Appendix A – data from selected discussion rooms (space limitations prevent us from including the data from all the rooms. These examples are provided so the reader can see the discourse representative of the language found in the rooms and can see the categorization of the language)

National Heroes Room

TOTAL POSTS = 11 Mexican (M) = 7 (63.64%) Turkish (T) = 4 (36.36%)

Number of posts per category: A=9, B=1, C=1,

Dress Codes and Taboos Room

TOTAL POSTS = 35 Mexican (M) = 30 (85.7%) Turkish (T) = 5 (14.3%)

Number of posts per category: A=28, B=4, C=21

 

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Appendix B – Final Reports of selected rooms

Introductions Room Report

The Introductions room generated the most posts (72 in total). It was the first room on the list of 17 rooms and the logical place for participants to start talking.

We had participants from several countries. The majority of the participants were from Turkey with 29, next from Mexico with 18, then three from The United States, two from Canada, and one each from China and Portugal.

As mentioned above, there were 72 posts in this room. Most of these posts had to do with personal information about the participants. They usually focused on age, studies, and reasons and interests for participating in the course. The posts also expressed excitement about being able to share their culture as well as learn about new cultures. Some of the participants from Turkey sent beautiful pictures of their country in attachments to their posts. Those particularly helped us to "see" the country and get an idea of what it’s like.

The first participants from another country were two from the US, then one from Nova Scotia, Canada. This is probably because they were personal friends of mine! About two weeks after the beginning of the course, the Turkish participants started to send posts.

Conclusion

The posts in this room were all full of optimism and the spirit of sharing. And we did have some time to talk and share. All of the participants were willing and open minded about topics.

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Children Room Report

This Children Room generated 45 posts in total. There were participants from Turkey, Mexico, The United States, Canada and China. Everyone shared their very personal opinion about the topic, which by the way was very interesting. Cultures can be different in many aspects but sometimes as parents or adults as well, no matter where we come from we do the same things in relation to children. From all the comments in the room, I came up with 5 different sections according to the subject.

Children segregation

Children who don’t belong to a certain social-economic class, who may look different because of skin color or race or don’t practice the same religion can be segregated by peers or even by adults (i.e. teachers). Many times children are not allowed to go to certain places like elegant weddings for instance. But in rural communities you can see children running all over.

The different way to express love

For love’s sake parents can do all sorts of things. Overprotected children do not always become happy adults. Often parents don’t allow children self-independence, and “children” continue living with their parents even after they’re married. Parents can’t take control of their children in every aspect. Kids need and have to make their own decisions.

How do we raise children

In many ways parents raise children just the way they were raised, tend not to be very strict and they became overprotective. Patterns are still very strong and sometimes those patterns have to do with religion. But younger generations are more flexible in general. Parents must remember this: children should be disciplined with love. People who were hit by their parents certainly will hit his/her children. On the other hand, depending on the culture, mother can be the head of the family but in some others, father is the soul head and absolute authority (rural communities). It would be better if both husband and wife shared authority in a family and undertake responsibility and they equally depend on each other.

Number of children in a family

Although only child seemed to be very spoiled (which is not always right) families are becoming smaller almost all over the world. In Mexico three children is almost the average. But generally speaking coming from or having big families is very acceptable. And it depends on the place people live.

Discipline and Education

Children must know how to behave either in public or in private and it is mother’s and father’s job to take the time-no matter how hectic they are- to teach them and to discipline them. It is not school’s responsibility. Parents must teach right from wrong but MUST of all they have to start being an example of it. Nowadays children have a lot of freedom, they’re spoiled. Limits are very important. They help children adapt to society. Parents shouldn’t forget to teach respect, especially towards older people.

Conclusion

Every comment was very important and gave us a wide point of view from each culture. Certainly parenthood is not an easy job and educating children in order to become respectful and responsible adults is a hard task and no matter our culture. Parents must be aware of some basic rules to make things easier. Let’s teach children: being an example for them promoting self-independence making them conscious of discipline and after teaching this, love them very much!

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Room Report
Life Stages and Rituals
What can be thought about life stages & rituals??? Which stages people consider more important?? What is done when a person changes from one stage to another??…. We will discuss about all these during this report.

