is usually about 4-7, one or a few of them working full time in the

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house, others part time, and they generally have their offices in the house. So the house is a social unit where many things are discussed and decided on collectively. The teachers continually plan and distribute their teaching activities within the given thematic frames at teachers' meetings. As already mentioned, the central activity of RUC studies is problem-oriented project work. During the two year Basic Studies programme in the Humanities, which comprises four semesters of study, students work in groups on four projects, each of which is evaluated at the end of the semester. (In the first semester project work may be divided into two phases with smaller pilot projects.) The various aspects of project work at RUC are explained in more detail later. Each two-year class of the Basic Studies is given a thematic focus of its own by the Board of Studies. As an example of a two year curriculum we may choose the ICS class 1991-93. The overall theme of this class is: 'Cultural Identity in a Multicultural Europe: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives'. Each of the four semesters is given a theme as well, relating to the overall theme. Thus, in the ICS class referred to, the curriculum is (was) as follows: 1st semester (Sept. 91-Jan. 92): Theme: 'Processes of Creation of Cultural Identities in Europe: Personal and Collective' The aim of project work in this initial semester is to make students acquainted with the methodology of project work, and to formulate and deal with problems of identity formation, in a theoretically and methodologically informed way, making use of, for example, theoretical concepts from psychology, social psychology, or sociology. The following examples of titles of finished projects may give an impression of the kinds of problems that were actually chosen: 'Scottish Identity', 'Football Hooliganism in England', 'Intellectuals', 'Do They Know It's Christmas Time At AllA Project on Prejudices about Africa in School Books', 'TV5 dans le cirque des médias'. At the beginning of the semester (as in the following semesters) the team of teachers offers a range of proposals concerning possible (pilot) project themes, and the students may choose to work with them. But they are allowed to choose other subjects, and any countries and cultures, as long as they keep within the thematic frame, and as long as there is a teacher in the house competent to supervise it. The range of different cultures is generally quite wide, covering both European and non-European cultures, but naturally, English, German and French speaking countriesand Denmarkare the most common. Students form groups around the project themes they are especially interested in, preferably 5-7 students, both Danish and foreign, and the teachers distribute themselves among the groups, so that each group gets a supervisor. He or she is going to help the groups with all kinds of questions related to the subject area, choice of theory and method, writing of the project report and so on. The majority of the groups do their project in English, but some work in German or French. As the working language will be a foreign language for at least some of the participants in each group, and as the report is to be written in

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this language, the teacher also has a responsibility with regard to the language learning processes going on in the group. So in each house some 12-16 projects are carried out simultaneously, and each teacher has 1-5 projects at the same time depending on the amount of time he or she is assigned to in the house. In addition to project work, the students attend systematic courses in 'Linguistic and Cultural Studies' (20 hoursobligatory), 'Theory of the Humanities' (20 hoursobligatory), and language courses at intermediate and advanced level (English, German, French), or elementary level (Danish). 2nd semester (Feb.-June 92): Theme: 'Cultural Expressions of Identity' The aim of project work in this semester is to explore the range of cultural expressions in society, and to learn to use text analysis and semiotic analysis in a broad sense, both with regard to the dimensions of production, reception, and communicative and cultural function. Examples of titles of finished projects: 'Whazzatthe Narrative Techniques of New Journalism', 'The Production of a Child TV Programme', 'The Myth about Nietzsche', 'Le Catharisme en Occitanie' (on Montaillou), 'Life Style and Trends'. Again, students attend systematic courses as well: in 'Theory of Text and Literature' (20 hoursobligatory), and 'History' (20 hoursobligatory), and language courses. 3rd semester (Sep. 92-Jan. 93): Theme: 'Historical Backgrounds of Cultural Identities in Europe' This semester focuses on historical analysis, historical method, and historical knowledge. So the students choose project themes, some of which may be related to contemporary history, others may go further back to the Middle Ages, the Viking Age, or further. As already mentioned, the students may prefer to work with other cultures than strictly European cultures, e.g. non-European cultures in the context of colonial or postcolonial history. Examples of project titles: 'Gender and Postmodernism', 'Rousseau', 'The Roman Empire', 'Human Rights'. At the same time, systematic courses are offered in: 'History' (a continuation of the course in the 2nd semester) (20 hoursobligatory), and 'Linguistic and Cultural Studies' (a continuation of the course in the 1st semester) (20 hours obligatory), as well as language courses. 4th semester (Feb.-June 93): The Final Semester has No Fixed Theme The students can pursue their own interests within the frame of the overall theme of the class, and many of them choose themes that prepare them for further studies in the specialised subjects after the Basic Studies. Examples of project titles: 'The Saami in NorwayA Fourth World People in a First World Nation State', 'Laughter', 'L'identité féminine', 'Charlie ChaplinAction Speaks Louder than Words'.

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Courses: 'Textual and Literary Studies' (a continuation of the course in the 2nd semester) (20 hoursobligatory), and 'Philosophy of Science' (a continuation of the course in the 1st semester) (20 hoursobligatory), and language courses. At the end of Basic Studies there is a final oral examination on the basis of the project report which you have to pass if you want to proceed to the specialised degree courses. The examination has the form of a group discussion, but the students are given individual marks (using the national scale from 0-13) (see below). The Four Dimensions of International Cultural Studies Project work at RUC is meant to be problem oriented, and problems of culture and society do not usually lend themselves to be analysed by means of but one discipline. The students learn how to cope with a combination of disciplines, hopefully in some kind of interdisciplinary integration. So alongside the thematic focuses of the first three semesters, the programme encompasses four dimensions that have to be taken account of by students and teachers: (1) Philosophy and Theory of Science. (2) The Study of Communication and Text, including Language and Literature. (3) Philosophy of History and Historical Method. (4) Psychology and Theories of Socialisation and Culture. These dimensions are not tied to specific semesters. Any project should include theoretical material related to at least two dimensions, so as to make sure that the problem under consideration is seen from different theoretical perspectives. At the end of Basic Studies, it is ascertained that all students have been working with all four dimensions, whatever groups they have participated in. Specialised Degree Courses in Languages After the Basic Studies In the specialised degree studies, students go on with a combination of project studies and systematic courses. Language students (English, German, or French) at Master's level do three projects dealing typically with questions related to literature and philosophy, political and social problems, history, language and communication in English, German, and French speaking countries respectively. In addition to this, they attend language-specific courses in cultural studies (mainly text-oriented courses on social and cultural history), as well as language courses in oral and written proficiency, translation, grammar and phonology. A special advantage is that students may choose to integrate their two subjects in their project work, so that requirements coming from the two subjects are met in one single project. For example a group of students (or an individual student) combining French and International Development Studies may do a project on the role of literature in the social and cultural development of Algeria, thus integrating in one project what they would otherwise have to do in two separate projects, one on literature in a French speaking country (within French)), and one

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on development problems in the third world (within International Development Studies). When a group of students do an integrated project they get a supervisor from both subjects, and the project is normally assessed in two separate exams, one for each subject. More on Project Work at Roskilde University Methodologically, project work is based on three fundamental theoretical principles: Problem orientation, exemplarity, and participant direction (see e.g. Illeris, 1992). Problem orientation indicatesin contrast to the traditional subject or discipline orientationthat the starting point for the work is a problem or a set of problems. The content of the studies will be whatever material, investigation or theory can contribute to the understanding, illumination or solving of the problem. This principle also implies that effective, valid and durable learning is established by dealing with problems. Furthermore, all problems, including social and personal ones, are taken seriously. (p. 16) Thus in the ICS all students work with problems that point to humanistic approaches without neglecting the sociopolitical context. At RUC, the problems analysed are very often inspired by contemporary sociopolitical or sociocultural issues. Exemplarity indicates that the problems and content material chosen should be representative of a larger and essential area of reality. Through deep and serious work on a genuine problem of personal interest the underlying structures of the problem area are uncovered, and this enables students to generalise their insight into new context. (p. 16) In the ICS students are especially supposed to gain a structured insight into the general relationship between culture, language and society by working in depth with four exemplary projects. Participant direction indicates that the studies should be directed jointly by students, tutors and other relevant participants. While all participants are equal, they have different functions and responsibilities. This makes the role of the tutor particularly demanding. He or she has a specific professional responsibility, but must act in agreement with the students and has no means of forcing them to accept his or her suggestions or standpoints. (p. 16) In addition to these principles, students are invited to approach the scientific working process as much as possible; they experience the problems involved in the different phases of project work: choice and motivation of theme, literature search, problem formulation, choice of material or empirical data, choice of theories and methods, possible contacts with people outside the university, the investigation itself, the production of a report, evaluation of the report and of the working process in the group. So what they produce during the period of 4-5

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months is really a small thesis of about 50-100 pages, in a written form, but it may be accompanied by visual material, e.g. a video film produced by the group. So in the ICS, much time is devoted to discussions of relevance, ethics, epistemology and scientific practice, and students generally address questions of philosophy of science and of the characteristics of humanistic studies already in their first semester. In the study groups students deal with questions of group dynamics, and become aware of the different academic perspectives and different attitudes present in the group, and how to cope with them in a positive way, both in the working process and in the writing of the report. As mentioned, the teacher team in the ICS is composed of people coming from the various humanistic disciplines, and they are attached to the study groups according to the academic content of the groups' problem formulations. As the teachers are all supposed to introduce their students to the practice of interdisciplinary studies, each of the teachers has to draw on the professional experience of the others, a fact that develops a teaching practice in the house which is more collective than usual in an educational context. At some of the crucial phases of project work, all or some of the study groups in the house may gather to discuss common problems. For instance, it is usual to have a problem formulation seminar, where the different problem formulations are discussed with regard to exemplarity, theoretical implications, and feasibility. Generally, there is also a mid-way seminar, where groups meet to discuss problems of analysis and how to connect theory and data (or other materials). At the end of each project, work and the resulting report are always assessed in depth by the supervisor, and group itself, another supervisor in the house, and another group in the house. All these persons sit together and discuss the project for about two hours. The starting point is the project report as well as written reviews of the report produced by the tutors and the opponent group. The assessment covers three aspects of the project work under consideration: (1) The quality of the professional work: Have the students accomplished what they set out to do? Is the project internally consistent as to problem formulation, analysis and conclusion? Have they gained an analytical grasp of what is at issue, and do they have a sufficient knowledge of the empirical area? In what sense is this project exemplary? Which of the four dimensions (mentioned above) have they been working with? (2) The quality of the group's working process, both with regard to professional and social aspects, including the internal distribution of tasks, and student-supervisor relations and cooperation. (3) The linguistic dimension. As already mentioned, the report is written in a language which is foreign for some or all of the students, and the assessment session is carried out in this language as well. In the ICS, students are not assessed in language proficiency as such (except during the specific language courses), but their ability to work with the foreign language in the project and to communicate their results to others is discussed.

