This approach is a valuable option to be considered for the teaching of culture in the classroom. It embraces an element of active exploration, analysis and interpretation of the subject matter taking into consideration the students’ freedom of choice, preferences and learning styles.

The principle behind it is that the fundamental and initial point of organisation of the students' work is the task, and the language is not an end in itself but an instrument to accomplish the task. The framework suggested by Sheila Estaire and Javier Zanon (1994) consists of six stages where the teacher works together with the students, and the following is a modified version (in eight stages) with the focus on the analytical skills to be developed in the learner-centred classroom:

I Global objectives

In the first place, the teacher must formulate the global objectives, in other words, what transferable skills and strategies the students should acquire through working on the theme. The final tasks are not the most important factor in this approach, but the development of skills whose acquisition will enable students to approach any area of their own interest and whose acquisition will be demonstrated in their final products as well as in their final presentation and evaluation. 

Analytical skills, as opposed to the learning of factual information, have both “a longer shelf life” and are “flexible enough to keep up with constant cultural change” (Edginton, 1996). Here communicating the global objectives to the students or provoking them to reflect on what skills they have or are going to employ is crucial because the objectives give the students a deeper rationale for their work and form the basis for their self-evaluation. The teacher’s job at this stage is to raise the students’ awareness and make them realise what skills and strategies independent learners possess and use when they explore a certain subject, when they seek information and are successful in finding it. The real challenge for the teacher is to make students believe that the learning of skills is what counts as opposed to memorised information.

The skills proposed below assume as a starting point the verification of the students’ national identity. Following Rudyard Kipling’s words in The English Flag: “What should they know of England who only England know?”  The skills will enable them to realise that the target culture may consist of a system of values that is different from their own that they do not have to acquire it but should try to respect it. What is more, the students, through analysis, discover that these values vary according to social position, age, religion, and that the system is not a static but a changeable phenomenon. The skills can be acquired through studying cultural data from television, video, magazines and interviews.

Planning skills

·         Setting goals

·         Planning stages of work

Basic research skills

·         identification of needs

·         creating filing system

·         locating and selecting relevant information

·         analysing critically the information

·         summarising, structuring and organising the information

Linguistic skills

·         ability to report

·         ability to clearly and logically present the information in the written and oral form

Social skills

·         Ability to co-operate

I want to stress again that the assumption behind these aims is to start the analysis from the native culture which serves as a springboard and is the point of reference for the target culture analysis. This is because “the way one nation sees another is at least partly dependent on how it thinks about itself” (Edginton, 1996)

II Choosing the theme

The teacher either him/herself or in co-operation with the students decides what theme they would like to explore. In the learner-centred classroom, if the teacher wants to instil a feeling of responsibility for work into his students, it would be advisable that the students’ choice should be taken into account. If the teacher has already prepared a series of themes, s/he can let the students select the themes from the teacher’s list and let them decide about the order of on the basis of their own priority or interest.

III Final task advance planning

It is necessary to put the planning of the final task before the planning of the process of work because the final task gives the students a sense of direction and a goal towards which they will be moving and which they will try to attain. The more the students are involved in the decision making the more interested and motivated they will be. The theme and the final task will form a sort of frame for their work.

At this stage the teacher together with the students plan what final task or series of tasks the students are going to perform at the end of their work on a given theme. Here a brainstorming technique could be applied through which the students suggest the form of the final tasks or, for fear of a lack of student ideas, the teacher may present them with several options to choose from. The teacher can trigger the students’ imagination by providing them with such questions as: 

• How do people normally use the information in everyday life?
• What would you use the information in everyday life for?

The point is that the students, who are accustomed to learning information only for the sake of being tested, should be directed towards a practical implementation or exploitation of their knowledge. Here, supporting students with a good example from a different area, not under consideration at the moment, would be of great help to them. Suppose the theme is housing. What do people do in this area in everyday life?  They buy and sell houses, read about houses in ads, and so on. So the students’ final task could be a production of advertisements in which they would try to sell typical Polish houses or flats, and other groups, English houses.