People from different nationalities and different states in Mexico were giving their opinions on what is done in their place of living and some things do not vary that much in Mexico, the USA and Turkey.

Let’s begin talking about the first stage which is when a baby is born, what is done before and after you have a baby??

Nowadays, people hold baby showers to get some presents for their babies and to give some advices to the new mother, I guess this tradition comes from the USA and it is organized in many countries; however, Jews think is bad luck to have this kind of celebration; they consider having a get- together when the mother and the child are both out of danger . After the baby is born what is very typical to give as a present is a cigar if it was a baby boy or chocolates if it was a baby girl, and people normally give something as a present to the new born.

Then talking about an important stage is when children are not longer kids but they become teenagers (little adults)……and we will focus on the celebration that Mexicans have and it is called the XV birthday party.

It is very interesting if we go back and we analyze when this celebration began, it was first celebrated in the early 19th century and it began because young women were introduced to the society and people thought this was the perfect age to get married; nowadays it is celebrated to show everyone that the quinceañera is not a child anymore.

This celebration can vary from place to place but what people normally do is first at all having a mass to thank God you have the opportunity to become and adolescent, then all the guests have a banquette in the quinceañera’s house or somewhere else. Before the party begins, everybody has a toast for the quinceañera drinking wine or sidra (apple beverage), this girl dances a Waltz with the chambelanes (young men) and then with the whole family (only men) . What the quinceañera wears is a long dress as the ones used in the 19th century and she normally changes her flat shoes for high heels representing that she won’t use them anymore. I guess this is an important stage because a lot of people think this is an age when all little women have a lot of illusions.

There are many important stages through life and another that can follow the one above, is when people are not single anymore that means when they tie the knot and this can be celebrated in different ways such as in the religious ceremony or the civil ceremony. Nowadays people are afraid of getting married, or maybe they do not want to have responsibilities who knows what the reality is….I think this celebration does vary from place to place, religion to religion, of course there are certain aspects that characterizes a wedding.

Let’s focus on what is done in different religions!!!
The purposes of marriage in the Bible are for companionship and procreation. In the past, they were usually arranged by parents, but the bride's consent was asked. Jewish weddings can occur any day of the week except the Sabbath, Jewish festivals, the three weeks between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av, and the "sefirah" period Passover & Shavuot (Lag Ba-Omer and other exceptions). It is customary for the bride to wear white and a headdress & veil. Jews from oriental countries wear elaborate costumes richly embroidered. The groom may wear a "kitel" (a white garment) along with a tallit.

Before the ceremony, the groom, in the presence of witnesses, undertakes an act of "kinyan" (the obligations of the Ketubah). This is done by taking a handkerchief or some other object by the Rabbi, lifting it and returning it. The groom and witnesses then sign the Ketubah.

The bride is led in by the Mothers usually to the accompaniment of a blessing of welcome chanted by the Rabbi. Sometimes the bride is led in 7 circles around the groom to ward off evil spirits.

The bride stands to the right of the groom and the Rabbi recites the marriage blessings over a goblet of wine. Both the bride & groom then drink from the glass. The groom places the wedding ring on the forefinger of the bride's right hand and recites the marriage formula. The "ketubah" (marriage contract) is then read and the 7 marriage benedictions are recited. In most ceremonies, the groom then crushes the glass under his right foot and the Rabbi invokes the "priestly blessings". The couple is then escorted away.

In contrast, Muslim wedding traditions maintain some similarities based on faith. However, there are also colorful, cultural variations from place to place. The various wedding traditions reflect the diversity of the Muslim world and we will focus on Turkey. Weddings vary with social standing, with the social distance between the parties, and with area.

A boy is normally married between the ages of sixteen and twenty-two or so, though there are always exceptions, parents are the ones who arrange everything and the ones who pay for everything is the groom’s family. Girls are normally married at about fourteen to eighteen years old.

The wedding begins four days or more before consummation, with the raising of a flag over the groom's house, the offering of hospitality in a large guest room - often borrowed from kin or neighbors - and the arrival of a drummer and piper. During the day, the men wrestle, dance, dress up as bandits, play soldiers, or watch professional male entertainers. In the evening the festivities continue in the guest room, with songs, stories, practical jokes and charades. On the girl's side, far less public ceremony has taken place. A close circle of women kin and neighbors meet to dance for a few nights before the wedding. On the day before, the bride's right hand is ceremonially dyed with henna.

