Cultural Discovery as a Post-Year Abroad Agent of Change for UK Modern Language Students

Abstract

In a twenty month project intended to confer social responsibility and to engender metacognitive reflection upon communal identity and global citizenship, students of French undertaking a study year abroad were invited to identify and collect realia (culturally-significant artefacts) in their host countries intended for the enhancement of language teaching and learning in UK elementary and secondary classrooms. On their return, they would develop their acquisitions into learning resources for local schools. This project brought together higher education and secondary Modern Foreign Language practitioners. Its impact is analysed using social realist and pedagogical theories focusing on the benefits of situated, collaborative learning experiences and on the importance of social engagement within a higher education curriculum seeking to prepare students to operate in a supercomplex environment. It explores the relationship between identity formation, intercultural dialogue and language learning, and examines the value of the student-as-producer learning model in conferring agency.