From Language and Culture to Language as Culture: An Exploratory Study of University Student Perceptions of Foreign-Language Pedagogical Reform

Abstract

This study examines the beliefs of 378 first-year learners of French at University of Melbourne about the role of culture in the FL classroom and the teaching and learning of language as culture, rather than language and culture. The study suggests that it is our role as FL teachers to invite learners to explore language-learning through a postmodern lens, where the notion of culture is construed not as a static or a strictly synchronic utilitarian self-referential concept, but rather as a dynamic system in which FL learners are full and active participants in the process of meaning-making.