When the party arrives to fetch the bride, the men and women are entertained separately. Dancing, foolery, coffee and cigarettes abound. The visitors are said to be `under the orders' of their hosts, a dozen or so men dance in a circle.

Meanwhile, the women guests are entertained by the girl's close womenfolk. Four of the visiting yenge, and one woman of the girl's side, also called yenge, take the bride into an inner room or cave where, solemnly lamenting and weeping, they dress her for her new husband. From this moment until she is alone with him, she is not allowed to speak, but weeps constantly. When she is ready, they leave her alone and rejoin the company. Finally a large meal is served, separately to the men and the women, and the groom's party prepare to depart in procession, as they came, headed by pipe and drum. The yengeler bring up the rear, with the bride in their midst. With much weeping and kissing of hands, she takes her and they leave, riding if possible a white horse - (in fact, the means of transport can include a donkey, a horse drawn cart, a lorry, a taxi, and the bride's own two legs) - she sets off, alone among the people of her new environment…….. these are some of the most important things that are done in this celebration. I won’t extend more because this can be a topic that can be discussed more extensively.

What can be another significant stage for a person???? Well according to the different points of view of the participants, they mentioned that retirement can be an excellent stage if you have it insured. Well, what about if you live day by day?? Well this is something people have to begin worrying about and also begin saving money, in that way if they have the opportunity to retire they will have at least some money saved. Finally talking about the retirements benefits; I think that not a lot of people will enjoy them but as Nancy mentioned “there is not guarantee that we will be so lucky to live the retirement age”.

To finish with let’s talk about funerals……I know this can be something nobody wants to deal with, but this is part of life!!!. In Turkey as in Mexico there are some things which are partially related, but there are other things that are totally different.

In Turkey all relatives are expected to be there the same as in Mexico, Turkish people also pray the difference is that the “hodja” (person who prays) is the only one who does it, everyone else is just listening, however in Mexico one person is in charge of saying the Rosary and then everybody else prays or repeats the proclamation.

Talking about what is done after the burying-stage, in Mexico; people gather the next nine days and pray sometimes once or twice a day, however; in Turkey they gather 7 days after the burial and also pray. In this case everything is focused on the religion and people do what they consider is the best thing to do to save the soul of the dead person.

To conclude with……I guess there are many things that characterize each culture but there are some others which can be related to each other and we can take as part of our culture …..!!!

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PUBLIC SERVICES ROOM

The real name of the room is: Literacy and Public Services, but as I’m going to focus my report on Public services, that’s my title.

This room had about 47 messages, the third part of them were about public services, and the differences between China, Turkey, Mexico ( Puebla) and USA. The messages were focused mostly on people education and the way they behave about garbage, but some talked about the way to deal with it as a public service.

The majority agreed that people lack education to know what to do with garbage when they are out. Some said that adults are the real problem, because children are being taught at school, and they really understand the importance of taking care of their world and environment, but the problem is that when they go out of school, they face a different truth, with their parents, relatives, neighbors, etc. And, as you know is very difficult to go against the reality, and convince others.

Somebody talked about how time changes people, because our ancestors were more concerned about having a clean city, by cleaning their own streets and keeping their houses well painted, and things like that, but now you can see how dirty the city is, and realize the indifference of people.

There were comments about the difficulty for the government to get the city cleaned,

for example, in China with that amount of people living in a small space. And the way people react to the government efforts to keep a clean city.

Some people said that when they are not in their own city, they simply don’t care about throwing garbage out of their cars or in the streets, just because they don´t get a ticket.

And in the other hand some do the contrary thing: if you go to a place where that attitude is prohibited, you don´t do it, but when you come back, you start doing it again.

The conclusion of all comments were that the most important thing to do is to educate not only with words, but with an example of life. And value what we have in the moment we have it. The earth is ours.

 

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Appendix C – Course Syllabus Mexico

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Course Description--

This course is designed to help the language teacher understand intercultural communication (IC). This is important because of the needs of the students. In today's world, people have the opportunity to participate in the "global community." Values, traditions, religions, politics, social taboos exist. These cultural variables need to be recognized as existing and different rather than "good" or "bad." An understanding of IC will help the teacher to transmit this awareness to their students.

