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Teaching Language and Culture Through Online Ethnographic Explorations

Wilson, Hope Marshall
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9305-6331
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1573901116368513

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures.
Becoming a competent speaker of a language requires learning how culture and language interact with one another. Language, broadly speaking, can be used to help project a desired identity. A competent L2 user can use language to bring about desired social effects, just as an L1 speaker can. For example, a competent L2 speaker of English should be able to use politeness to avoid disrupting commercial transactions; they should be able to recognize and use sarcasm to align with others; they should be able to vary their speech according to the level of formality of a given setting. Generally speaking, however, these aspects of linguistic competence are not taught in the language classroom. Instead, it is generally assumed that this knowledge will be acquired when a language user is immersed in the target-language context. Yet this is a problematic assumption for a number of reasons: first, prior studies have indicated that time spent in the target culture is not necessarily tied to higher sociolinguistic competence; and second, quite often, only a privileged minority have access to the target culture. This dissertation tests an educational intervention designed to teach Russian L2 learners about culturally-situated aspects of language in a way that is broadly accessible. Students of Russian were taken through an online program that taught them about the intersection of culture and language; this program also trained them in ethnographic methods. After this, the participants carried out small-scale ethnographic explorations of an online Russian-using speech community. At various points, quantitative and qualitative measurements of their intercultural competence and sociolinguistic competence were taken. Participation in this program was correlated with an increase in intercultural competence and sociolinguistic competence. Qualitative data showed that participants saw particularly strong development in certain aspects of their competence, while other areas lagged behind. However, while these results indicate that it is possible to design an educational program that allows students to learn about language and culture online, this program is not and likely cannot be a widely-accessible one: given that participants needed extensive guidance and help throughout their participation in this project, this program likely will always need an instructor to assist the students, and so it likely cannot be scaled beyond the classroom.
Ludmila Isurin (Advisor)
Leslie Moore (Committee Member)
Carmen Taleghani-Nikazm (Committee Member)
303 p.
Education; Language; Linguistics; Slavic Studies
second language acquisition; intercultural competence; Russian; computer-assisted language learning; pragmatics; pragmatic acquisition; sociolinguistic acquisition; communicative competence

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Wilson, H. M. (2019). Teaching Language and Culture Through Online Ethnographic Explorations [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1573901116368513

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wilson, Hope. Teaching Language and Culture Through Online Ethnographic Explorations. 2019. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1573901116368513.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wilson, Hope. "Teaching Language and Culture Through Online Ethnographic Explorations." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1573901116368513

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1573901116368513
630
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.