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UBC Theses and Dissertations

Discovering and constituting meanings and identities midst languages and cultures Armstrong, John Marshall

Abstract

How should we understand the lived experiences of students in an English language program at a community college? This study seeks to explore and discuss the experiences of international students as they discover and constitute cultural identities in places between languages and cultures. It suggests a link between the vibrancy of these lived experiences and an English language education program which understands the value of the lived curriculum. The text includes the narratives of three international students and the interpreting of those conversations by the researcher. Also participating in the study are the voices of teachers and the voices of writers of theory, with the researcher working in the middle, experiencing at the same time a discovering and constituting of his own cultural identity. Building on the work of postcolonial scholars of cultural theory and anthropology, the study suggests a different kind of inter-national classroom and community, one which has implications for teachers as inter-national educators. In doing so, the thesis attempts to respond to "calls for attention to international dimensions of curriculum study" (Pinar 1995) and suggests an approach to creating a different kind of theoretical and conceptual frame for language education. It is hoped that the research will open doors to new questions and avenues of study and will help in furthering our understanding of curriculum.

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