IV Planning the process of work

These are the tasks for specific days or lessons leading to the final tasks. The planning process again can be the students’ responsibility. They, in groups, should write a specific plan of the stages of their work, the time of the projected accomplishment of each stage, distribution of work among the group members, etc. The plan written by the students will have several advantages both for the students and the teacher. In the first place, it will teach them planning skills. Secondly, it will serve as a reference both for the students and the teacher to check the pace of the work, what has already been done, and the necessity of introducing any changes. Finally, it will constitute a sort of contract between the teacher and the members of the group which will remind them of their obligations. The process is equally, if not more, important than the product as Coelho said “When you are moving towards an objective, it is very important to pay attention to the road. It is the road that teaches us the best way to get there, and the road enriches as we walk its length” (Coelho, Pilgrimage)

V Planning evaluation procedures

Evaluation is a continuous process and it cannot be left until the end of work. The teacher and the students should decide who is going to evaluate what and how.  Evaluation can be carried out by the teacher and the students simultaneously. In co-operation they can decide whether they are going to evaluate the materials, the tasks, the process or the final product, or all the elements. The criteria of evaluation should be worked out in conjunction with the students at the beginning and applied throughout the process, not only at the end. The aim of the evaluation is to give feedback to everybody and help with further planning.

VI Research stage

Having planned the process of work, the next step is the preparation and carrying out of the actual research. This will consist of several sub-stages listed below.

A/ The native culture

(i)                   Native culture research - tools preparation e.g. designing questionnaires and grids.

(ii)                 Carrying out the research - completing the questionnaires through interviewing members of the students’ families, neighbours; gathering information through visits e.g. to restaurants, pubs; collecting articles from local newspapers; realia e.g. menus and recipes.

(iii)                Reporting in groups, analysing and selecting the information - bringing all the materials to share with other group members, oral reporting on the findings and collectively making decision which information to include and which to exclude.

The reporting stage is unquestionably of tremendous significance both to the teacher and the students. At this stage the students have the opportunity to work as a team developing their collaborative skills, comparing their findings and planning further work. On the other hand, the teacher can see if the work is going in the right direction as far as the global objectives are concerned and whether any assistance or guidance is needed.

B/ The foreign culture

(i)                   Foreign culture research tools preparation - designing similar or using modified questionnaires as in the native culture

(ii)                 Available source(s) evaluation

(iii)                Gathering and selecting information

(iv)                Reporting in groups, analysing and organising the information

The procedure for foreign culture research will be similar to native culture analysis but there is one big difference connected to the availability of sources especially significant for students living away from cities. Therefore interviewing native speakers is hardly possible likewise an analysis of a wide range of British magazines and newspapers. Despite this drawback, the students can gather information from the most popular textbooks, coursebooks, the internet, video, tape-scripts and some youth magazines in English which can be bought in Poland such as Spotlight, Sure, Teen or The World of English.

The most important thing here is not to rely on only one source, which might be biased or too general, but trying to contrast and compare information from a variety of sources. An essential task for the teacher is to persuade the students to use several sources and compare the information included in them. Thus, the students will learn how to avoid the trap of over-generalisation. If finding sources poses a problem for the students, the teacher can supply them or ask the students who have the access to the internet to look for some information there. The point is that the students should have an opportunity to develop the ability to compare, contrast and critically analyse evidence and if it is possible with more than one source.

The provision of materials may lie both in the hands of the teacher and the students. It will give them a feeling of ownership and responsibility which is very conducive to the learning process. The teachers’ role at this stage is to monitor, serve as a source of reference, assist, advise and prompt if asked or needed.

VII Final task presentation

This stage consists of the following parts:

§         The final product of the students’ work should be photocopied and displayed in the

        classroom for other groups to see.

§         Oral presentation of the main points of the content

§         Answering questions asked by other groups or by the teacher

§         Reflecting on the process of the work: what sources the students used, what they enjoyed  

          most, what kind of problems they encountered, etc.

VIII Assessment and evaluation stage

The nature of evaluation and the choice of testing and evaluation techniques depend on the objectives and, in turn, the achievement of the objectives should be seen in the evaluation. 

 “General discussions and theories regarding cultural differences are necessary for consideration of specific cultures in their relationship to the target culture, and the one without the other is like a river without a current” (Valdes 1986: 49)

Particulars of students involved

Students level of English:           intermediate/ extended programme of English

Age:                                        17 year-olds, second year Liceum

Number of students:                  25

Classroom time devoted:           45 mins - theme discussion and final tasks selection

                                               45 mins - planning work process - global objectives chart

                                               45 mins - planning evaluation

                                               45 mins - research tools preparation

                                               3 hours - presentation and evaluation

I Global objectives

Before starting work with the students I prepared a questionnaire to be completed at the planning of the work process stage (IV). The aim of the questionnaire was twofold. It aimed to be beneficial both for the students and me as a teacher. Very importantly, it was to show the initial status of the students’ knowledge about the theme and their intended way of approaching and dealing with the subject. On the other hand, the questions were meant to implicitly direct students’ attention to the most important skills they were going to develop throughout the whole project.

