Guide
Guide > Core: Introduction to the Cultura Guide > Basic Principles

Basic Principles

In order for Cultura to be implemented successfully, five basic principles need to be met. They are:

Principle 1:
There needs to be as much similarity as possible between the two school contexts, in terms of:

• the school levels (high school/University)
• the students' ages
• the location of the schools (urban versus rural)
• the focus of study (science versus humanities), although that is not quite as important.

If the two schools are very dissimilar in terms of the criteria mentioned above, it will be very difficult for students to separate "national" characteristics from characteristics due to age, ethnic, social or geographic diversity.

Principle 2:
The language used on the Web (for the answers to the questionnaires and the forums) needs to be the native language of the students (or to be more specific, the language spoken in the country where the students study). In all other contexts (in the classroom, in the students' essays, etc..), the language used by students is the target one.


Rationale: Word associations, for instance, only have value if they are made in the speaker's "native" language. Only then can one hope to access the hidden cultural values, which are intrinsically language-bound. Asking students to write on the on-line forums in their "native" language is also a deliberate choice. We want to make sure that students are able to express their thoughts as fully and as naturally as possible.

This often surprises foreign language teachers who have always thought of Web-based exchanges as a way for students to test their linguistic abilities. But such is not our purpose. And what students may "lose", by not writing in the target language, is largely offset by the gains they make by getting access to a rich, dynamic and totally authentic language. Moreover, the language used on the on-line forums becomes an object of analysis itself.

Principle 3:
The conversations on the forums need to be asynchronous.

Rationale: Considering the time difference, it would be difficult to have a synchronous exchange. Moreover, an asynchronous exchange has the advantage of allowing students time to better analyze and reflect on what the others have written. This makes for a much richer kind of exchange than a chat room exchange. Chat rooms can take place on their own, but on the side. A public and asynchronous forum is crucial to the quality of the "conversations"..

Principle 4:
Cultura needs to be completely integrated into the classroom. The work does not happen on the Web only. A large part of the work is and needs to be done in the classroom. The role of the teacher is therefore absolutely crucial. See What is my role as a teacher, exactly?

Principle 5:
The work needs to take place over a sufficient amount of time if it is going to have any validity. In our experience, a minimum of eight weeks needs to be allowed. But the longer the experience is and the more content you use, the better and more complete the understanding will be.