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Im Gespräch: An Interview with Claire Kramsch on the “Multilingual Subject”
Author(s) -
Kramsch Claire,
Gerhards Sascha
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
die unterrichtspraxis/teaching german
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1756-1221
pISSN - 0042-062X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1756-1221.2012.00120.x
Subject(s) - subject (documents) , linguistics , sociology , psychology , philosophy , computer science , library science
Inher recentlypublishedbook TheMultilingual Subject: What foreign language learners say about their experience and why it matters, UC Berkeley applied-linguist Claire Kramsch approaches language learning from a new, visionary perspective. Foregrounding the interplay of cultural aspects in language learning, Kramsch understands language learners as multilingual subjects whose experience is not grounded primarily in the memorization of grammatical rules, but rather in the subjective experience of learning and using the new language. In Kramsch’s view, the multilingual subject finds in the new language not simply an intellectual or “practical” undertaking, but also an outlet for all kinds of dreams and aspirations. These are oftentimes closely connected to issues of identity, as Kramsch shows in her book. Consequently, language shapes the learner and fosters her or his development and progress as a multilingual subject. Thenewunderstandingof thepositionof the learner also can impact expectation learners have of the teacher. Instead of regarding language solely as the accumulation of labels for the “familiar furniture of the universe,” Kramsch encourages teachers to focus much more on the visceral, physical, subjective experience of learning and using a language. In February 2012, I met with Claire Kramsch to discuss The Multilingual Subject and to learn more about the idea of the embodied self in the language classroom, the aesthetic dimension in language learning and teaching, and the beauty of the German language in particular. Being a multilingual subject myself, one who interacts, writes, and publishes in a foreign language, I was particularly interested in Professor Kramsch’s take on the obstacles of foreign language learning and the effort to define one’s identity as a multilingual subject. My goal was to find out why The Multilingual Subject is such an important and useful book for teachers, and why Kramsch so highly values the idea of “pleasure” in language learning.