Items   (to help your planning and cross-referencing)

1         What do we already know about our own culture as regards our theme?

2         What do we need to know about our culture as regards the chosen theme?

3         Where and how can we find the right information? (questionnaires, talking to parents, visiting places, source analysis, etc.)

4         What do we want to learn about foreign culture?

5         Where and how can we find the right information? (textbook, magazines, internet, etc.)

6         Who will be responsible for what – how are we going to proceed as a group?

7         What real life skills do you think you will need? Tick the appropriate:

The ability to

·         find the right information

·         select the needed information

·         find similarities and differences / spot the difference

·         plan what to do first

·         other (can you add one or two more)

·         ..............................................................

8    What language skills do we need to finalise our work? (tick the appropriate or add other)

To know how to:

·         report on the findings to other members

·         write a letter

·         write an article

·         give an oral presentation

·         explain a process

9    How will we share the final product with other groups?

10  Which of the following do we want to evaluate?

·         final product,

·         oral presentation,

·         co-operation,

·         number of materials analysed

·         other: …………

11  Who should evaluate us?

·         ourselves,

·         our peers,

·         our teacher

Questions 1-5 refer to the basic research skills like the identification of needs, locating relevant information, creating storage system, critical analysis of the information and selecting, summarising, structuring and organising the information.  Items 8 and 9 refer to linguistic skills such as the ability to report, to clearly and logically present the information both orally and in writing. Social skills such as the ability to co-operate are included in item 6. The whole questionnaire’s aim is to develop the students’ planning skills.

II Choosing the theme

It was decided to start the implementation from my students native culture according to the following advice: “ if we can use familiar cultural content while teaching English, we can reduce what Winfield and Barnes-Felfeli call the ‘ processing load’ that students experience” (Post and Rathet 1996:12).  The main theme they were going to explore was food. The theme was not the students’ choice but it was imposed on them for two reasons.

Firstly, knowing the prevailing preferences for the themes that are regarded as ‘British Culture’, the students would probably choose the ‘Big C’ topics such as the Royal Family or the political system. They were rather the examining bodies’ preferences, and due to the wash back effect the people preparing for such examinations as the English language Olimpiad have the tendency to undervalue everyday topics because it is not the top priority on the examination list. Secondly, the students assume that the theme is too down to earth to be worth dealing with in depth, and besides, there exists the assumption that everybody knows about food to a certain extent.

Bearing these arguments in mind, it is essential to prove the importance of the subject of food to the students’ life through organising a discussion with the help of the following questions:

§         When you meet a friend from another country or invite her /him to your house to stay for a week what things do you talk about in the first place: British Monarchy, food, political system? Why?

§         When you are abroad on a trip as a tourist, which is more important to you: the knowledge of political system or knowledge of the food/diet?

The students then realise that the obvious first priority is food, and thus the explanation of the topic suggested by the teacher is provided in a way by the students themselves. Freedom of choice can be given to the students at the next stage, the choosing of the final tasks.

III Final task advance planning

We started by brainstorming topics associated with food in groups and the students came up with the following mind map or spidergram:

The rationale behind the spidergram was to raise the students’ awareness of the complexity of such, as one might assume, a simple theme. The next step required the formulation of the final tasks which were to serve as the driving force for the students and provide them with a sense of direction and a goal to achieve. If the final tasks were to fulfil their function they had to be close to real life. Therefore my question to help the students was the following: “Assuming that you’ve already learnt about food, how and in what situation would you use the information?”

Having discussed their ideas in groups, the students put forward the following list of practical applications:

1.       A letter to an English friend intending to visit Poland to prepare him/her for culture shock

         as far as eating habits are concerned

2.       A menu for an English friend visiting them including both English and Polish meals, and

         recipes for the dishes

3.       An article to a school newspaper comparing English and Polish eating places.

The proposed ideas were supposed to help them in formulating the final tasks for the students to be carried out in groups. Then the following tasks were proposed by individual groups (titles in the students’ own words):

1.       Jazz, Dancing, Romancing - a small guide on Polish and English eating places.

2.       To avoid culture shock - the most popular weekly newspaper about Foreign Culture for

       everybody.

3.       Polish and English Cuisine.

4.       Cookery Book: Polish and English Traditional Food.

5.       The most excellent way to spend your leisure time: pubs in Poland and in England.

IV Planning the process of work