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Each of the members of the group is supposed to participate in the discussion and demonstrate his or her understanding of the whole project as a collective work. Moreover, the session is also intended to give students some experience in receiving critical comments on their own work from fellow studentsand it gives the opponent group some experience in evaluating and criticising the work of others. Thus the assessment includes both assessment by teachers, self-assessment, and assessment by fellow students. In order to illustrate the content of a (good) project report, Appendix B shows the table of contents of a report called: 'The Saami in NorwayA Fourth World People in a First World Nation-State', written by three Danish students in the fourth semester of the ICS, Spring 1993. Discussion The form and content of studies in the ICS thus result in a specific profile. Typically, the students doing project work are highly motivated. They direct the study process independently and collectively, in collaboration with a supervisor, and as a rule, they feel a great responsibility with regard to the result of their work. They are trained in scientific method right from the beginning, and they develop an awareness of their own interests, strengths and weaknesses. It should be noted that Danish students normally have a certain experience of project work from primary and secondary education. Project studies of various kinds are quite widespread in the Danish educational system, but by no means generalised. Studies in the ICS are often international or transnational in scope. Problems do not necessarily focus on national cultures. So future language students get a broad foundation for their specialised studies which are of a more nationoriented character. Moreover, groups that deal with parallel problems in different countries may be put together in the assessment session, so that they give each other a more informed critique, and consider the comparative aspects, e.g. a project on the National Front in England, and a project on Le front national in France, or: a project on Danes' own images of the Danes, and a project on Danish images of Africa. As already said, ICS studies are often oriented towards sociopolitical and socio-cultural issues, and this implies an extensive use of methods such as interviewing and asking questions by way of questionnaires, beside the exploitation of text analysis of various kinds. On the other hand, there is not a very strong tradition of studies of a more ethnographic character, using methods of observation and interpretation of behavioural data. This situation may change, however, with the growing awareness of cultural differences in everyday practice. In the ICS, all common activities take place through the medium of English, and some groups work in German or French (some have used Spanish as well). Though it is maintained that the three languages have equal status, it is very difficult to prevent English from having a completely dominant position. The English language functions as a lingua franca to the extent that the specific

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learning and teaching processes involved in the use of this language are not considered as much as is needed. So one of the things that needs further development in the ICS is a greater awareness of the problems of foreign language acquisition and learning. The greatest immediate problem facing the ICS is lack of resources. There are not enough teaching resources to really accomplish the principles in a completely satisfactory way. The various Departments within the Humanities, which allocate teachers to the Basic Studies Programmes, cannot afford to furnish these programmes with the necessary teaching staff. So the students do not always get the amount of supervision and ordinary course teaching that they are entitled to. There is a permanent tension between the two principles of gaining a comprehensive view of the humanities, and that of gaining specific professional knowledge and aptitudes. As national educational authorities are constantly trying to compel students to finish their degree studies in the shortest possible time, the Basic Studies Programmes come under pressure, and, although students generally learn a lot during these programmes, some of them get impatient and begin to feel that they 'are not learning anything'. Still, most students acknowledge the value of the generalist foundation of degree studies. Those who may wish to get more information on details of project work at Roskilde University, are invited to contact the author of this article. Literature Henius, Charlotte et al.(1991) An Introduction to RUC. Roskilde University: The Students Council. Illeris, Knud (1991) Project education in Denmark. Project Management 9, 45-8. (1992) The organisation of studies at Roskilde University. In papers presented at the CRE-Seminar at Roskilde University, 19th-24th June 1992, Roskilde University (CRE = Conférence permanente des recteurs, présidents et vicechanceliers des universités européennes). RUC (Roskilde University Centre) (1992) Roskilde University: An Introduction. Roskilde University: The Information Office. Webb, Thomas W. and Nielsen, Jorgen Lerche (1992) Higher Education in Denmark. Roskilde University: Institute VII and the Information Section.

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Appendix 1: Degree Courses at RUC

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Appendix B: Table of Contents of an ICS Project Report, 1993: The Sami People in Norway: A Fourth World People in a First World Nation State

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Culture and Language Learning in Higher Education Edited by Michael Byram MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD Clevedon • Philadelphia • Adelaide

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From NIMBY Landeskunde to IMBY Cultural Studies Harald Husemann Universität Osnabrück, FB: Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft, Postfach 4469, D-49069 Osnabrück, Germany Abstract International student mobility schemes, such as ERASMUS, LINGUA, or TEMPUS, are creating new possibilities for Landeskunde. Language students about to go on placement abroad can be brought together in workgroups with 'natives' studying in their own university. The paper shows how the opportunity to encounter the other culture 'in my own backyard' (IMBY) can be used in Landeskunde. Ethnographic methods are recommended, in which there is a simultaneous evaluation of the target culture and one's own. It needs linguistic cultural competence in British English to know that the 'Not-In-My-Back-Yard' brigade comprises all those who may concedepossibly reluctantlythat a new development (new sewage works or an additional course in their academic subject) may be necessary as long as they and their immediate environment are not affected. The 'InMyBackyard' approach to Cultural Studies aims at moving away from Landeskunde as piecemeal factual background information (usually to literary studies) towards developing own-culture and foreign/target culture awareness in mixed groups of native language students. This happens in a setting where some of the learners are on their cultural home ground without appreciating their advantage. The NIMBY School of Landeskunde The first postwar generations of German foreign language teachers were taught by a classicallytrained generation of university teachers who had come of age during the war and who tended to argue that in Anglistik Language and Literature were all that mattered. In their view, a minimum of factual knowledge (realia) may have been necessary, but such knowledge was peripheral, partly ephemeral, unsystematic and lacked a unifying theory or philosophy. It was therefore considered unworthy of the attention of senior academic staff, who hired young English or American graduates in search of a temporary job to teach Landeskunde, if it had to be taught. The definition of Landeskunde as a dish of too many ingredients, with too many cooks but without a unifying recipe was subjectively believed by academic opinion makers. Objectively, this was disingenuous because many academic teachers of the war generation had had little or no personal contact with native speakers or the foreign country whose language and literature they taught. Many therefore spoke the foreign language poorly and had no cultural competence in

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the foreign country. In an understandable act of collective self-defence personal deficits were elevated into positive principles by declaring ex cathedra that what heads of departments and senior academics did not know was not worth knowing and could therefore not be a serious academic discipline. It needed a Europe without frontiers, facilitating travel and studies abroad, and the iconoclasm of the post-1968 generation, born and reared in peacetime, to pave the way for a vigorous debate on the definition of 'Culture' and whether there was life after Landeskunde. Christoph Edelhoff brought Richard Johnson from the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies to Germany to ask 'What Is Cultural Studies Anyway?' (Johnson, 1983); Dieter Buttjes (1981) and Jürgen Kramer (1983) introduced the work of the Birmingham Centre and the ideas of Raymond Williams and Stuart Hall to a wider audience. Younger academics at newly founded universities taught TEXTS instead of Literature to signal their move away from high-artistic connaissance of a literary canon to dealing with a wide range of texts from the classics to Asterix and Obelix, taking in advertisements and posters on the way. Landeskunde was rehabilitated as SOCIAL HISTORY, partly to give the disparate medley of Background Studies a more respectable family name by marrying them into an established subject, partly because 'cultural studies is about the historical forms of consciousness or subjectivity, or the subjective forms we live by, or . . . the subjective side of social relations' (Johnson, 1983: 11). On the Way Into My Own Back Yard Erdmenger & Istel (1973) were the first widely read proponents of a communicative approach to Landeskunde/Social History. Their successors argued that this approach was founded too narrowly on anticipated ascribed roles for learners and that a comparative intercultural dimension was necessary (Buttjes, 1981: 12; Kramer, 1983: passim). In my own teaching of Landeskunde/Cultural Studies theory was overtaken by practice when formerly homogeneous classes of German students of English witnessed the welcome influx of the future Euro-culturati waving ERASMUS, LINGUA, TEMPUS, AIESEC, Fulbright and other banners. A mixed group of French, Swiss, Italian and German students of English hotly contested George Mikes' (1946: 25) famous dictum 'Continental people have sex life; the English have hot water bottles' by arguing that the Hungarian alien had made his pronouncement in 1946 and that now every English high street has at least one branch of the nation's chain of 'Licensed Petting Shops' with their distinctive blue, red and white shop fronts. Unfamiliar with what they do not have in their own culture, but applying visual clues from their home environment to the unfamiliar, these young Euro-sophisticates mistook Messrs William Hill, the flagship of the British betting industry, for common-or-garden variety sex shops. David Lodge's novel Nice Work (1988) is a great favourite with foreign students of English because it is set in the England of the 1980s they think they know or want to know about. The pin-striped factory manager in his Jaguar is today's incarnation of Dickens' 'only-facts-and-statistics' Mr Gradgrind, hence a legiti-

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mate target of criticism. Robyn Penrose, his female counterpart, is the emancipated, radical, young feminist lecturer in English Literature who can easily explain the latest critical theories and naturally sides with downtrodden workers, students and whoever else claims to be disadvantaged. This Mother Theresa of the campus novel seems to have been created as the perfect image of what a caring, unpretentious, popular university teacher should be like. Unlike the manual workers she champions, she gets up with the professional classes at half past seven, woken by 'her alarm clock, a replica of an old-fashioned instrument purchased from Habitat'. She wears a 'white cotton nightgown from Laura Ashley'. 'She goes to the window, treating the rugs spread on the sanded and waxed pine floorboards as stepping stones . . . ' and she 'scans the front-page headline of the Guardian'. When Robyn, the ex-pupil of 'an excellent direct-grant grammar school', daughter of an Audi-driving father living in the Home Counties/Stockbroker Belt, is seen as a strike picket in an orange boiler suit from the fashionable 'Next' shop (Lodge, 1988: 41, 42, 47), it dawns on the foreign reader that David Lodge may be playing games with the sympathies of his audience. One had better enlist the services of a cultural insider for a full explanation of all the signs that Robyn is a member of the muesli-eating, Guardian-reading, Aga-stoking chattering classes who decorate their period homes in the aspirational 'Laura Ashley' country house look and with radicalchic ideas. For good measure, the literary historian will throw in the remark that lifestyle shopping is no achievement of the twentieth century, even if Moll Flanders (1722), Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair (1847-48) and Pip in Great Expectations (1860-61) had not yet heard of the term. What more literary and practical proof is needed that culture isin terms of Berger and Luckmann's seminal book a social construction of reality: 'My interaction with others in everyday life is, therefore, constantly affected by our participation in the available social stock of knowledge' (Berger & Luckmann, 1984: 56). Literary texts are just one teaching aid to make the student aware of the need to learn how to decipher the complex codes of a foreign culture. The arrival of the new Euro-mobile foreign language student from France, Holland, Hungary, etc. in the same classroom poses new problems, new challenges and provides an ideal environment for cultural/multicultural teaching. Some years ago a German student needed to produce a Landeskunde background paper to explain the stigma attached to Billy Casper's address on a council house estate in B. Hines' Kes (1968: 12). Nowadays an English student will be available to explain, a French student can contribute information on the equivalent HLM in France and the German student will realise that this corresponds to Sozialer Wohnungsbau in Germany. The students' information on these institutions in their respective countries may be vague and incomplete. However, between them they learn that an encounter of cultureseven if they are as closely related as European cultures arerequires the negotiation of lexical meanings (Baumgratz-Gangl, 1990: 115), of cultural meanings (Buttjes, 1981: 24-7) and an effort to move from receiving descriptions to finding explanations (Byram, 1989: 54). I am in the fortunate position of explaining German institutions (factual knowledge) and teaching

