Learning Language in a New Culture: A Critical Examination of University English Language Program Curriculum

• In Event: 69.057 - Roundtable Session 32
  In Roundtable Session: 69.057-14 - Exploring Strategic L2 Development

Abstract

Before enrolling in American universities, international students sometimes complete programs to improve their English-language skills. The curricula of such programs usually have linguistic foci but can also function as instruments of socialization, which is acceptable to students when expected yet problematic when misidentified by those facilitating it. This study draws on one teacher’s perceptions of a business English program’s curriculum and uses critical and positive discourse analysis to examine that curriculum for qualities that may socialize students into these communities. Findings reveal that the teacher did not identify the curriculum as a means of socialization despite elements identified through discourse analysis suggesting otherwise and inform a re-examination of the relationship between language and culture and its instantiation in the classroom.

Author

• Vonna Hemmler, University of Virginia