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Saturday 8:30 - 9:20 AM
Rose, Olympic ParkTel
Panning for Gold: Informant Interviews & Writing Projects 
Nicholas Lambert
Toyo University, Japan 
 

Students often have superficial understandings of their own and other Asian cultures. EFL learning materials - even those with an intercultural focus - do not necessarily address this problem, since they have a tendency to emphasize English-speaking cultures. An ethnographic approach, via the use of informant interviews (e.g., of the elderly, foreigners, people in specialized professions), can help to improve cultural awareness without neglecting language learning goals. 
In this workshop, the presenter will outline a writing course designed entirely around interview data collection and analysis. Techniques for interviewing, transcription and data analysis will be discussed, and samples of student writing projects (cross-cultural essays, personality profiles, cultural vignettes, feature articles, oral histories, scripts and screenplays) will be shown.  In addition, participants will have an opportunity to try out a couple of the classroom activities in the workshop.