This study investigates the identity and interculturality development of English-language teaching assistants through their perceptions of their experiences living and working in France. The study is framed using Bourdieu's (1979, 2000) notions of habitus and cultural capital, and draws from Byram's (2000) "intercultural mediator" and…

Provides examples of humorous errors in written exams made by university students of French and Canadian culture. (AM)

Discusses the advantages of travel and maintains that the spirit is continually energized to observe previously unknown things. The article argues that there is no better school for life than to witness the diversity of others' lives, habits, and tastes. (Author/CK)

An inventory for storing data on a sociocultural system was designed (a) to favor the emergence of a structural-functional model, and (b) to generate the descriptive knowledge most useful for a practical understanding of the life style. Thirty sections are grouped into four subsystems, adapted from those of the sociologist Talcott Parsons: the…

A presentation of the French electoral process in the form of a drama. The acts are: the rules of the game, the electoral laws; a short analysis of the "plot," the campaign; and an imaginary account of a campaign. The intention was more methodological than informative. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Describes how sources such as television, visits, and personal accounts influence British students' impressions and stereotypes of France and French culture. Teachers can help students to interpret these impressions beyond perception from a typical British norm. (CB)

This article provides an analysis of textbooks available for teaching French civilization and ranging in orientation from subjective, historical, geographical, cultural and sociological approaches to anthropological, semiotic, comparative and linguistic ones. The content and the format of the texts is dealt with, as well as various teaching…

Describes a two-pronged French civilization program at SUNY at Brockport. A culture course taught in English on modern French life is offered every semester as part of a larger set called "Foreign Cultures in English." A new French concentration now includes four cultural courses taught in French. (AMH)

A trait of the scholarly tradition of France is explication de texte, associated in the past with philology and the translation of classical texts. This tradition reemerges as a compromise between demands of the communicative approach for practical language skills and the broader linguistic and cultural objectives of foreign language learning.…

Describes the elaboration, over a period of three years, of a French language and civilization program consisting of linguistic and cultural preparation in England, followed by a one-week intensive linguistic and cultural experience in France. (AM)

France's cultural policy since the 1950s is criticized as having more of a leisure and recreational focus than being truly encouraging of French culture and intellect. Politics and economics are seen as inappropriate policy motivators. (MSE)

Describes a study conducted at Weston (Connecticut) High School of the language skills and attitude changes of a group of students participating in an overseas study program. The goals of the program were to increase participants' understanding and appreciation of another culture, and to provide stimulus for language learning. (Author/CLK)

A review of the status of classical studies in France reveals a serious decline in enrollment in Greek classes. The essential problem in curricular planning is seen as the need to find an equilibrium between culture and technology since Latin is seen as the key to the culture of the Western world. Criticism of teaching methods and theory is…

This volume catalogs a series of tapes which are the result of a two-week session organized to enable professors of French to renew their contact with French language and culture within a sociolinguistic context. The participants interviewed 193 natives of Tours according to the following themes: municipal government, education, women in French…

This volume is the result of a two-week session organized for 30 British teachers of French, aimed at the rediscovery of French culture and language. The teachers were exposed to French language and culture through a series of round tables with a representative of French business, government, politics, and the like, and through personal interviews…