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Cultural Studies to foreign students with a wide spectrum of information (or ignorance) about Germany. Such classes are also attended by German foreign language students about to spend some time teaching or studying abroad. The prospect of having to 'teach Germany' abroad makes them aware of their blissful ignorance of where their Krankenkasse gets its money from, and how vocational training in their country is organised in a way that makes it an object of study, if not of envy, for foreign educators. On their foreign travels they may have watched with amusement that every Englishman at a bus-stop is a queue in himself, that the meeting of friends in France involves an arcane kissing ritual and that the of familiar shop sign 'Café' means different thing in different countries and even within the same country. When the accent is omitted the quality is usually absent, too! On the brink of their departure into a foreign culture where they will have to represent and explain their own culture such students become aware of the validity of Jürgen Kramer's (1993: 2-3) dictum: Learning a foreign language [and culture] is a hermeneutic process in which we expose our own cultural identity to the contrasting influences of a foreign language and culture and in so doing possibly, hopefully take hold and make use of the possibility of re-living and reflecting that process in which we learnt our mother tongue. We can even go one step further. If learning a foreign language and, in the process, learning a foreign culture implies exposing one's cultural identity, it could also be said that we gain and develop our identities in and through the processes in which we differ from others. The others are the ones who let us know, who make us perceive and realise who we are in our cultural specificity. And, of course, as this is a dialectical process, we do them the same service. This mutual experience of otherness shapes our different identities. This process, however, is anything but easy. It demands that we actively seek the encounter and that we listen to those others: the better we listen to them, the more we understand ourselves. And we can say that, paradoxically, we best understand ourselves when we most successfully adopt the perspective of the others. If we learn to see the world from different perspectives, we will realise that our view of the world is not the only possible one, but that there are other views which are of equal worth or which are even better. To assume the perspectives of the others, if only for some time, can produce tolerance and the willingness to accept them in their difference from us. Bringing together German foreign language students on the eve of departure to the country of their target language and culture with foreign students who have come to study German language and culture is the ideal setting 'to help us to see how we, as odd and amusing or irritating foreigners, are seen by other peoples (. . .) by building on this double understanding, to be able to look at and understand ourselves more clearly than before' (Hurman, 1977: 1). In my IMBY School of Cultural Studies, the aim is for foreign students to be taught by natives and native students to be taught by foreigners by adopting and adapting the ethnographic approach pioneered at Thames Valley and Durham

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Universities and described in this volume and in Byram & Esarte-Sarries (1991). Mixed groups of German and foreign students are formed making sure that students of one nationality are evenly distributed in all groups. They understand that the fieldwork happens to be in Germany and that German institutions, language and mores will therefore predominate but that, in the framework of our comparative approach, the group members from all languages/cultures are expected to give their culture-specific information on an institution, social convention, etc. under discussion. Such ad hoc information from American students on trade unions in their own country may be as vague and incomplete as the Japanese students' conscious awareness of the codes of dressing for formal occasions in their country. Still, the debate of such issues will best prompt further enquiries from sources back home and at least lead to an awareness that all cultural realities are social constructs. Tasks are formulated to convey different kinds of knowledge (adapted from Klippel, 1990: 59): (1) Recipe (orientation/survival) knowledge: How/where to . . . (2) Knowledge of how to negotiate lexical meaning; cultural connotations of terms: 'breakfast', 'tea'. (3) Knowledge about nonverbal behaviour: guest removes shoes in a Japanese or a European home. (4) Knowledge about codes of behaviour: shaking hands, 'tutoyer', 'Duzen', 'Siezen'. (5) Knowledge about public institutions: shopping, housing, traffic rules. (6) Knowledge about social institutions: family, neighbourhood, churches. (7) Knowledge about values: hygiene, acceptable/unacceptable food, national and social symbols, idols, educational values. (8) Knowledge about groups and processes within the society: social classes, political parties, churches, ethnic groups. (9) Awareness of stereotypes of other nations or groups. To sharpen the amateur ethnographers' perceptions, each group is usually given two types of tasks: (1) Exploration of a physically tangible locality, institution, or building such as a railway station, hospital or weekly market. (2) Exploration of 'intangibles' like patterns of behaviour or rules of conduct. In exploring the tangible locality the task involves historical research. A building may have had previous uses. Its facade with inscriptions, dates and traces of rebuilding may be a record of its past. People who work there must be interviewed. What they have to say brings the locality to life and their own biographies are chapters in a history book. The exploration of 'intangibles' necessitates, as a first step, a group discussion on what is to be investigated. The native-speaker student members-cum-mentors of the group are encouraged to look at their own culture with foreign eyes and to come up with suggestions. In case their inventiveness fails they can ask for prompt sheets with topics like 'Rituals', 'Ordnung

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und Sauberkeit', 'Rules of Behaviour', 'Symbolic Colours', 'Public, Private, Intimate Spaces: Their Significance and Demarcation', 'Flower Power: The Use, Significance and Economic Importance of Flowers', 'Forms and Terms of Politeness', 'Eating Habits: Taste or Symbol?' and 'Dress Codes'. Each group is expected to produce a multi-media documentation that can be shown to, and possibly copied for, other groups. Such documentation should also contain lists of words and idiomatic expressions. A group that has explored the local railway station should have come across and explained expressions like 'Es ist höchste Eisenbahn' for 'Es eilt sehr' and 'Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof' for 'This is double Dutch to me'. The English or Dutch member of our multinational Cultural Studies group ought to want to know the etymology of the English idiom. Groups are also encouraged to ask around till they find a literary text related to their topic. Localities like railway stations, football grounds, markets, churches and monuments will prove to have inspired more stories, poems or passages in a novel than unreflected patterns of behaviour, but the process of enquiry itself will have sharpened the students' awareness of the world around them and will have made them talk to 'natives' outside their normal social circle. References Baumgratz-Gangl, G. (1990) Persönlichkeitsentwicklung und Fremdsprachenerwerb. Transnationale und Transkulturelle Kommunikationsfähigkeit im Französischunterricht. Paderborn: Schöningh. Berger, P. and Luckmann, T. (1967, 1984) The Social Construction of Reality. London: A. Lane; Harmondsworth: Penguin. Bochner, S. and Furnham A. (1986) Culture Shock. London: Methuen. Buttjes, D. (1981) Landeskundliches Lernen im Englischunterricht. Zur Theorie und Praxis des inhaltsorientierten Fremdsprachenunterrichts. Paderborn: Schöningh. Byram, M. (1989) Cultural Studies in Foreign Language Education. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Byram, M. and Esarte-Sarries, V. (1991) Investigating Cultural Studies in Foreign Language Teaching. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Erdmenger, M. and Istel, H.-W. (1973) Didaktik der Landeskunde. München: Hueber. Hines, B. (1968) A Kestrel for a Knave. London: Michael Joseph. Hurman, A. (1977) As Others See Us. London: Arnold. Johnson, R. (1983) What Is Cultural Studies Anyway? Stencilled Occasional Papers. Birmingham: Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, pp. 1-25. Klippel, F. (1990) Approaches to the teaching of Landeskunde at Elementary and Intermediate Level. Language Learning Journal 58-61. Kramer, J. (1983a) English Cultural and Social Studies. Stuttgart: Metzler. (1993b) Cultural studies in English studies. A German perspective. Working Paper at Cultural Studies Conference, Manchester, March 1993. Lodge, D. (1988) Nice Work. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Mikes, G. (1946) How To Be An Alien. London: A. Wingate.

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British Studies in English Language Teaching Edward G. Woods Institute of English Language Education, University of Lancaster, Lancaster LA1 4YN, England Abstract The paper describes the approach adopted to the teaching of British Studies in an English Language programme for foreign students at the Institute of English Language Education (IELE) in the University of Lancaster. Two extremes are encountered in Cultural Studies, macro-descriptions of culture and society that tend to be typically taught in isolation, and micro-descriptions of social behaviour that are embedded in the language programme. In the first instance content remains abstract and encyclopaedic. In the second it is concrete but its social and cultural significance may remain hidden. Our approach tries to find a middle way. We focus on process rather than content. Using ethnographic methods, we get the students to become 'outsiders' in their own culture as a means of teaching them how to assimilate the target culture. Some typical tasks and activities are presented and discussed. Introduction This paper proposes an approach to teaching British Studies within an English Language programme at the Institute of English Language Education (IELE) in the University of Lancaster. It looks at a course for teachers at secondary and tertiary level. The approach is one of ethnographic investigation rather than received information about Britain. Wajnrby (1993) citing Freire (1970) comments that 'providing people with pre-fabricated parcels of information is essentially oppressive, for it fails to take into account the fact that learning involves the personalised construction of meaning'. The course is an in-service teacher training course where the emphasis is on materials design following a period of investigation and data gathering. The Cultural Syllabus The Syllabus For many teachers and educationists, Area Studies has long been considered an integral part of a language teaching programme. There have, however, been many different approaches to Area Studies (Stern, 1992: 83). At one end of the spectrum it is seen as something apart, so that sessions devoted to Area Studies are separated from those devoted to learning the language. At the other end, it forms part of the content, and is part of the context in which the language is taught. In the first approach, an Area Studies programme will be seen as a series

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of lectures. Often these are concerned with the political and economic institutions and organisation of the society, where the syllabus in the case of British Studies will cover such topics as: Family life Education Welfare Law and Order The Legal System The Monarchy The Government The Parliamentary System Leisure Business and Industry With the second approach, the content of the language programme revolves around the behaviour of the people in that society, so that we learn about meals, family behaviour, going out, etc. The first approach gives us a rather encyclopaedic view of the society at a macro level, whereas the second approach looks at society from a micro level. Both are important in gaining a view of the society; but the danger of the first is that it could give knowledge of the system without proper understanding of the culture of the system, whereas the second demonstrates how people behave, but can become so involved in the minutiae of the behaviour that at best it gives a very limited picture of the society, at its worst it only shows what might be considered by the learner to be some rather bizarre behaviour. The first approach gives learners some information about the organisation of the society, and because it is objective and impersonal will allow the learners to develop comparative constructs with their own society at that level. In the second approach, the information is much more subjective and personal, so that learners may not be aware of all the cultural implications involved. In his book Mythologies, Barthes (1972) has two essays, one of which discusses the significance of steak and the other the significance of wine to the French. Their cultural importance as part of the French way of life is quite different, for example, to their importance in Britain. An English student being given a plate of steak and chips in Paris may see nothing especially French in it and be quite unaware of how (s)he is being treated. Byram (1989) gives the example of learners in Britain learning that people in France have a second home but not understanding the significance of that within French society. Any comparison they make with their own society will be based on a British view of having a second home and not the French view, which could lead to all sorts of misconceptions about the economic situation and family life. While the approaches that I have set out are seen from an extreme point of view, one thing they have in common is that they are taught information. As in any syllabus there must be some kind of selection; but this could mean that at the end of the day learners are left with a somewhat random collection of facts that describe the other culture. To get a fuller picture, learners need to be able to

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continue to fill in gaps that are certain to have been left. They need to move from receiving descriptions to finding explanations and interpreting what they see (Byram, 1989: 54). A collection of descriptions of the society leaves the learners with few, if any, strategies for helping themselves to learn and discover more about the culture except where that is on record, which is often only at the macro level. Mazur (1992), in the introduction to a teaching unit on crime reporting in Britain, makes the following point: The present unit puts more emphasis on the process than the content of teaching. The reason for this is that the students should develop methods of studying culture in order to be able to carry out their own ethnographic investigations . . .On the factual side, the unit offers a chance to gather knowledge of several interconnected aspects of British culture. It shows the practice of newspaper reporting, presents a close view of life in one local community, and discusses some problems of crime and policing in Britain . . . The teacher adopts the role of a facilitator and organiser rather than a lecturer. The Approach If we accept that what we are trying to do is to help learners learn about the other culture rather than teach them about the other culture, then we may have a confusion between syllabus and approach, as there is in other areas of language teaching. If, as in Brumfit's (1983) definition, the syllabus is an administrative document which sets down what is to be taught and the order in which it is to be taught, then its importance might be less than that of the approach, in that the syllabus set out above details the areas of the way of life that students should be given information about, whereas the aim of the approach is to give learners strategies for increasing their own learning. There are already many well established approaches for developing strategies in language learning, but those for acquiring an understanding of the culture are much less clearly identified. It is often said that the best way to learn a language is to live in the country where it is spoken. While it is a fact that a lot of people learn the language of the country while they are living there, it is also true to say that many don't. This would suggest that the simple fact that you live in a foreign country does not necessarily mean that you will learn that people's language. Those that succeed will have discovered and adopted their own strategies for learning. This is also the case, I suspect, with the foreign country's culture. Some will learn about it and understand it just by living in the country, whereas others will get a knowledge of it, which is little more than a collection of unusual acts of behaviour. The surface what that people do is not hard to observe; but it is the deeper what, which contains the why, that will lead to understanding. The why, however, is often elusive because there is nothing to measure it against. Part of the process of understanding the why of the foreign culture for learners is understanding the why of their own culture and getting below the surface what.

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It is this philosophy which underlines the approach taken on the IELE course for British Studies in ELT. The aim is to develop an approach to ethnographic investigation which can be transferred in part to the classroom. The aim is for students to develop strategies for looking at the other culture from the inside. Pipeva (1992) does this in her unit on Student Life in Britain: Starting from the learners' own experience as undergraduates in a Bulgarian university, the lessons will seek to explore the similarities and differences between the lives of students in Bulgaria and in Britain. The feeling that 'what is foreign is strange', however interesting it may be, comes from imposing an outsider's view on the foreign culture and not being able to look at it from the point of view of the people within that society. What we must try to do is to help our learners to move from being outsiders to becoming insiders in the foreign society. One way of doing this is for the learners to become 'outsiders' in their own society. Saville-Troike (1989: 4) states: Ethnography by no means requires investigating only 'others', one's own speech community may be profitably studied as well. Here, however, discovering patterned behaviour which operates largely unconsciously for the native investigator presents quite different problems for 'objectivity'. One of the best means by which to gain understanding of one's own 'ways of speaking' is to compare and contrast these ways with others, a process that can reveal that many of the communicative practices assumed to be 'natural' or 'logical' are in fact as culturally unique and conventional as the language code itself. A valuable by-product which emerges from this process is an essential feature of all ethnography: a sense of cultural relativism. Complete escape from subjectivity is never possible because of our very nature as cultural animals; however, the constraints and guidelines of the methodology are intended to minimise our perceptual and analytical biases. The tradition of participant-observation is still basic for all ethnography, but it may be augmented by a variety of other data collection and validation procedures depending on the focus of investigation and the relation of the investigator to the speech community being studied. This approach then gives another dimension to the purpose of a British Studies programme as part of a language course. Many people argue that there is no one culture that is tied to the English language. That being the case, why British Studies and not American, Australian, Indian, or even Welsh, Irish or Scottish, etc.? If, however, we look at British Studies in the context of Area Studies, and ask the question 'Why Area Studies?', we might come up with an answer which is acceptable in some way to those who oppose British Studies or anything outside the language itself, and see the teaching of English as the teaching of a code for international communication.

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Why Area Studies? If our approach combines ethnographic investigation with comparative studies, then Area Studies becomes an important part of an education programme promoting cross-cultural understanding. In this context, we must choose one Area. Thus if you are learning English, the question then changes from 'Why British Studies?' to 'Why not British Studies?' And British Studies becomes the peg on which to hang cross-cultural learning. One of the aims of Pipeva (1992) was: 1. Cultural goals: to expand the learners' knowledge of their peers' lives in British universities; to bring about greater awareness of their own situation; to stimulate them to revitalise their own culture, seeing it through foreign eyes, and eventually try to present it in an appropriate way to British students. The IELE Course The Rationale The course for British Studies in ELT developed at IELE was designed to involve those in language education, i.e. teachers, teacher trainers, advisers, etc., not only in the study of British culture, but also in investigating British life and through this finding a means for students to do so. The aim of the Institute course will be to broaden the topic areas that make up such courses (British Studies, Landeskunde, Civilisation, etc.) and to seek ways of helping participants on the course to investigate British Studies for themselves not simply through looking at sociological or anthropological studies, but seeing how issues concerned with such themes as youth, feminism, the arts, law & order, 'Britishness', the Mass Media, etc. are examined in the media and discussed by people at both a popular and serious level, and so uncover British cultural attitudes. In this way it is intended to move away from an encyclopaedic view of and approach to British Studies to one that brings the learner into closer contact with events and situations that make up the culture of the modern society. While a lot of the course will be a taught course, participants will be expected to investigate areas of interest to them. Such investigations will involve not only further reading, but also active collection of data from Lancaster and the surrounding area. (extracted from the proposal for the Certificate in Advanced Studies submitted to the university committee.) As part of this, it was recognised that the course should develop and demonstrate a methodology appropriate for teaching the subject in the participants' home situations and consider ways in which the participants would be able to interpret the materials related to British Studies that were available in their home

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countries. In this way an additional aspect was added which was the development of teaching materials from information about Britain. Thus it could be said the there are three main parts of the coursethe gathering of data from various sources, the interpretation of the data and the subsequent development of language teaching materials with a cultural content. The objectives set out in the proposal were (1) to help participants come to a closer understanding of contemporary British society by investigating aspects of everyday life in Britain; (2) to develop a methodology to help participants investigate British Studies in their home situations; (3) to explore how a learner-centred approach can be applied to the teaching of British Studies; (4) to examine the role of British Studies in English Language teaching. As has already been noted, however, as the course developed, so the development of materials became a much more important part. This was because it was through the materials the participants developed that a methodology or, perhaps better, an approach became clearer. The Syllabus A source in British Studies, even if, as in the IELE course, it is more concerned with the training and development of teachers and students in investigation rather than simply teaching content, has to include some content which will form the base for further investigations. Thus the first part of the IELE course is 'An Introduction to British Studies' and consists of a series of lectures on various 'major' topics, such education, sociology, politics, economics, cultural history, given by experts from within the various university departments. Other topics are dealt with during the rest of the course and are negotiated with the participants on the particular course. Later the lectures are analysed and participants see how to use the information on courses in their home situations and see what approach they could use. The second part of the course is where the participants investigate aspects of Britain which are of interest to them. In this stage, the participants select a topic for investigation. They will explore the topic by reference to books and journals and through interviews with appropriate people. The topic itself must not be too large given the short time available for the investigation, but at the same time it must be seen as a microcosm reflecting a larger aspect of society. In the third part of the course the participants use the data they have gathered in their investigations to develop teaching materials which reflect their approach to teaching British Studies. (Some tasks are presented in Appendix A.) The final stage looks at how work in British Studies is best integrated into an English Language programme and how it should be evaluated as part of the programme and as a course itself.

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What the Course Aims to Achieve At the end of the course there are two things that participants will take from it. One is the very practical thing of having a teaching unit on one aspect of life in Britain. The other is that they will have explored approaches to developing with their learners some kind of ethnographic approach to looking at British Studies in their home situation. As has been said, essentially they will have worked from a micro level. The materials will have been at that level while relating to the macro level. The present case study provided conclusions about three areas of British culture: media reporting, law and order, and local community life. Crime news, when treated as social constructs, can be a source of valuable findings about law and order ideologies and about the role of the newspaper in mediating between public institutions and the local community. (Mazur, 1992) An important aim of a British Studies programme within a language programme should be to help learners to develop strategies for discovering other cultures. Mazur (1992) started by getting his students to look at their own newspapers. (Sample tasks and activities are contained in Appendix B.) With this in mind, an important part of the course at IELE were the sessions on critical discourse analysis. Many learners will only have the various media to inform them about the other culture. Therefore they need strategies to interpret the information they receive. Mazur (1992) says in his introduction: They (the students) should learn to treat media text (in this case newspaper material) as sources for studying culture. The activities suggested here are expected to make the students aware that language is the richest source for studying culture, as cultural ideas, values and meanings are embodied in its structure and patterns of use (see Byram, 1989, esp. pp. 39-80 and pp. 136-148). On the other hand, this class in British Studies offers multiple opportunities for language practice by providing reference to the use of English in its native cultural context. Ideally we should be developing skills of ethnographic analysis alongside this. As has been said and can be seen from the examples from Mazur's and Pipeva's work, some of this can be done by getting the learners to investigate their own culture. The second stage of the coursethe investigationrequires the participants to approach their topic through ethnographic research. Clearly there are constraints because of the time available. However, those on the course began to approach their work in this way and became aware of how important such a methodology would be. Certainly they became aware of the need to look at their topics from several different angles. In one case, the participant was looking at Advertising. She looked at it from the point of view of the advertising agency by having discussions at Saatchi and Saatchi. Then she discussed it with people in the streetthose receiving the

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advertising. And she also talked with newspapers about how they accepted advertising matter. At the same time as they were doing the investigations, the participants also looked at language teaching methodologies and approaches. Thus the two strands of studying British Studies and language teaching were running together. We can see the two strands coming together in the third stage. Conclusion Area Studies is about more than simply acquiring information about another culture, though this shouldn't be ignored. It is also, however, about learning how to research another culture. We have, however, to be clear in our minds what the purpose is. At one seminar I attended it was felt that British Studies would be useful to give that country a 'window to the West'. It is politically motivated and is a means for bringing together aspects of different disciplines under one heading. It is the pure macro syllabus. There is no reason, however, why the macro syllabus cannot develop into a syllabus which draws in micro approaches. An attempt to do this is being developed in China where students are given a lot of background content information and then asked to reflect through case studies on how people relate to the organisation and system of their society. It is probably this which will in the end provide the most interesting and acceptable approach to British Studies within an ELT programme. References Barthes, R. (1972) Mythologies. London: Paladin. Brumfit, C. (ed.) (1983) General English Syllabus Design. Oxford: Pergamon. Byram, M. (1989) Cultural Studies in Foreign Language Education. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Seabury Press. Mazur, Z. (1992) Teaching British Studies in Poland: Language and the media. Unpublished course assignment. Lancaster University: Institute of English Language Education. Pipeva, M. (1992) Students' lives in Britain and Bulgaria. Unpublished course assignment. Lancaster University: Institute of English Language Education. Saville-Troike, M. (1989) The Ethnography of Communication (2nd edn). Oxford: Blackwell. Stern, H.H. (1992) Issues and Options in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wajnryb, R. (1992) Classroom Observation Tasks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Appendix A: Students' Lives in Britain and in Bulgaria (from Pipeva, 1992) Task 1 At home, fill in the following questionnaire. You can choose more than one answer to each question, and/or add any answer which is not on the list. (i) In your opinion, why do most Bulgarian students go to university? (a) to get good education

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(b) to get a diploma which will later help them to find a good job (c) to please their parents (d) because it is fashionable (e) because students live a care-free life (f) otherspecify: ...................... (ii) How do Bulgarian students support themselves? (a) their parents cover their expenses (b) they get a grant (c) they work in their leisure time (d) they cut some of their classes and go to work (e) otherspecify: ...................... (iii) Nowadays, what do Bulgarian students spend most money on? (a) books (b) food (c) travel (d) accommodation (e) clothes (f) entertainment (g) otherspecify: ....................... (iv) What are their most serious problems related to? (a) money (b) their academic work (c) their relationships with the academic staff and the University administration (d) their social life (e) otherspecify: ...................... (v) How do Bulgarian students typically spend their time outside the lecture hall/seminar room? (a) studying (b) working (c) socialising (d)otherspecify: ..................... (vi) Are many students that you know (including yourself) members of any students' organisation? Why do you think they are/aren't? (a) of one of the Student Unions, because ................... (b) of a society, because ................................... (c) of an interest group, because ........................... (d) otherspecify: ........................................ (e) none, because ........................................... Task 2 In groups of three, compare the answers in your questionnaires and rank them in order of importance. Then report your conclusions to the class.

