Questions We Can Help You To Answer
Paper instructions:
You will (as quoted from the Bonvillain book) “try to extract communicative rules by observing the behaviors that do or do not occur in various contexts and the reactions of members of a community to each other's actions.”To accomplish this project, you need to conduct two observations, write a report, create a cultural assimilator, and then design a lesson plan. More specifically, it includes: a) Observing: Go to a public place where language is being used by some people. You cannot be a participant or interact with people (it will interfere with your observation). Position yourself so that you are relatively unobtrusive and can observe what people publicly say and do. Do not eavesdrop! Do not tape or audio-record anyone! Make notes about who is there and what you observe, try to
3make notes as detail as possible. Quotes would be very helpful. Observe for 20-30 minutes. Please repeat the procedure and do a second observation in the same public place. The second observation does not have to be the same people.b) Writing a report of your observations, noting the following:Contextual setting: Time, date, and place of your observation. Physically describe the public place you are in. Describe the people who used the place during your observation and the scene including decoration. Next describe the knowledge/assumptions/norms that all speakers of the community share about the public place; Findings need examples to support and analysis needs examples and reference to support also; Finally include the discussion questions asked and feedback obtained in the presentation into your report if we have the opportunity to present. The report needs to be double-spaced, 7-8 pages long excluding the subsequent Cultural Assimilator & the Lesson Plan. c) Creating a Cultural Assimilator: based on the observations and analysis you did in part b), develop a cultural assimilator for the situation in which you have conducted the observations. The assimilator would entail the development of 3-4 episodes that include a number (3 or 4) of behavioral options for the culture or situation in question. Also, you would be expected to validate the episodes by gathering data on appropriate responses from 4 or 5 natives of the culture in question. Make sure you discuss how you will take advantage of this kind of assimilators to teach culture. For understanding cultural assimilators, read Brislin (1989) before you start developing.d) Designing one lesson plan based on the findings you have identified from the observations. Use the template that is provided on Canvas to design a 50-minute lesson plan. You could choose any one or more findings as the content that you will teach in this lesson to a level of language proficiency that you choose in either ESL or EFL context. In the lesson plan, make sure you address the aspects in reasonable detail required in the template.
