Description
Book SynopsisHow is Foreignness defined by language? Who has the power to define the foreigner' as such, on which grounds, from which positioning, for which purposes? And within such premises, which is the role of foreign languages in defining, or challenging, Foreignness? This book reflects on the concept of Foreignness from a special lens, that of foreign languages and Foreign Language Education. Advancing that the experience of foreignness that foreign languages foreground opens up to a different apprehension of the self and the others, this work shows how such experience can problematize, question, and challenge meanings, assumptions, conceptualizations and representations ordinarily taken-for-granted, a much needed reflection at times when prevailing narratives essentialize individuals and groups according to their linguacultural backgrounds.Though with a global perspective, the book also addresses the Italian context in particular: after introducing a brief historical background, it examines
Trade ReviewPaola Giorgis’ strength is praxis: she shows how to turn theoretical writings into informed applied choices. She presents the foreign language classroom as both a critical and an intercultural space – as indeed it is. -- Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Director, Center for Intercultural Dialogue
Paola Giorgis combined the doggedness of the white truffle hunter and the deftness of the master cook to prepare this highly original intercultural and interdisciplinary reflection on foreign languages and Foreign Language Education. -- Jean-Marc Dewaele, Birkbeck, University of London
Paola Giorgis has created a written work of art bringing together contemporary ways of knowing within foreignness, interculturality, and linguistic diversity. Moving seamlessly between classroom, philosophy, and scholarship, Giorgis has given us an emancipatory praxis which understands power, communication, and context. -- Shirley R. Steinberg, The University of Calgary
Table of ContentsIntroduction The Missing Link: Presenting What, How, from Where and to Whom Part One Within Praxis 1. The Context 1.1 Made in Italies 1.2 Native or Foreign? 1.3 Languages, Identities, Migrations 2. The Educational Perspective 2.1 The Activities 2.1.1 Intercultural Grammar 2.1.2 Intercultural Poetry 2.1.3 Intercultural Citizenship 2.1.4 A Comment on the Activities Part Two Within Theory 1. Introduction: What’s in a Word? 2. Foreign 3. Language 3.1 mOther tongue 3.2 Other Languages 3.3 Language and Power 4. Education 4.1 Critical Pedagogies 5. Critical 6. Intercultural 6.1 Intercultural Education 7. Experience Part Three Within Research 1. Introducing the Research Study 2. The Contexts 3. The Participants 4. Methodology and Data Collecting 4.1 General Considerations on Methodology 4.2 Data Collecting: Sampling 4.3 Some Issues Regarding Data Collecting 4.3.1 In/Out Issue 4.3.2 Objectivity/Subjectivity 4.3.3 Ethical Issues 4.4 Interviews and Back-talk Focus Groups 4.4.1 Motivation and Procedures 4.4.2 Theoretical References 5. Analysis of Data 5.1 Main Principles 5.1.1 Reflexivity 5.1.2 Text Construction and Rhetorical Figures 5.1.3 Dialogue Between the Data and the Framework 5.1.4 Triangulation and Accountability 6. The Findings 7. Discussion 7.1 On the Study 7.2 On the Research Methods Part Four Meeting Foreignness. Foreign Language Education as a Critical (and) Intercultural Experience 1. Meeting Foreignness 2. Foreign Language Education as a Critical (and) Intercultural Experience 2.1 English and English Language Teaching 2.2 English as a Foreign Language and English as a Lingua Franca 2.3 English as a Lingua Franca and English Language Teaching. An Impossible Match? 3. Foreign Languages and the Intercultural 4. What’s Next? 4.1 How to Do It A Final Note The Bigger Picture. A Few Remarks on Some fin-de-siècle Fascinations
