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<P><FONT size=2>Forwarded From: Claire Kramsch <ckramsch@berkeley.edu><BR>Date: Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 11:04 PM<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Dear Colleague,<BR><BR><BR>Below is a call for papers for a Special Issue of "History and Memory<BR>in Foreign Language Study." We would appreciate if you could help<BR>spread the word to colleagues who might be interested in submitting an<BR>abstract. The deadline is March 15, 2011.<BR><BR><BR>CALL FOR PAPERS<BR><BR>for a special issue of<<A href="http://goog_514419379/">http://goog_514419379/</A>><BR><<A href="http://escholarship.org/uc/uccllt_l2">http://escholarship.org/uc/uccllt_l2</A>>L2 Journal<BR><BR><BR><BR>HISTORY AND MEMORY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY<BR><BR><BR><BR>Language teachers nowadays are urged to teach "culture" in their<BR>language classes. The Modern Language Journal has recently devoted a<BR>special Perspectives section to this issue (Byrnes 2010). But culture<BR>is mostly dealt with synchronically, 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 Russian or German youngsters. How are<BR>American teachers of German or Russian expected to teach texts that<BR>deal with communism if many of their students dismiss communism as<BR>mere propaganda?<BR><BR>Interpretations of history might be different if the teacher is a<BR>native or a non-native speaker, has been schooled abroad or in the<BR>U.S., is of this or that generation, of this or that political<BR>conviction. History and memory are profoundly linked to emotions and<BR>moral values (Kramsch 2009). Foreign language teachers whose<BR>professional status is vulnerable to consumer displeasure and budget<BR>cuts or whose visitor status holds them to a visitor's politeness<BR>might be hesitant to present to American students a vision of history<BR>that might be different from their own. These teachers might be<BR>reluctant to teach any kind of text that would raise historical<BR>controversy and make the students 'uncomfortable'.<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<BR> teacher know which one to choose? How can FL teachers mediate<BR>various interpretations of history in the classroom?<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<BR> 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>Please submit a 300-word abstract electronically in Word Format by<BR>March 15, 2011 to Claire Kramsch <ckramsch@berkeley.edu> . First<BR>drafts due September 15, 2011 for a special issue of L2 Journal (early<BR>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:<BR>Cambridge UP.<BR><BR><BR></FONT></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>