The Efficiency of Implementing the Interpretive Perspective in Teaching English in Algeria Case of Middle and High School Textbooks
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Date
2016-03-07
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University of Eloued جامعة الوادي
Abstract
The Algerian English textbooks designed for middle and high school levels present the
cultural information about the foreign language speaking communities through an interpretive
perspective or a trans-cultural information using universal categories of human behavior and
the learner is expected to relate and interpret the information and evaluate it. If the learner is
not provided with a key to interpret phenomena with the local culture, the interpretive
approach outcomes can not be fulfilled and the learner will be introduced to much knowledge
without learning a specific information. Following Vygotsky‘s view on learners‘ Proximal
Zone Development, the teaching of second and foreign languages should implement a task
based curriculum to introduce information and to generate learners‘ cognitive abilities being
problem solvers rather than passive learners. The interpretive perspective presents a wide
range of varied cultural information but it must be supported with tasks and exercises that can
develop learners‘ critical thinking that prepares them for more advanced knowledge at
university level; for instance, in learning literature. The present study presents data gathered
from a questionnaire administered to first year university English learners and a language
proficiency test (written and oral) they sat for. The two research instruments were used
respectively, to collect data on English learners‘ attitude towards English and its culture as
well as the main deficiencies that these learners present as far as critical skills such as
comparison, interpretation, analysis and opinion gaps are concerned. The results showed that
English learners arrive at university carrying a positive attitude towards the English culture
though they recognize the excessive differences between the local and the foreign language
cultures and present a serious deficit in cultural critical skills visible through their
achievement in the oral and written tests.
Description
THE SECOND NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LANGUAGE, MIND AND LEARNER'S COGNITIVE CAPACITIES March, 7th/8th 2016 University of Eloued
Keywords
The Efficiency of Implementing , Interpretive Perspective in Teaching English , Algeria, Middle and High School Textbooks