In this course, we will be communicating with a variety of people from different cultures with the intention of raising awareness, understanding, and tolerance of different peoples and cultures.

Course Aims--

1. Examine the basic assumptions and issues of intercultural communication and cross-cultural human relations
2. Review basic intercultural topics including perception, cultural patterns of thinking and behavior, styles of communication, assumptions and values, and cultural adaptation.
3. Explore the ways these concepts and issues can be applied to their personal and professional lives through the incorporation of lessons and activites related to understanding IC.
   

Course Requirements

1. Internet access. Course site: cursos.pue.uia.mx
2. Course username and password
3. Participation in all discussion rooms. (at least one post per room)
4. Reading materials are found on the course site.
5. Final project--The design of an intercultural unit, lesson, or course to be shared with the rest of the class. (Details of the final project can be found on the course site.)

Course Evaluation

1. Thoughtful participation in the online discussions (see below) --35%
2. Participation in the discussions throughout the course (see below) --30%
3. Completion of the final project by the due date (see details online) --35%

Course Schedule

• April 21 - 26: FTF (face to face) sessions: Raising awareness of home culture.
• April 28 - May 3: Reading and discussion of COMMUNICATION and CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION found in COURSE DOCUMENTS. Discussion questions found in ASSIGNMENTS and in your SMALL GROUPS.
• May 4 - June 28th: Online discussions in Culture Rooms. (You are expected to participate in a room or rooms at least TWICE a week)
• July 5: Final Project due (with copies for everyone)

 

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Appendix D – Course Syllabus Turkey

FLED 312

Bayyurt

Sociolinguistics and Education

Course objective

This course studies language in its sociocultural context, investigating how social and cultural factors influence language, language use, and language learning and teaching. The main goal is to familiarize students with the main issues of sociolinguistics and show their application in language teaching and education. The last weeks of the course deal with the practical aspects of using sociolinguistic data/information to evaluate and prepare materials and activities for raising learners’ awareness of cross-cultural differences.

Course materials

Textbooks:

Holmes, Janet (2001)(second edition). An Introduction to Sociolinguisitics. Essex: Pearson

Education Limited.

Mesthrie, R. et al. (2000). Introducing Sociolinguistics. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Wardhaugh, R. (1992). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers.

and selected readings from various sources.

References

(The titles given below are all good references for background reading, especially for the research projects. Most of them are available in the library.)

Burns, A. and C. Coffin (eds.)(2001). Analyzing English in a Global Context: A Reader. London: Routledge.

Byram, M. and M. Fleming (eds.)(1998). Language Learning in Intercultural Perspective: Approaches through Drama and Ethnography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chaika, Elaine (1989). Language: The social mirror. London: Newbury House Publishers.

Hudson, R. A. (1980). Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kachru, B. Braj. (ed.) (1992) The Other Tongue: English across cultures. Illinois: University of

Illinois Press.

Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

McKay, S.L. and N.H. Hornberger (eds.)(1996). Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Savignon, S. (1983). Communicative Competence: Theory and Classroom . Addison-Wesley.

Trudgill, P. (1983). Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society. London: Penguin

Valdes, J.M. (ed.)(1986). Culture Bound. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wardhaugh, R. (1986, 1992). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publishers.

Wolfson, N (1989). Perspectives: Sociolinguistics and TESOL. London: Newbury House.

Course outline

Week 1: (Feb. 24-28) Introduction to sociolinguistics: Basic issues, concepts and approaches.

Holmes, Chp. 1

Mesthrie, R. et al., Chp. 1

Wardhaugh, Chp. 1

Week 2: (March 3-7) Language, culture, and thought

Holmes, Chp. 13

Wardhaugh, Chp. 9, "Language and culture"

Kramsch, Chp. 1, "The Relationship of Language and Culture", pp. 3-14.

Week 3: (March 10-14) Varieties of language and their sociolinguistic implications

Holmes, Chp. 6

Mesthrie, R. et al., Chp.s 2 & 3

Wardhaugh, Chp. 2 "Languages, dialects and varieties"

Weeks 4 & 5: (March 17-21 and March 24-28) Language variation and linguistic variables, age, gender, social factors governing their use.

