World Language Students’ Ethnographic Investigations of Culture Through Mobile Devices

Culture Standards and Instruction

World language teachers have two sources for standards on culture. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) emphasizes teaching culture as one of the 5 Cs (Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities). Furthermore, ACTFL identifies the specific goal that students “demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied” and understand “the relationship between the products and perspectives of the culture studied” (The National Standards Collaborative Board, 2015). Likewise, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE, 2016) has a global collaborator standard, “Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally.”

Research reveals that the most common method of learning about culture in the world language class has been teachers giving “lecturettes” or “homilies” to their students (Rivers, 1968). The teachers tell about the geography, the history, the literature, the art, the scientific achievements, or the small details of foreign people (Qu, 2010). Often students disengage during the cultural presentations, hindering their ability to absorb the content and bridge connections with the culture.

Ethnography

World language teachers can consider the use of ethnography to change their classes from passive teacher-delivered cultural presentations to active in-depth cultural investigations by students (Gholson & Stump, 2005). The term ethnography originates from cultural anthropology and refers to the discovery of facts about a community by observing it closely, collecting information about it, describing it in detail, and interpreting the collected information (López-Barrios, 2012). Geertz (1973) argues that researchers should take a microslice of culture and examine it thoroughly. Furthermore, Geertz emphasizes that cultural descriptions should be thick and not thin. A thin description is a factual account without any interpretation while a thick description explains the meaning behind the outward expressions or symbols of the culture.

Roberts, Byram, Barro, and Street (2001) report that, initially, ethnography in modern language education involved college students who explored a cultural topic during their study abroad time. The students selected a topic such as domino playing in a park and investigated it through careful observation and interaction. This form of cultural immersion, although ideal, is impractical for a world language class. World language teachers are unable to take all of their students to the target language area. However, when the teachers have their students use mobile devices for culture, the teachers have a practical and easily implemented way to foster an in-depth cultural analysis of faraway locations.

World languages teachers in any location can have their students from sixth grade through college use these three mobile-based ethnographic techniques of in-depth data collection, targeted data collection, and thick description. Their students become engaged cultural investigators.

In-Depth Data Collection of Visual Information Through Mobile

Tuttle (2013) affirms that students can do in-depth data collection to learn more about culture through their mobile devices. In his model, students work in pairs so that a student who has a mobile device can share it with a student who may not have one. In addition, students help each other in discovering cultural information.

Tuttle describes the first activity which involves students search for Internet images on their mobile devices. When a teacher or the textbook mentions a location from the target language area, the students do an image search for that location on their mobile device. For example, Spanish students, in pairs, look at the first 30 Internet images for Lima, Peru; the Spanish students use the Spanish version of Google (google.es) so that they see the same authentic images as a native speaker would see. Beers (2001) argues that the Internet images present a dynamic and multifaceted view of the target language culture with up-to-the-minute detail and accuracy. Furthermore, the students’ mobile device’s Internet provides them with a multitude of current images as opposed to the singular outdated, or nonexistent textbook image for this city. For example, a Spanish textbook may have a one-picture perspective of Peru as opposed to the unlimited image perspectives on the Internet.

In this process, the Spanish students write a sentence for each mobile Internet image; they focus on what different information they can learn about Lima from each image. They avoid any duplicate image such as three pictures of the same church, any tourist shots, cartoons, or signs as these images do not usually convey additional cultural information. The students study each Internet image to discover new information. Advanced language students can write the sentences in the target language but beginning students will write these sentences in English (Tuttle, 2014).

The teachers have their students continue writing until the students have at least 15 different pieces of cultural information about this city. The students have an in-depth and varied collection of information about the city due to the authentic resources found on the Internet.

In the last part of this in-depth data collection activity, the students analyze all the visual information they have collected and explain what all of these outward symbols taken together convey about the city culture. This process takes students from the thin description of individual pictures to a thick description of the city.

