International research project: EU-US ATLANTIS

Project title

Dissemination and Adaptation of the ABC's of Cultural Understanding and Communication (TRANSABCs)

Years:

2009-2011

Head of the Project in Poland

Dr Ewa Bandura, Jagiellonian University Kraków, Poland

Goal of the Project:

The major aim of the Project is to foster intercultural awareness among the prospective foreign language teachers by making them understand their own cultural background and by teaching them to use their students' experiences in the foreign language teaching process. At the same time, the analysis of the data gathered during the 3 subsequent editions of the project has made it possible to evaluate the effectiveness of this method of developing intercultural competence.

Project description:

Four groups of students from the Foreign Language Teacher Training College and the JU Institute of English Studies have taken part in one of two annual research series. During the subsequent stages of the project, the students have filled in questionnaires, written their autobiographies and biographies of the members of other cultures, and the similarities and differences between the cultures and the mutual perception of the members of different cultures has been analyzed on the basis of the data from the previous stages of the project and selected articles on intercultural communication and intercultural approach to foreign language teaching. The intercultural competence acquired by the students has been reflected in the classroom tasks they have designed. Selected students have also been interviewed.

Results of the research in Poland - publications in print:

  • Bandura, E.  "ABC's as a tool for intercultural critical development." An Approach to Cultural Awareness: A Professional Model for Global Understanding Claudia Finkbeiner i Patricia Ruggiano Schmidt (ed.).
  • Bandura, E. "Exploring cultural stereotypes and the development of critical cultural awareness: From teacher autobiography to teacher-designed intercultural activities." Critical Cultural Awareness: Managing Stereotypes through Intercultural (Language) Education Stephanie Houghton (ed.).
  • Bandura, E. "Raising critical intercultural awareness of monolingual EFL students in an international educational project – challenges and possibilities." PRISEAL Conference Papers.

Results of the research in Poland – conference papers

  • July 2010, Kassel University, Germany, ‘Awareness Matters: Language, Culture, Literacy', 10th International Conference of the Association for Language Awareness.  Paper: "The ABCs of Cultural Understanding and Communications: The Role of Language, Culture, Literacy - Critical reflection in the final stage of the ABCs."
  • April 2011, Jagiellonian University, ‘Languages, Literatures and Cultures in Contact: English and American Studies in the Age of Global Communication', The Twelfth International Conference on English and American Literature and Language, Paper: "Attitudes of the students participating in a cultural awareness-raising EU-US Atlantis project."
  • June 2011, Uniwersytet Śląski,  'Occupying niches: Interculturality, cross-culturality and aculturality in academic research', 2nd International PRISEAL Conference. Paper: "Raising critical intercultural awareness of monolingual EFL students in an international educational project – challenges and possibilities."
  • July 2011, Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY, meeting to sum up the results of qualitative and quantitative research conducted within the project ‘TheABC's of Cultural Understanding and Communication.'
  • September 2011, Universitat de Lleida, Catalunya, presentation of the research results during the visit within the framework of the Erasmus exchange programme for teachers,
  • April 2012, School of Education, Durham University, symposium of the international research network Cultnet. Paper: "Exploring cultural stereotypes and the development of critical cultural awareness: From teacher autobiography to teacher-designed intercultural activities."
  • July 2012,  Concordia University in Montreal, 11th International Conference of the Association for Language Awareness. Paper within the presentation to sum up the results of the project: ‘An Approach to Cultural Awareness: A Professional Model for a Multicultural World.'