Abstract
Is it possible to foster critical thinking and reflective learning in a foreign
language course? If yes, how is it done so that learners will develop an
intellectual capacity to truly comprehend and understand the target country, its
language, its people, its culture, and its past, present and future? In their paper on
the goal of foreign language teaching at the tertiary level, Kinoshita and Zhang
(2014) call for a reconceptualization of foreign language teaching. Not
downgrading the role of linguistic and functional aspects of language learning,
they advocate an approach that views foreign language teaching as ‘a form of
liberal arts’ education that ‘contributes to the intellectual development beyond
language facility’ (p.90). Although this aspect of foreign language teaching is
neither denied nor discounted by any of the current teaching approaches, it does
not seem to occupy the mainstream second language pedagogy, research interests
and teacher training courses. In this chapter, I will offer a critical reflection of a
pedagogical practice that gives explicit expression and equal weight to language
‘teaching’ (functional skill training) and ‘education’ (intellectual development). I
will focus on the latter, discussing the rationale, the procedure and the learning
outcome of a suite of activities that push students beyond the classroom walls and
engage them through zero-distance contact and interaction with ideas and objects
of their learning: the Chinese language and its speakers.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Enabling Reflective Thinking |
Editors | Kathryn Coleman, Adele Flood |
Place of Publication | America |
Publisher | Common Ground Publishing |
Pages | 79-99 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781612298689 |
Publication status | Published - 2016 |