InTASC STANDARD Eight: Instructional Strategies: The teacher understands and uses a

variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content

areas and their connections, and to build skill to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.

Name of Artifact: FRE 536 Argument/Ressources

Course: FRE 536 Francophone Civilization and Culture

Date: 12 November 2017

ACTFL Standards Addressed: Learners use the language to investigate, explain, and reflect on

the relationship between the products and perspectives of the cultures studied.

Rationale:

Successfully communicating in a foreign language is more than knowing words and using

grammar. To communicate well one must also possess intercultural competence. While an

utterance may be possible in the language, it may not be appropriate in a given situation because

of the target cultures social norms. If one does not abide by these norms when one

communicates with native speakers, depending on the gravity of the situation, one could cause

the very conflict one may be trying to avoid. If two world leaders are meeting for peace

negotiations, the process could be derailed if they violate their interlocutors social norms

(Shrum & Glisan, 2015). Cultural misunderstanding have caused problems in the past, and not

everyones social norms are the same. The two cultures may speak the same language and have

different social norms. When President Bush was in Australia, he made a hand gesture. In the

United States, the gesture means victory, yet in Australia it means the same thing as the sticking

up the middle finger in the United States. There was media coverage of the incident, but there

were not serious consequences. The two countries involved were allies. If this were not the case

the consequences could have been far worse.

 Teachers can play video and audio of different cultures within the target language. This

will allow students to hear and see native target language speakers. These resources may

surprise students since they may have a preconceived idea about who speaks the language and

what they look and sound like. Watching the video and listening to the audio may change these

preconceived ideas as students go through acculturation (Brown, 2014). When students

encounter the target culture they may experience culture shock. This may depend on how they

experience the target culture. If the native speakers laugh at their mistakes as was the case of

Jones in the diary entries that Gass (2013) reprinted. Jones details how the embarrassment she

felt when native speakers laughed at her mistakes inhibited her ability to use the target language.

She continues to express that she was frustrated that could not communicate what she needed to

communicate, and she felt like her language skills were reverting to previous levels instead of

gaining proficiency (Gass, Behney, & Plonsky, 2013). I can lessen the impact that culture shock

may have on my students when I encourage intercultural competence. I can guide my students

towards a more tolerant and accepting worldview.

References

Brown, H. D. (2014). Principles of language learning and teaching A course in second language

acquisition (6th ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson.

Gass, S. M., Behney, J., & Plonsky, L. (2013). Second language acquisition An introductory

course (4th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

Shrum, J. L., & Glisan, E. W. (2015). Teachers handbook (5th ed.). United States of America:

Cengage Learning.