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Task 3 What does this reveal about your image of the typical Bulgarian student? Formulate his/her characteristics, and any that you can think of, which were not mentioned in the discussion, and enter them in the table, under the first heading. 1 .Bulgarian 2. Bulgarian 3. British 4. British students students as they students as seen by students as they as seen by see themselves British ones see themselves Bulgarian ones Task 4 What do you know about the life of students in contemporary Britain? What do you think they are like? Share your ideas with your partner and, together, make a list of characteristics to be entered in the table, under the last heading. Appendix B: Examining Home and Target Newspapers (from Mazur, 1992) Activity One The students are organised into groups of three or four. Each group receives a copy of the Polish local newspaper (Dziennik Lubnelski). Their task is to have a close look at the newspaper's layout, headlines, article topics, content, etc., in order to answer the following questions: Stage 1: (1) What does the newspaper tell us about the life of the community for which it is published? (2) What role does the newspaper have in this community? The groups report their conclusions during a class discussion. Stage 2: (3) How can the newspaper be used as a material for a study of life in a local community? (4) How valid will this information be? (5) In what other ways could information be obtained to supplement and check upon the conclusions derived from the study of the newspaper? The groups should come up with a list of investigative procedures that would make use of newspaper material and point to other ways of researching culture at a local level. The students write their conclusions on a poster (with the heading 'How can we study life of a local community?') which is displayed in the classroom.

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Notes: The purpose of this activity is to introduce the topic of the class, make the students adapt an ethnographic attitude to the source material and make them aware of the patterns of their own culture. The comparative perspective they develop should heighten their interest and make the topic more relevant. Activity Two Still within the same groups, the students are given copies of the Lancaster Guardian newspaper. They are asked to compare both newspapers and think about more ideas that could be added to the list on the poster. They are also encouraged to use photographs, folders, plans of Lancaster that are displayed in the classroom. Any new conclusions are added to the list of investigative procedures on the poster. Notes: The opportunity of using other visual materials on Lancaster should help the students to relate their tasks to reallife situations and let them 'submerge' in the British cultural context. The activity makes the students aware of the cultural differences between the local press in both countries. Activity Three At this point the teacher suggests narrowing the subject to one aspect of local life, e.g. crime. The groups are now offered a choice of investigative tasks concerning crime reporting in Lancaster Guardian. Each group should select one task to be completed in the classroom. Their conclusions are to be depicted in the form of two posters accompanying the Lancaster display, with the possible headings: 'Life in Lancaster: Crime' and 'News Reporting in Lancaster Guardian'. Simultaneously, the students are invited to compile dictionaries of English expressions connected with the spheres of newspaper reporting and crime (to be continued throughout other activities), which they will share with rest of the class at the end of the unit. Notes: The aim is to focus the class on a narrower topic that can be conveniently studied in the classroom. At least some of the following tasks should coincide with the investigative procedures suggested by the students. The activity offers them a chance to do simple ethnographic tasks of varied sorts, making them aware of the opportunities for studying culture. At the same time they are practising several language skills. This activity will probably take up the rest of the first, two-hour-long part of the unit. Task A. The language of crime news The students are asked to study the language used in selected short crime reports from Lancaster Guardian (Appendix 1). They should look for answers to at least some of the following questions: (1) Is there any pattern in which the newspaper writes about crime? (2) How is grammar used in the reports (for example the use of transitivity, modality, determiners, aspect)?

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(3) Is there anything special about the selection of the lexical items? (4) Can you see any textual focus? (5) What meanings are conveyed to the reader through this use of language? Notes: The students in my course have already had an extensive education in general linguistics and formal grammar. They have also had an opportunity to see examples of text analysis of the above kind in one of the previous classes (the one on the British press). The above activity should make them utilise their linguistic knowledge to discover how the use of language influences the meaning of the news (Fowler, 1991: 66-90). See Nutall (1982: 80-124) on the use of discourse analysis in teaching reading. Task B. Cross-cultural comparison: Crime reporting in two local newspapers The group is given copies of Lancaster Guardian and Dziennik Lubelski and asked to compare crime reporting in both themselves, but, if that is difficult, the teacher should suggest that they look at the place of the crime news in the newspaper's layout, study headlines, advertisements, the topics covered in articles, the content and the language of the news.

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Communicating in Foreign Lands: The Cause, Consequences and Cures of Culture Shock Adrian Furnham Department of Psychology, University College, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT Abstract The ability to communicate well in a foreign culture is considered as a set of learnable social skills. The notion of culture shock is introduced to cover a broad range of psychological and social reactions to immersion in another culture, many of them detrimental to communication. Programmes aimed at reducing the harmful effects of culture shock are examined in terms of the strategies adopted: (1) information giving, (2) cultural sensitisation, (3) isomorphic attribution, (4) learning by doing, and (5) social skills training (SST). The latter, it is argued, is the most effective Introduction As international travel becomes cheaper, more and more people go on overseas holidays. The average earliest age at which people first leave their country is declining all over the world. Furthermore the increase in economic ties between countries, especially in Europe, means that many people expect to work in different countries at some stage in their life. In short, the world is becoming a smaller place as international movement increases. One very dramatic sign of this is the high increase in international student exchange. Well over a million young people go abroad to study at a foreign university. Many go from third world to first world countries but a significant number make the journey in reverse. The experience of studying in a foreign country leaves a powerful impression on young people that may last all their lives. For a few the experience is negative and they recall the loneliness and rejection of the foreign country, but for most they experience is very enriching so much so that some people prefer never to return home and to continue living in their new country. As a result of the increase in student movement much has been written on this topic (Jenkins, 1983; Klineberg & Hall, 1979; Kagan & Cohen, 1990; Searle & Ward, 1990). But for thousands of years people have travelled to other lands to trade, teach, learn, convert, settle, and conquer. Long before social scientist ever thought of writing about the topic, accounts of travel have been written by explorers, adventurers, refugees, charlatans, traders, and missionaries. But now, because of international education, mass migration and tourism, social scientists have begun to take an interest in the area. Social scientists have become vary aware of the fact that communicating with a person from another culture is difficult. This is particularly the case if people

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speak different languages, obey different moral, religious and social codes of behaviour, and have a history of distrust or animosity. People from different cultures may hold very different views on the relationship between the sexes, which can be both perplexing and annoying. As a result there is now a growing and significant literature on communication problems of people from different cultures. This paper will consider some of these problems that culture travellers experience. The focus will be on how individuals manage in a foreign culture. It will be assumed that for mutually understood and satisfying communication to take place between people from different cultures, they need to acquire the special and necessary skills of social interaction in that culture. Situations and Skills Argyle (1983) has suggested that social behaviour may be understood as skilled performance. Inter-personal difficulties occur when this performance breaks down, or indeed cannot be successfully initiated. A great deal of the research on social skills has concerned itself with those individuals who may be described as unskilled or inadequate. Socially inadequate individuals are people who have apparently failed to learn a wide range of inter-personal skills, due to poor child-parent and peer group relationships, and because of other forms of social and physical deprivation. Such individuals may be incompetent in or incapable of, certain verbal exchanges; they are unable to accurately interpret or emit non-verbal signals; they have not mastered the social conventions of the social conventions of the society at large, and may also be unaware of many of the rules of social behaviour pertaining to their own particular subgroup, i.e. appropriate etiquette. Thus it could be said that socially inadequate individuals are often like strangers in their own land and culture: they are perplexed by the 'unfamiliar' behaviour of others. Some of the social behaviours which the socially incompetent usually performs unsatisfactorily, include expressing attitudes; feelings and emotion appropriately; misunderstanding the gaze patterns of the people they are interacting with: clumsiness or errors carrying out ritualised routines such as greetings, leave-taking, self-disclosure, making or refusing requests; and asserting themselves. All of these elements of social interaction have been shown to vary across cultures (Bochner, 1982; Furnham, 1979; Collett, 1982; Hall & Beil-Warner, 1978; Leff, 1977). It follows therefore that people who are new to a culture or subculture will not have been socialised in the rules and routines of behaviour pertaining to that society, and will therefore be at least initially be socially unskilled in their new environment. Individuals in this predicament include foreign students, visiting academics, businessmen and diplomats. Many of these people tend to be highly skilled in the verbal and non-verbal facets of interaction of their own society, and find their inadequacy in the new culture particularly frustrating and embarrassing. Ordinary everyday situations such as attending parties, making contacts with the opposite sex, ordering meals, shopping, even using the bathroom: all activities which hitherto presented no problems suddenly become major obstacles. More complicated and subtle debates,

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exchanges and bargaining are therefore all the more complicated and open to misunderstanding. This is particularly the case where individuals are totally unaware of these cultural differences. Furnham & Bochner (1982) tried to determine the typical everyday situations that cause foreign travellers problems. The following list of 40 was typical of problems encountered by students in Britain: 1. Making friends of your own age. 2. Shopping in a large supermarket. 3. Going on public transport (trains, buses, tubes). 4. Going to discotheques or dances. 5. Making British friends of your own age. 6. Making close friends from other countries of your own age. 7. Going to a small private party with English friends. 8. Going out with somebody who you are sexually attracted to. 9. Being with a group of people of your own age, but of the opposite sex. 10. Going into restaurants or cafés. 11. Going into a room full of people. 12. Being with older English people. 13. Meeting strangers and being introduced to new people. 14. Being with people that you don't know very well. 15. Approaching othersmaking the first move in starting up a friendship. 16. Making ordinary decisions (plans) affecting others (what to do in the evenings). 17. Getting to know people in depth (well, intimately). 18. Taking the initiative in keeping the conversation going. 19. People standing or sitting very close to you. 20. Talking about yourself and your feelings in a conversation. 21. Dealing with people staring at you. 22. Attending a formal dinner. 23. Complaining in publicdealing with unsatisfactory service in a shop where you think you have been cheated or misled. 24. Seeing a doctor. 25. Appearing in front of an audience (acting, giving a speech). 26. Being interviewed for something. 27. Being the leader (chairman) of a small group. 28. Dealing with people of higher status than you. 29. Reprimanding a subordinatetelling off someone below you for something that they have done wrong. 30. Going to a social occasion where there are many people of another national or cultural group to yourself. 31. Apologising to a superior if you have done wrong. 32. Understanding jokes, humour and sarcasm. 33. Dealing with somebody who is cross and aggressive (abusive). 34. Buying special goods (medicines, books, electrical goods, etc.). 35. Using public and private toilet facilities.

