Premium
Authorizing the Foreign Language Student
Author(s) -
Maxim Hiram H.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
foreign language annals
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.258
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1944-9720
pISSN - 0015-718X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1944-9720.1998.tb00585.x
Subject(s) - german , point (geometry) , foreign language , power point , process (computing) , nonverbal communication , discourse analysis , psychology , pedagogy , mathematics education , computer science , linguistics , communication , philosophy , geometry , mathematics , operating system
This paper begins by reviewing the current practices in foreign language teaching in light of Bourdieu's theories of language and power to show how failing to assess discursive intent prevents students from understanding the strategic use of language. Bourdieu's model is then proposed as the basis for a pedagogy that authorizes students to use their existing cognitive skills in order to assess a text's discourse and uncover its verbal and nonverbal strategies. To illustrate this alternative pedagogy, pedagogical techniques used to teach a short video segment from German television in a third‐semester Business German course will be discussed. Each of the techniques encourages students to look for the significance of the video's visual as well as verbal discourse. To help exemplify both the authorizing process and the pedagogical effectiveness of this new approach, these techniques will also be compared with input exercises that ask students to register information without assessing discursive intent. As a final point, this paper will discuss oral and written exercises that build on students' insights from their analysis of the video's visual and acoustic features.