The cosmopolitan nature of culture

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The cosmopolitan nature of culture implications
for creative autonomy in English language
educationAdrian Holliday
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Creative autonomy

• The qualities which students bring with them from
  their own worlds outside the classroom
• A resource in the classroom rather than something
  to be created there
• Students making their own space and getting on
  with activities in their own terms, perhaps out
  of sight of the teacher
• Part of the fabric of behaviour that exists in
  all societies
• Can contributing to and enrich cultural practices
  anywhere

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But ... two conflicting pictures
Non-essentialist Cosmopolitanist Values and
behaviour have a large universal element ... are
in dialogue with national structures (Confucianism
is an important cultural resource)
Essentialist Values and behaviour are defined by
national cultures (Confucianism is constructed as
defining and confining)
Periphery
Centre
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Aspects of cultural reality
Negotiating individual vs. social structure
Particular cultural products
Underlying universal cultural processes
Particular social political structures
v Artefacts Literature, art etc Social practices
iv Small culture formation Personal
membership Group cohesion discourses Social
construction Imagining Self Other
i Cultural resources Nation, religion, ideology
etc
iii Personal trajectories Family, ancestries,
careers etc
vi Statements about culture Cultural acts
outward expressions of Self Other
ii Global position politics
Confirming or resisting social structure
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Implications for English language education

• Students bring with them the basic tools to
  understand and operate in widely diverse cultural
  settings but often hidden
• Includes creative autonomy
• Underlying cultural competence underlying
  communicative competence
• English is a conduit for carrying cultural
  abilities to other places

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But ... two conflicting pictures of English
Non-essentialist Cosmopolitanist Can appropriate
multiple cultural realities (texts to be analysed
and deconstructed)
Essentialist Defined and confined by national
culture (e.g. how to greet and say thank you)
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References

• Breen, M. P., Mann, S. (1997). Shooting arrows
  at the sun perspectives on a pedagogy for
  autonomy. In Benson, P. Voller, P. (Eds.),
  Autonomy and independence in language learning.
  London Addison and Wesley Longman 132-49.
• Grimshaw, T. (2007). Problematizing the construct
  of 'the Chinese learner' insights from
  ethnographic research. Educational Studies 33
  299-311.
• Holliday, A. R. (2003). Social autonomy
  addressing the dangers of culturism in TESOL. In
  Palfreyman, D. Smith, R. (Eds.), Autonomy
  across cultures. London Palgrave 110-26.
• Holliday, A. R. (2005). The struggle to teach
  English as an international language. Oxford
  Oxford University Press.
• Holliday, A. R. (in press). Complexity in
  cultural identity. Language and Intercultural
  Communication.
• Holliday, A. R. (forthcoming). Intercultural
  communication and ideology. London Sage.
• Tong, W. M. (2002). Filial piety A barrier or
  a resource? A qualitative case study of English
  classroom culture in Hong Kong secondary schools.
  Unpublished PhD thesis, Department of English and
  Language Studies, Canterbury Christ Church
  University, Canterbury.