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36. Waiting in a queue. 37. Getting very intimate with a person of the opposite sex. 38. Going into pubs. 39. Going to worship (church, temple, mosque). 40. Talking about serious matters (politics, religion) to people of your own age. Argyle (1979) found that at least seven social skills are capable of being developed in lacking individuals. They are: (1) Perspective skills: co-ordinating verbal and non-verbal behaviour, encouraging the speaker, and giving appropriate feedback. (2) Expressive skills: speaking loudly and clearly, with the appropriate emotional tone in the voice. (3) Conversation skills: appropriate timing, speaker exchanges, topics, and self-disclosure. (4) Assertiveness: standing up for one's own rights without aggression or undue passivity. (5) Emotional expression: the expression of a full range of appropriate emotions in various situations. (6) Anxiety management: coping with social anxiety during moments of stress, such as in decision-making, or when being the focus of attention. (7) Affiliative skills: being able to express feelings of warmth, affection, and sexuality where appropriate. The elements in which Trower et al. (1978) draw attention are sub-divided into verbal and non-verbal. Verbal includes asking and answering questions; giving and seeking information; giving instructions; offering and seeking opinions, suggestions; greeting, bidding farewell; apologising, explaining; telling jokes; agreeing, disagreeing; thanking. Nonverbal includes gaze, mutual gaze, glance; facial expression; proximity and orientation; voice quality-pitch, loudness, speed, accent; gestures accompanying speech and expressing emotions; posture-relaxed-tense, dominant-submissive; appearance-image conveyed by hair, grooming, clothes. The point being made here is simple but nevertheless extremely important. Because so many aspects of social interactions are culture-specific, the ability to communicate effectively in one culture does not necessarily mean that one can do so in others. Hence, the concept of culture shock which is the realisation that the patterns (contingencies, meanings, etc.) of social behaviour found in one culture are quite different in another. Culture Shock: The Shock of the New The Culture Shock 'hypothesis' or 'concept' implies that the experience of visiting or living in a new culture is an unpleasant surprise or shock, partly because it is unexpected, and partly it may lead to a negative evaluation of one's own and/or the other culture. The anthropologist (Oberg, 1960) was the first to have used the term. In a brief and largely anecdotal article he mentions at least six aspects of culture shock. These include:

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(1) Strain due to the effort required to make necessary psychological adaptations. (2) A sense of loss and feelings of deprivation in regard to friends, status, profession, and possessions. (3) Being rejected by/and or rejecting members of the new culture. (4) Confusion in role, role expectations, values, feeling and self-identity. (5) Surprise, anxiety, even disgust and indignation after becoming aware of cultural differences. (6) Feelings of impotence due to not being able to cope with the new environment. The flavour of Oberg's observations may be gathered from this quote: Culture shock is precipitated by the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse. These signs or cues include the thousand and one ways in which we orient ourselves to the situations of daily life: when to shake hands and what to say when we meet people, when and how to give tips, how to give orders to servants, how to make purchases, when to accept and when not. Now these cues which may be words, gestures, facial expressions, customs, or norms are acquired by all of us in the course of growing up and are as much a part of our culture as the language we speak or the beliefs we accept. All of us depend for our peace of mind and our efficacy on hundreds of these cures, most of which we are not consciously aware . . . Some of the symptoms of culture shock are: excessive washing of the hands; concern over drinking water, food, dishes, and bedding; fear of physical contact with attendants or servants; the absent-minded, far-away stare (sometimes called 'the tropical stare'); a feeling of helplessness and a desire for dependence on long-term residents of one's own nationality; fits of anger over delays and other minor frustrations; delay and outright refusal to learn the language of the host country; excessive fear of being cheated, robbed, or injured; great concern over minor pains and eruptions of the skin and finally, that terrible longing to be back home, to be able to have a good cup of coffee and a piece of apple pie, to walk into that corner drugstore, to visit one's relatives, and, in general, to talk to people who really make sense. (Oberg, 1960: 176) Cleveland et al. (1963) offered a similar analysis relying heavily on the personal experience of business and other travellers, especially those at two extremes of the adaption continuum: individuals who act as if they had 'never left home' and those who immediately 'go native'. There are many other anecdotal references in the literature. Research since Oberg have seen culture shock as a normal and expected reaction as part of the routine process of adaptation to cultural differences and the manifestation of a longing for a more predictable, stable and understandable environment. Others have attempted to improve and extend Oberg's definition and concept of culture shock. Guthrie (1975) has used the term culture fatigue, Smalley (1963) language shock, Brynes (1966) role shock and Ball-Rokeach (1973) pervasive ambiguity. In doing so different researchers have simply placed the emphasis on different problemslanguage, physical irritability, role ambiguity.

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Bock (1970) has described culture shock as primarily an emotional reaction that follows from not being able to understand, control and predict another's behaviour. When customary experiences no longer seem relevant or applicable, peoples' usual behaviour changes to becoming 'unusual'. Lack of familiarity with environment (etiquette, ritual) have this effect, as do the experiences of use of time (Hall, 1959). This theme is reiterated by all the writers in the field (Lundstedt, 1963; Hays, 1972). Culture shock is seen as a stress reaction where salient psychological and physical rewards are generally uncertain, and hence, difficult to control or predict. Thus a person is anxious, confused, and apparently apathetic until he or she has had time to develop a new set of cognitive constructs to understand and enact the appropriate behaviour. Thus in the business world, where a manager has been successful and developed all the requisite skills for dealing with peers, subordinates, supervisors and clients in his/her culture, all or many of these skills, strategies and techniques become ineffective or irrelevant in the new culture. Hence the anxiety and confusion until new techniques are learnt. Writers about culture shock have often referred to individuals lacking points of reference, social norms and rules to guide their actions and understand others' behaviour. This is very similar to the attributes studied under the heading of alienation and anomie, which includes powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, self and social estrangement and social isolation. In addition, ideas associated with anxiety pervade the culture shock literature. Observers have pointed to a continuous general 'free-floating' anxiety which affects peoples' normal behaviour. Lack of self-confidence, distrust of others, and psychosomatic complaints are also common (May, 1970). Furthermore, people appear to lose their inventiveness and spontaneity, and become obsessively concerned with orderliness (Nash, 1967). Most of the investigations of culture shock have been descriptive, in that they have attempted to list the various difficulties that sojourners experience, and their typical reactions. Less attention has been paid to explain for whom the shock will be more or less intense (e.g. the old or the less educated); what determines which reaction a person is likely to experience; how long they remain in a period of shock, and so forth. The literature suggests that all people will suffer culture shock to some extent, which is always thought of as being unpleasant and stressful. This assumption needs to be empirically supported. In theory some people need not experience any negative aspects of shock, instead they may seek out these experiences for their enjoyment. Sensation-seekers for instance might be expected not to suffer any adverse effects but to enjoy the highly arousing stimuli of the unfamiliar (Zuckerman, 1970). People with multi-cultural backgrounds or experiences may also adapt more successfully. For instance Adler (1975) and David (1971) have stated that although culture shock is more often associated with negative consequences, it may, in mild doses, be important for self-development and personal growth. Culture shock is seen as a transitional experience which can result in the adoption of new values, attitudes and behaviour patterns.

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In the encounter with another culture the individual gains new experiential knowledge by coming to understand the roots of his or her own ethnocentrism and by gaining new perspectives and outlooks on the nature of culture . . . Paradoxically, the more one is capable of experiencing new and different dimensions of human diversity, the more one learns of oneself. (Adler, 1975: 22) Thus, although different writers have put emphases on different aspects of culture shock, there is by-and-large agreement that exposure to new cultures is stressful. Fewer researchers have seen the positive side of culture shock either for those individuals who revel in exciting and different environments, or for those whose initial discomfort leads to personal growth. The quality and quantity of culture shock has been shown to be related to the amount of difference between the visitor's (sojourners', managers') culture and the culture of the country they are visiting or working in. These differences refer to the numerous culture differences in social beliefs and behaviours. From a practical point of view what the organisation that sends people abroad wants to know (diplomatic office; multinational; church head-quarters) is what factors are the best predictors of adaptation in a new culture. Knowing which factors are more or less important enables selectors to choose the most appropriate people. Training Intercultural Skills Few people would disagree with the idea that men or women working in culturally different environments require some sort of orientation programme. Many techniques are available which differ according to theoretical orientation, length of training, type of training, etc. For instance Brislin (1979) has listed five such programmes: self-awareness training (in which people learn about the cultural bases of their own behaviour); cognitive training (where people are presented with various facts about other cultures); attribution training (where people learn the explanation of behaviour from the point of view of people in other cultures); behaviour modification (where people are asked to analyse the aspects of their culture that they find rewarding or punishing), and experiential learning (where people actively participate in realistic simulations). These techniques do overlap and are not mutually exclusive. Furnham & Bochner (1986) have examined some of these in greater detail. Information Giving The most common type of cross-cultural orientation usually involves providing prospective sojourners with specific information about their new culture. Travellers are presented with all sorts of facts and figures, either in written form or in lectures or films, about topics such as the climate, food, sexual relations, religious customs, and anything else the trainer may consider important. However, the effectiveness of such illustrative programmes is limited, because firstly the facts are often too general to have any clear specific application in

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particular, notably business circumstances; secondly the facts emphasise the exotic yet tend to ignore the mundane but more commonly occurring happenings, such as how to hail or pay a taxi; thirdly such programmes give the false impression that a culture can be learned in a few easy lessons, whereas all that they convey is a superficial, incoherent and often misleading picture which glosses over that culture's hidden agenda; and finally, even if the facts are recommended they do not necessarily lead to action, or to the correct action. It would absurd to teach people how to operate a machine by only giving them information about how to do it. If the cognitive informational training is to be of any practical use it must be combined with some form of practical experiential learning in the appropriate setting. Cultural Sensitisation Programmes based on this approach set out to provide trainees with information about other cultures, as well as to heighten their awareness about the cultural bias of their own behaviour, and how the practices of their society differ from those of the host country. The aim is therefore to compare and contrast the two or more cultures, look at various behaviours from the perspective of each society, and thus develop a sensitivity to, and awareness of, cultural relativity. This view holds that very human values, beliefs, and behaviours are absolute and universal, and that what a particular individual believes to be true and good will depend on the norms prevailing in that person's society; norms that other societies may reject. Such programmes often operate at two levels: they aim to achieve self-awareness about the model values and attitudes that are typically held by members of one's society; and to gain insight into one's own personal traits, attitudes and prejudices. Culture sensitisation and self-awareness programmes, being essentially cognitive techniques, suffer from many of the same limitations as information giving. For instance, it is all very well for a westerner to accept the same socially cohesive function as say the Trooping of the Colour in England, but is another matter to then willing observe such occasions and regard them in the same light as indigenous spectators do. Isomorphic Attributions Many researchers have pointed out that a potential obstacle to effective cross-cultural communication is the inability of the participants to understand the causes of each other's behaviour, i.e. to make correct attributions about the other's actions. Effective intercultural relations require isomorphic attributions, which means observers offer the same cause or reason for actors' (others) behaviour as they would for themselves. The likelihood of making isomorphic attributions decreases as the divergence between the subjective cultures of the participants increases, and explains why intercultural relations are often characterised by mutual hostility, misunderstanding, and poor effect.