When Syracuse University beginning Spanish students in the primary author’s class reacted to this method of learning about Lima, Peru through a perception survey, all students mentioned that they learned many different things about Lima. They discovered that Lima has many very old buildings and many brand new buildings; they saw that this coastal city has many businesses. In addition, they identified many cultural misconceptions they had about Lima with statements such as “I never realized that Lima had skyscrapers,” “Lima is bigger than our city,” and “The people were dressed like us!”

Targeted Data Collection Through Interviews With Mobile

Hoey (2015) suggests the interview as another ethnography activity. When world language students interview people from the target language area about specific cultural topics, they do “targeted” data collection. They target or concentrate on a specific aspect of culture. In most cases, an ethnographic interview looks and feels little different than an everyday conversation.

Teachers can suggest numerous ways in which students can find people from the target language area for these interviews. The students can ask family or friends in person or via the Internet, Facebook messaging, or email. They can interview the native speaker in a face-to-face meeting in a secure location, in an online program like Skype, or on the mobile phone. The students record the interview using a smartphone or tablet picture/movie app (Tuttle, 2015).

The world language teachers have the students prepare specific but open-ended questions about the targeted cultural topic. Each question probes for more and different information about the specific cultural topic such as a family party, a favorite sports team, or a popular band. After the target language person responds to a question, the students may ask follow-up questions to get more details or to better understand the response.

After completing the targeted interview, the students carefully analyze their digital interview recording. They concentrate on what the answers collectively explain about the cultural topic. They piece together an overall picture of the meaning for these outward expressions of culture in this thick description.

Robinson-Stuart and Nocon’s research (1996) demonstrates that when students conduct ethnographic interviews, the interviews enhance the students’ attitudes toward the study of Spanish as well as their understanding of their own culture and the culture of local Spanish speakers. Their research was reflected in comments of students in the primary author’s Onondaga Community College beginning Spanish class after the students did a native speaker–targeted interview. The students stated they were “amazed” to be able to communicate with a native speaker in Spanish after just one semester of Spanish. In addition, they discovered many positive things about Hispanic culture such as the number of celebrations and the variety of foods.

Thick Descriptions Through Questions and Mobile Images

A third mobile-based ethnographic activity involves world language students using written questions to guide them to have a thick description of the culture as they thoroughly examining a picture from the target language area. For example, students place themselves in groups of four and then pair off within that group. Each group selects two mobile device Internet images of the same cultural item such as two pictures of a soccer game for the world language target area. Each pair analyzes each picture.

The world language teachers will present their students with a series of questions that the students use as tools to observe and write about the cultural image. Students will use the following universal questions such as “Where is the setting? What objects are in the picture? Who are the people? What are they doing? How are they interacting? and What are they wearing?” (Vanderbilt College of Art and Sciences Writing Studio, 2012). These questions are very similar to those of Wiley as reported in Warford and White (2012) and to those of the Library of Congress (n.d.). These universal questions can be used for a cultural image. These open-ended questions have no preconceived answer.

During this thick description through question process, the students answer the questions for each picture; on their mobile device, they word process or even dictate the information in an email to themselves. Also, in this process, they review not only what they have answered about each sport picture but, also, they listen to the picture analysis from the other pair in the group. The two pairs discuss their findings. Then, the group of four collectively writes a comprehensive view of what these outward symbols tell about the culture of that sport culture in that country. They go from an analysis of individual pictures through questions to an in-depth understanding of the culture of that sport.

If students have sufficient language ability, they can answer the questions and do their thick description in the target language but most beginning and second-level students will write these in English. The thick description often requires students to use vocabulary that they have not learned in class. For example, students may not have learned the sports vocabulary for “to kick,” “net,” or “to steal.”

World language teachers can transform culture learning. Their students change from passive textbook-based culture learners to active mobile-based ethnographic investigations to become culturally aware students. When world language students use their mobile device to actively engage in-depth data collection, targeted data collection, and thick cultural descriptions, they uncover the thick meaning of the culture of the world language area. Their mobile device provides them with authentic and current culture to analyze. The students become life-long cultural analyzers.