<HTML dir=ltr><HEAD><TITLE>[lg policy] L2 Journal: Call for Papers</TITLE>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=unicode">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.17093" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV id=idOWAReplyText20088 dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Via lgpolicy...</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<P><FONT size=2>Forwarded From: Usree Bhattacharya <ubhattacharya@berkeley.edu><BR>Date: Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 10:11 AM<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>CALL FOR PAPERS<BR><BR>for a special issue of L2 Journal<BR><BR><BR><BR>HISTORY AND MEMORY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY<BR><BR><BR><BR>Language teachers nowadays are confronted more than ever with the<BR>question of how to teach “culture” in their language classes. The<BR>Modern Language Journal has recently devoted yet again a special<BR>Perspectives section to this issue (Byrnes 2010). But culture is<BR>mostly dealt with ahistorically, not as a speech community’s<BR>historical memories and remembrances. The many commemoration events in<BR>the cultures we teach as well as the many literary and non-literary<BR>texts we teach in our language classes confront us with the necessity<BR>to refer to, explain, discuss the remembrance of historical events<BR>that our students are not familiar with. From which perspective should<BR>language teachers give these events significance? Unlike historical<BR>events encountered in a literature or history class, that are taught<BR>in an objective manner from multiple perspectives, in communicative<BR>language teaching, historical events live in the embodied memories of<BR>teachers and learners who have experienced these events themselves or<BR>learned about them in many different and sometimes incompatible ways.<BR>Indeed foreign language teachers and students have often been schooled<BR>in a different way of interpreting historical events (see Wertsch<BR>2002). For example, American youngsters have been schooled in a<BR>different view of WWII than German youngsters. How are American<BR>teachers of German expected to teach Borchert’s short story Das Brot,<BR>if they can’t get the students to empathize with the plight of Germans<BR>after the war?<BR><BR><BR><BR>Furthermore, interpretations of history might be different if the<BR>teacher is a native or a non-native speaker, has been schooled abroad<BR>or in the U.S., is of this or that generation, of this or that<BR>political conviction. He/she might put the accents differently, give<BR>reasons that might sound biased, use a discourse that might even feel<BR>un-American to American students. History and memory are profoundly<BR>linked to emotions and moral values (Kramsch 2009). Foreign language<BR>teachers whose professional status is vulnerable to consumer<BR>displeasure and budget cuts or whose visitor status holds them to a<BR>visitor’s politeness might be hesitant to present to American students<BR>a vision of history that might be different from their own. These<BR>teachers might be reluctant to teach any kind of text that would raise<BR>historical controversy and make the students ‘uncomfortable’.<BR><BR><BR><BR>L2 Journal solicits pedagogical reports, empirical studies or think<BR>pieces on “History and memory in foreign language study” that address<BR>any of the following questions:<BR><BR>- Which role should history play in foreign language study?<BR><BR>- The MLA Report (2007) advocates teaching a foreign culture’s<BR>‘cultural narrative’. What if there are multiple, conflictual<BR>narratives in any one nation? How does the teacher know which one to<BR>choose? How can FL teachers mediate various interpretations of history<BR>in the classroom?<BR><BR>- Should foreign language teachers adopt a neutral attitude<BR>vis-à-vis historical events? Should they adopt the perspective of<BR>mainstream American media or of the target culture’s mainstream media?<BR><BR>- In a globalized world, national histories are intertwined,<BR>commemorative events in one country elicit historical parallels and<BR>comparisons with other countries. Should FL teachers draw links<BR>between historical events of the target culture and events from U.S.<BR>history?<BR><BR>- How have you, as a native or non-native teacher, dealt with<BR>the representation of historical events in textbooks or class<BR>readings?<BR><BR>- Should teachers separate the objective historical accounts of<BR>history books and the subjective memories of those who remember the<BR>events? Is the one more trustworthy than the other?<BR><BR>- Can the ‘negotiation of meaning’ called for by communicative<BR>language teaching be extended to include the negotiation of different<BR>interpretations of history?<BR><BR>- What theoretical resources would help language teachers deal<BR>with the historical/ideological dimensions of the texts they have<BR>their students read?<BR><BR><BR><BR>Please submit a 300-word abstract by March 15, 2011. First drafts due<BR>September 15, 2011 for a special issue of L2 Journal (early 2012).<BR><BR><BR><BR>References<BR><BR>Byrnes, Heidi. 2010. Revisiting the role of culture in the foreign<BR>language curriculum.<BR><BR>Modern Language Journal 94:2, 315- 336.<BR><BR>Kramsch, Claire. 2009. The Multilingual Subject. What foreign language<BR>learners say<BR><BR>about their experience and why it matters. Oxford: Oxford UP.<BR><BR>MLA Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages. 2007. Foreign Languages and Higher<BR><BR>Education: New Structures for a Changed World. Profession 2007, 234-245.<BR><BR>Wertsch, James. 2002. Voices of Collective Remembering. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.<BR><BR>--<BR>Usree Bhattacharya<BR><BR>Graduate School of Education<BR>University of California, Berkeley<BR><BR>Managing Editor, L2 Journal<BR>C/O The Berkeley Language Center<BR>B-40 Dwinelle Hall, MC #2640<BR>University of California, Berkeley<BR>Berkeley, CA 94720<BR><BR></FONT></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>