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One solution is to train the individuals to understand the subjective culture of the other group, which in practice means teaching them how to make 'correct' behavioural attributions. This is done through a device called the cultural assimilator, which in effect is a programmed learning manual. The booklet contains descriptions of episodes in which two culturally disparate individuals meet. The interactions are unsuccessful, in that each incident terminates in embarrassment, misunderstanding, or interpersonal hostility. The trainee is then presented with four or five alternate explanations of what they went wrong, which correspond to different attributions of the observed behaviour. Only one of these attributions is 'correct' from the perspective of the culture being learned. The trainees select the answer they regard as correct, and are then instructed to turn to a subsequent page, where they are either praised if they selected the 'right' answer, or told why they were wrong if they selected an 'incorrect' answer. A great deal also depends on which particular critical incidents are selected to form the basic curriculum. Inevitably, exotic, strange and hence less common events tend to be given greater prominence than the less interesting but more frequently encountered day-today problems that make up the bread-and-butter content of inter-cultural contacts. Learning by Doing The limitations of information-based orientation programmes led to various attempts to expose trainees to supervised real or simulated second culture experiences. Most organisations do not have, or are unwilling to commit such massive resources to experiential culture training. More typically, behaviourally based culture training programmes rely on role-playing encounters between trainees and persons pretending to come from some other cultures, or if other-culture professional personnel are available, with such persons. In this respect the techniques are similar to those employed by social skills trainees. Some programmes also contain a behavioural evaluation component, which may take the form of a team of psychologists evaluating and training the performance of the candidates in the field. Finally, the vast majority of sojourners, or those who come into contact with members of other cultures in their own societies, receive no systematic culture training whosoever. The little 'training' that does occur is done informally by experienced migrants who pass on useful information to the new visitors. This in itself may not be such a bad thing. One of the requirements of a successful culture trainer is to be a mediating person, i.e. a person who is intimately familiar with both cultures and can act as a link between them representing each to the other. In theory experienced sojourners should have that rare capacity, but in practice some may have highly specialised, distorted, or even prejudiced views of one or both of their cultures, and perpetuate these distortions in the informal training they impart to highly impressionable newcomers.

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Intercultural (social) Skills Training Although there are a number of different approaches to social skills training they share various elements in common. The first is an assessment or 'diagnosis' of particular problem (e.g. assertiveness) areas of situations (e.g. chairing meetings) that the person has or is likely to encounter. The second stage is an analysis or discussion of the elements in these problem areas possibly followed by a modelling exercise where a trainer enacts the role. This in turn is followed by a role-play by the trainee with critical feedback in length following each practice. The number, range and variety of contexts in which the role-plays are enacted add to the generalisability of the training. Trainees are also encouraged to do homework exercises between role-play and feedback sessions. Techniques The precise techniques employed in organising the practice element of the Social Skills Training program vary considerably. (1) Introducing Trainees to Practice. There is evidence from specialised SST that first exposure to practice (and, particularly, feedback on practice) can be highly anxiety-provoking and it has become standard to allow trainees a first session in which no skill as such is practised. They are merely allowed to do what they normally do and receive feedback upon it. It is one of the advantages of the system that trainer and trainee can be seen as involved in a joint exercise in the observation, analysis and modification of the trainees' behaviour. (2) Tasks or Situations in which the Skill is to be Practised. The focus in SST is upon skills, but skills cannot be practised in vacuo. In SST the nature of clients' difficulties to some extent dictates situations as well as skills and the behavioural interviews carried out should certainly explore the areas of the client's life in which he or she is most likely to experience difficulty. Whether this is possible or not it is certainly important to ensure that the situations chosen for skill practice bear some relationship to the everyday life of the trainee. Otherwise the entire exercise may lose its validity. In specialised and developmental SST likewise, it is important that the tasks be used for practice be relatively lifelike. A danger in this kind of SST, however, is that trainees (and trainers) may begin to focus on content rather than skill. (3) Other Interactors to be Involved in the Practice. Interpersonal skills practice, by definition, needs other persons upon whom to practice. Basically there are three alternatives. Skills may be tried out on other trainees (peers), on appropriate groups brought into the SST unit (e.g. pupils for microteaching, interviewees for vocational guidance counsellors), or upon confederates brought in by the trainers to role-play 'others' significant in the situation. Working in groups at some point (i.e. not necessarily during the role plays) in the progress of the course allows trainees to share difficulties and explore ideas about their own and other people's performance. Supportively used it can therefore be a useful adjunct.

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(4) Number, Length and Disposition of Practices. Few explicit investigations have been undertaken but most stress the establishment of a hierarchy of difficulty and suggest that clients be allowed to practise a particular skill as often as necessary for the development of competence before progressing to a more difficult one. Resources, however, often prevent such a scheme and indeed almost all predetermined programmes predetermine not only skills but the number of practices. Feedback Feedback or knowledge of results which a learner obtains is an essential element in the cybernetic model of learning. There is therefore much emphasis upon feedback in SST and since the manipulation of reinforcement contingencies is an essential feature in the operant conditioning model, it is not surprising to find that the more behavioural programme designers are much concerned with the rewards which follow on performance. It is suggested that feedback, in whatever form, be specifically related to observed features of the record, and provided in a generally supportive framework. These principles should guide decisions as to the following. (1) Record of Performance. Should trainees obtain feedback from video or audio records, from observation schedules or from informal observations? Should some combination of records be used? All of the above have been successfully employed. Since the video record is most complete it can be argued that it offers more opportunity for subsequent analysis and comment. Its disadvantage is that it must be analysedby itself it is non-specific and distracts trainees from consideration of skills as such. (2) Source of Feedback. Should trainees obtain feedback from the trainer, from peers, or from other participants? The important variable seems to be not source but method. Trainees do, however, prefer trainers to be present and it may be that they interpret this as a general expression of support and involvement. (3) Content of Feedback. Feedback should be generally positive but should highlight significant features of performance whether positive or negative. If positive feedback cannot be provided the task is too difficult and should be changed. Feedback should always offer guidance as to how subsequent performance might be modified. There is evidence to suggest that this is best facilitated where a more objective record (i.e. videotape, observation schedule) is available for consultation and confirmation by the trainer and trainee together. Indeed, the presence of such a record may be sufficient to lead the trainee to pick out significant features of his performance without any comment for the trainer. (4) Timing of Feedback. Experimental psychology might suggest that immediate knowledge of results is important, but apparently where a videotape record is used this is not so and replaying the tape 'reinstates the performance'.

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Otherwise, however, it is important to provide feedback at least while the performance is fresh in the trainee's mind. For Ellis & Whittington (1981) the following strategies may be useful in helping individual trainees to obtain maximum benefit: (1) The programme should be carefully introduced to trainees and something of its rationale should be explained. (2) Trainees should be allowed ample time for 'practice' practices so that any cosmetic effect of video or other feedback can be got over. (3) Models should be as closely related to individual trainee characteristics as possible. (4) Trainees should participate as much as possible in the sensitisation phase and every effort should be made to accommodate individual learning differences in the activities provided. (5) Practice talks and situations should be readily comprehensible and should have face validity for trainees. (6) Feedback should be at an appropriate intellectual level and should have a supportive emotional tone. (p. 73) The advantages of the intercultural skills approach include the following: firstly, the training procedures are based on a specific theory, which avoids vague statements about 'mutual understanding' and instead emphasises behavioural skill deficits. Secondly, the theory is 'practical' in the sense that it has at its centre everyday, common, as well as business situations which nevertheless cause friction, misunderstanding, and inter-personal hostility. This approach avoids vague statements about culture shock by attempting to quantify social difficulty on various dimensions and then to reduce it. Thirdly, the programme can be tailor-made to the trainee, in that a particular person's social skills difficulties are assessed and the person is then given culturally appropriate remedial training aimed at removing those specific deficiencies. The training programme avoids general, non-specific lectures and films about superficial and/or exotic aspects of the host culture, preferring instead to concentrate on those specific features of the culture that the clients find problematic. Fourthly, the training uses well tried, behavioural techniques such as video feedback, role playing, and modelling to realistically simulate real life situations. The training does not rely exclusively on cognitive or information-giving procedures, partly because these do not generalise readily across to real life situations, and partly because they are readily forgotten. Fifthly, the training focuses on the management of inter-personal encounters. Its emphasis therefore is on the social psychology of the sojourner, and avoids vague assumptions about achieving personal growth and insight. The stress is on the acquisition and execution of skills. Sixthly, the evaluation of the theory, training content, training techniques, and impact of the programme can be built into a project from the start, and not tacked

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on as an afterthought. At its completion, it is possible to indicate if, and exactly how well, the various aspects of the project performed in accordance with expectations. The disadvantages of this approach are that because of the systematic nature of such programmes they are likely to cost more, intrude into and disrupt the activities of the institution whose members are being trained, and require an interdisciplinary team of trainers, unless relevant bi-cultural mediating trainers (Bochner, 1982) are available. Cultural Differences in Social Behaviour An essential part of any intercultural skills training is a comprehensive knowledge of cultural differences in social behaviour. Anthropologists, comparative sociologists, and cross-cultural psychologists have documented in great detail some of the obvious as well as subtle cultural differences in social behaviour. Many of these differences are of academic interest alone, but others may be the cause of important misunderstandings. Argyle (1982) has divided these cultural differences into various categories: language; non-verbal communication; social rules; social relationships; motivation; and concepts and ideology; and has shown how these differ from culture to culture. It quite beyond the scope of this chapter to discuss the research in these different areas, or even describe all relevant cultural differences. Nevertheless to illustrate the point cultural differences in social rules will be examined. Argyle & Henderson (1985) have argued that social rules are developed so that people's goals in different relationships, groups or situations can be attained. That is groups find successful routes to their goals (the co-ordination of some behaviours and exclusion of others) which become collective solutions or sub-cultural goals. Rules work by co-ordinating the behaviour of a number of different people, or restricting their activities so that goals may be obtained. Different cultures have devised quite different social rules the infringement of which may cause both embarrassment and misunderstanding. Rules about Exchange The essence of much of business is exchange: exchange of information, products, gifts, etc. A number of rules of exchange differ greatly from society to society. Indeed the very fact that certain, often pejorative terms exist in a society for certain acts of exchange, shows different cultures' attitudes to that behaviour. Bribery, seen in one country to be illegal and unethical, is quite acceptable, even expected, in another where it is seen as legitimate means of exchange. Similarly whereas nepotism may be an ordinary, everyday occurrence in some countries and seen to be a form of familial social welfare, in others it is thought of as being immoral. There are also elaborate and problematic rules for the exchange of gifts (Morsbach, 1977); buying and selling; rewarding hard work; settling disputes, etc. Recent studies on cultural differences in reward allocation (Lueng & Bond, 1984), and perceptions of fairness (Berman et al., 1985) have emphasised the individualistic, equity based schemes of industrialised cultures in North America

