Abstract
Second language education can go beyond the classroom. Museums and libraries are great spaces for learners to develop their multiliteracies in a community-based learning environment. This paper provides a new approach to improving students’ second language proficiency and multiliteracy by visiting museums and libraries where students are the tour guides for each other. The author uses her Advanced Modern Chinese course and Advanced Conversational Chinese course at a college level as case studies. Student surveys and interviews indicate that museum visits help promote students’ verbal, visual, cultural, and civic literacies, and give them a strong sense of fulfilment and confidence, which are empowering learner mentalities transferrable to regular classes. The study also demonstrates what pedagogical strategies (community-based learning, applied learning, etc.) and facilitation (thinking routines, etc.) are more effective than others. With these educational attempts and their feedback collected, this paper provides both a student-centered framework for applying museum resources to language education, and also a list of ready-to-go pedagogical tools that use students’ heterogeneity and complexity to boost intercultural knowledge and dialogue in this multilingual world.
Presenters
Xiaocheng ChenPreceptor, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University, Massachusetts, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING, MULTILITERACIES, MUSEUM, CULTURAL LITERACY, VISUAL LITERACY