Holmes, Chp.s 7 & 9

Mesthrie, R. et al., Chp. 4

Language in social interaction. Speech acts and speaking functions.

Cohen, Chp. 12, "Speech Acts" (McKay and Hornberger, 1996), pp. 383-420.

Mesthrie, R. et al., Chp. 6

Holmes, Chp. 11

Wardhaugh, Chp. 12 "Acting and conversing"

Gender and language use.

Holmes, Chp. 12

Mesthrie, Chp. 7

Wardhaugh, Chp. 13

Week 6: (March 31-April 4) Communicative competence: development and implications for language teaching. Linguistic competence and performance; rules of speaking.

Savignon, Chp. 1, "Definitions of Communicative Competence" and

"Toward a Classroom Model of Communicative Competence", pp. 1-9, 35-48.

Saville-Troike, Chp. 11, "The Ethnography of Communication" (McKay and Hornberger, 1996), pp. 351-382.

Wardhaugh, Chp. 10

Weeks 7 & 8: (April, 7-11 and April 14-18) Language contact and its outcomes: bilingualism, multilingualism, diglossia, code-switching, language maintenance and loss; interference and convergence between languages.

Holmes, Chp.s 2, 3 & 10

Mesthrie, Chp.s 5, 8 & 9

Wardhaugh, Chp. 4 "Choosing a code"

Critical sociolinguistics, language planning and policy

Holmes, Chp. 5

Mesthrie, Chp.s 10 & 12

Wardhaugh, Ch. 14 "Language and disadvantage"

Week 9: (April, 21-25) Language spread: the worldwide spread of English and its implications for foreign/second language teaching.

Kachru, B. Braj. (ed.) (1992) The Other Tongue: English across cultures, University of

Illinois Press. Chapters by J.A. Fishman “Sociology of English as an additional

Language”, and P. Strevens “English as an International Language” pp. 19-47

Kachru, B.B. and Nelson, C.L., Chp.1, “World Englishes”, (Burns and Coffin, 2001)

Crystal, D., Chp. 4, “The Future of Englishes”, (Burns and Coffin, 2001)

Pennycook, A., Chp. 6, “English in the World/The World in English”, (Burns and Coffin, 2001)

Wardhaugh, Language in Competition: Language Dominance

Spring Break (April 28-May 2)

Weeks 10&11: (May, 5-9 & May 12-16)

Sociolinguistics and education:

The analysis of social and cultural factors influencing language teaching and learning.

Cultural differences in the language classroom.

Evaluating the cultural content (sociolinguistic load) in the language classrooms (materials and so on)

Barrow, R. “Culture, values and the language classroom. pp. 3-9.

Bentahila, A. & E. Davies (1989) Culture and language use: A problem for foreign language teaching, IRAL, Vol. XXVII/2, pp. 99-111.

Blatchford, Chp. 13, “Newspapers: vehicles for teaching ESOL with a cultural focus”

(Valdes, 1986), pp. 130-136.

Brooks, Chp. 12, “Culture in the classroom” (Valdes, 1986), pp. 123-128.

Cox, Chp. 50, “Teaching Standard English”, (Burke et al., 2000), pp. 478-487.

Holmes, Chp.s 14 & 15

Jin, L. & Cortazzi, M., Chp. 5, “The Culture the Learner Brings: A Bridge or a Barrier?” (Byram & Fleming, 1998), pp. 98-118.

Kramsch, Chp. 1, “The Privilege of the Intercultural Speaker” (Byram & Fleming, 1998),

pp. 16-31.

Mesthrie, Chp. 11, “Sociolinguistics and Education”

Morain, Chp. 6, “Kinesics and cross-cultural understanding” (Valdes, 1986), pp. 64-76.

Weeks 12-13: (May, 19-23 & May 26-30) Presentation of research projects & Course review

Course requirements:

1. Students are required to do all the assigned readings and be able to discuss them in class.

2. Attendance is compulsory.

3. Presentations 10%

Assignments 15%

Midterm I 25% (4 April)

Midterm II 25% (15 May)

Final project 25% (27 May)

Total 100%