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and Europe versus the societal, equality based schemes of third world cultures in Africa and Asia. Related topics include co-operative and advancement of managers (Rosenstein, 1985), and the management of compliments (Barnlund & Araki, 1985). Many of these rule differences occur because of differences in motivation and values in different cultures (Howard et al., 1983; Hofstede & Bond, 1984). Rules about Social Relationships Argyle & Henderson (1985) have done fairly extensive work on the different kinds of rules for social relationships. These rules refer to such things as rewardingness (the amount, type, and timing of rewards in different cultures); intimacy (the desired and appropriate level of intimacy); avoiding difficulties (preventing or minimising interpersonal difficulties); third parties (dealing with problems of jealousy, keeping confidences, etc.). They studied the application of 33 rules in four cultures: Japan, Hong Kong, Italy and Britain. These rules were factor analysed and the factor scores compared. Table 1 illustrates some of the major differences. Overall the Eastern cultures prescribe fewer rules about expressing emotions, opinions and affection across all types of relationships. The Japanese stood out as the most different group particularly with their emphasis on not losing face (through public criticism), controlling the outward show of emotions in public and respecting hierarchical relationship. The number of rules governing varying different social relationships are too numerous to mention but show up numerous interesting differences. As Argyle & Henderson (1985) have noted: What do these findings tell us about relationships in general? First, they show the people share a consensus about what behaviours are appropriate in which relationships. Secondly, while certain rules apply across relationships in all four cultures, others are more specific to individual relationshipssometimes across cultures, but more often within particular cultures. Things we should not do in one relationship are strongly prescribed in others, and may not apply at all to a third relationship or to the same relationship in a different country. This can obviously create difficulties and mis-understandings, as many Western businessmen have found, to their consternation, when dealing with non-Western cultures. (p. 58) Rules about Time Because 'time is money', at least in some societies, businessmen and women are often very concerned with time constraints. Time-urgency which along with competitiveness, drive and achievement appear to be characteristic of the business world, also appears to be related to coronary heart disease. Expectations of how late it may be acceptable to arrive; how long a social or business function or meeting may last; how accurate 'time estimates' should be, etc. are culture bound. Perhaps this is best summed up by the following anecdote:

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Table 1 Mean UK HK J

F (3313) I

Duncan test UK HK UK UK HK HK J J I J I I ** 5 - 05 - 01 ** 05 - 01 - 01 - - - - ** 01 - - - 01 ** 01 01 01 01 01 * 01 01 - 01 - - - - ** 05 - 05 01 05 * 01 - 01 - 01 - - - - - - -

I Verbal intimacy 060 043 -309 154 5.01 II Supportiveness -032 -057 306 -033 4.25 III Negative behaviour -088 014 -028 265 2.47 IV Information and regard 086 -129 -273 119 4.41 V Ritual obligation -136 -448 214 389 24.00 VI Request for help 027 -013 -251 018 2.84 VII Self-presentation -029 -089 115 044 1.29 VIII Emotional commitment -067 197 120 -216 6.02 IX Time demands -001 032 -223 013 0.96 X Unlabelled -097 -196 022 049 2039 XI Exchange -041 002 137 150 1.54 * p Page 106

One of the most deeply rooted, and largely unconscious, features of any culture is what the psychologists call the time perspective. Within the United Nations, at least three different time perspectives operate. 'Gentlemen, is it time for lunch, we must adjourn', announces the Anglo-Saxon chairman, in the unabashed belief that having three meals a day at regular hours is the proper way for mankind to exist. 'But why? We haven't finished what we were doing', repliesin a puzzled manner that grows rapidly more impatientan Eastern European delegate, in whose country people eat when the inclination moves them and every family follows its own individual timetable. 'Why indeed?' placidly inquires the Far Eastern representative, hailing from a country where life and time are conceived as a continuous stream, with no man indispensable, with no life-process needing to be interrupted for any human being, and where members of electoral bodies walk in and out of the room quietly, eating a bite to eat when necessary, talking to a friend when pleasant; but where meetings, theatre performances, and other arranged affairs last without interruption for hours on end, while individuals come and go, are replaced by others, mediate or participate as the occasion requires, without undue strain, stress, or nervous tension. As one of the other group persists in its own conception of the time perspective, as the Anglo-Saxon demand that the duration of meetings and conferences be fixed in advance and that meals be taken regularly at fixed hours, and as the Russians sit irritated and the Latins puzzled and the Secretariat franticas this condition continues, mutual friction grows, murmurs of 'unreasonableness' are heard around the room; and, when the issue under discussion is an important one, overt accusations are hurled across the room of 'insincerity', 'lack of a serious approach to the problem', and even 'sabotage'. Telbert, Ina (1950) They don't do it our way. Courier (UNESCO) 3 (4). When a man or woman moves into a new culture he or she should immediately become acquainted with local expectations about time both within and outside work. This may at first prove highly frustrating particularly if he or she perceives the use and understanding of time in the other culture is wasteful. The list of rules is far beyond the scope of this chapter (see Argyle, 1983) but their importance in inter-cultural contact cannot be overestimated. The problem with these rules however is that they are implicit and not explicit; they are subtle and their infringement has often serious consequences. Yet they are clearly important and must constitute an important aspect of intercultural skills training. Conclusion It has been argued in this paper that a person's ability to communicate with superiors, peers, subordinates and clients in another (foreign) culture can be

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regarded as a social skill somewhat like communication in teaching, interviewing, negotiations, etc. Precisely because intercultural communication can be conceptualised as skill means that it can be analysed, taught, learnt, practised and improved. All strangers, be they tourists, sojourners, or migrants in a new culture, may be seen as culture shocked because they are unable to understand others, or communicate to them in the previously successfully learnt manner. Although some aspects of culture shock may be debilitating from both a personal and business point of view, many studies have attempted to understand the psychology of business sojourn and find the best predictors of adaptation or its opposite. Yet, however well a company selects and supports its sojourners they nearly always need training. This training in appropriate intercultural skills exists in many forms, not all of which are equally successful. Of the five strategies mentionedinformation giving, cultural sensitisation, isomorphic attributions, learning by doing, and social skills trainingthe latter seemed the most effective, in the present author's experience. Part of this training involves understanding some of the numerous cultural differences in social behaviour, some of which are outlined above. References Adler, P. (1975) The transition experience: An alternative view of culture shock. Journal of Humanistic Psychology 15, 13-23. Argyle, M. (1979) New developments in the analysis of social skills. In A. Woldgang (ed.) Non-verbal Behaviour. London: Academic Press. (1983) Intercultural communication. In S. Bochner (ed.) Cultures in Contact (pp. 61-80). Oxford: Pergamon. Argyle, M. and Henderson, M. (1985) The Anatomy of Relationships. London: Heinemann. Ball-Rokeach, S. (1973) From pervasive ambiguity to a definition of the situation. Sociometry 36, 133-45. Barnlund, D. and Araki, S. (1985) Intercultural encounters: The management of compliments by Japanese and Americans. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 16, 9-26. Berman, J., Murphy-Berman, V. and Singh, P. (1985) Cross-cultural similarities and differences in perceptions of fairness. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 16, 55-67. Bochner, S. (ed.) (1982) Cultures in Contact. Oxford: Pergamon. Bock, P. (ed.) (1970) Culture Shock: A Reader in Modern Psychology. New York: A.A. Knopf. Brislin, R. (1979) Orientation programes for cross-cultural preparation. In A. Marsella, R. Thorp and T. Cibrowski (eds) Perspectives on Cross-Cultural Psychology. New York: Academic Press. Byrnes, F. (1966) Americans in Technical Assistance: A Study of Attitudes and Responses to their Role Abroad. New York: Praeger. Church, A. (1982) Sojourner adjustment. Psychological Bulletin 91, 540-72. Cleveland, H., Margone, C. and Adams, J. (1963) The Overseas Americans. New York: McGraw-Hill. Collett, P. (1982) Meetings and misunderstandings. In S. Bochner (ed.) Cultures in Contact (pp. 81-9). Oxford: Pergamon. David, K. (1971) Culture shock and the development of self-awareness. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy 4, 448.

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Dinges, N. and Maynard, W. (1983) Intercultural aspects of organisational effectiveness. In D. Landis and R. Brislin (eds.) Handbook of Intercultural Training Vol. 1 (pp. 50-83). New York: Pergamon. Ellis, R. and Whittington, D. (1981) A Guide to Social Skills Training. London: Croom Helm. Furnham, A. (1979) Assertiveness in three cultures: Multi-dimensionality and cultural differences. Journal of Clinical Psychology 35, 522-7. Furnham, A. and Aliblia, N. (1985) The friendship networks of foreign students: A replication and extension of the friendship model. Internatinal Journal of Psychology 20, 709-22. Furnham, A. and Bochner, B. (1982) Social difficulty in a foreign culture. In S. Bochner (ed.) Cultures in Contact. Oxford: Pergamon. Guthrie, G. (1975) A behavioural analysis of culture learning. In R. Brislin, S. Bochner and W. Lonner (eds) Crosscultural Perspectives on Learning. New York: Wiley. Hall, E. (1959) The Silent Language. Garden City, New York: Doubleday. Hall, J. and Beil-Warner, P. (1978) Assertiveness of male Anglo and Mexican-American college students. Journal of Social Psychology 105, 175-8. Hays, R. (1972) Behavioural issues in multinational operations. In R.D. Hays et al. (eds) International Business: An Introduction to the World of the Multinational Firm. Englewood Cliffs, New York: Prentice Hall. Hofstede, G. (1984) Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values. Beverley Hills, CA: Sage. Hofstede, G. and Bond, M. (1984) Hofstede's culture dimensions: An independent validation using Rokeach's value survey. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 15, 417-33. Howard, A., Shudo, K. and Umeshima, M. (1983) Motivation and values among Japanese and American managers. Personnel Psychology 36, 883-98. Jenkins, H. (ed.) (1983) Educating Students from Other Nations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Kagan, H. and Cohen, J. (1990) Cultural adjustment of international students. Psychological Science 1, 133-7. Klineberg, 0. and Hall, W. (1977) At a Foreign Univeristy. New York: Prager. Landis, D. and Brislin, R. (eds) (1983) Handbook of Intercultural Training Vols, I, II, III. New York: Pergamon. Leff, J. (1977) The cross-cultural study of emotions. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 1, 317-50. Lueng, K. and Bond, M. (1984) The impact of cultural collectivism on reward allocation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 47, 793-804. Lundstedt, A. (1963) An introduction to some evolving problems in cross-cultural research. Journal of Social Issues 19, 3-19. May, R. (1970) The nature of anxiety and its relation to fear. In A. Elbing (ed.) Behavioural Decisions in Organisation. New York: Scott, Foresman & Co. Morsbach, H. (1977) The psychological improtance of ritualised gift exchange in modern Japan. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 293, 98-113. Nash D. (1967) The fate of Americans in a Spanish setting: A study of adaptation. Human Organisation 26, Whole No. 3. Oberg, K. (1960) Culture shock: Adjustment to new cultural environments. Practical Anthropology 7, 177-82. Rosenstein, E. (1985) Co-operativeness and advancement of managers: An international perspective. Human Relations 38, 1-21. Searle, W. and Ward, C. (1990) The prediction of psychological and sociocultural adjustment during corss-cultural transition. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 14, 449-64.

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Smalley, W. (1963) Culture shock, language shock, and the shock of self-discovery. Practical Anthropology 10, 49-56. Stoner, J., Aram, J. and Rubin, I. (1972) Factors associated with effective performance in overseas work assignments. Personnel Psychology 25, 303-18. Tornbiorn, I. (1982) Living Abroad: Personal Adjustment and Personnel Policy in an Overseas Setting. Chichester: Wiley. Trower, P., Bryant, B. and Argyle, M. (1978) Social Skills and Mental Health. London: Methuen. Weinshall, R. (ed.) (1977) Culture and Management. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Zuckerman, M. (1979) Sensation Seeking: Beyond the Optimal Level of Arousal. Hillside, NJ: Erlbaum. Zwingmann, C. and Gunn, A. (1963) Uprooting and Health: Psycho-Social Problems of Students from Abroad. Geneva: WHO.

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