Remapping the Foreign Language Curriculum: An Approach Through Multiple Literacies

By Janet K. Swaffar and Katherine Arens

Janet Swaffar and Katherine Arens offer a holistic approach to postsecondary language teaching that integrates the study of literature and culture into every level of the curriculum. By studying multiple genres ranging from popular to elite, students gain an understanding of multiple communicative frameworks - and develop multiple literacies. Swaffar and Arens propose the use of a sequence of template-generated exercises that leads students from basic grammar patterns to a sophisticated grasp of the interrelations among language use, meaning, and cultural context. One example of their approach is the teaching of Laura Esquivel's novel Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate). From exercise to exercise, students consider use of tense, narrative strategy (the connection between recipes and plot), and the social codes in the novel compare the novel with the Hollywood film version (different imagery for different audiences) critique promotional descriptions of the film on the Internet examine a magazine interview of Esquivel (to expose the interviewer's assumptions) The authors combine theory and practice, research and personal experience, to present a new, interdisciplinary curriculum that should strengthen the teaching of foreign languages in junior colleges, four-year colleges, and universities.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0873528077
• ISBN13: 9780873528078
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Modern Language Association of America
• Length: 217 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

The use of tense and narrative to realizing different curricular objectives.

College-level students of postsecondary language and teaching will find REMAPPING THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CURRICULUM: AN APPROACH THROUGH MULTIPLE LITERACIES provides an important, in-depth coverage studying multiple genres from popular to elite to understand different frameworks for communication. Swaffar and Arens propose using template-generated exercises to lead students from basic grammar patterns to different languages' meaning and cultural usage, providing exercises which smoothly transition students from the use of tense and narrative to realizing different curricular objectives. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch