| Summary: | This study deals with the strengths of creating a module using Internet to explore cultural issues. It focuses on helping École nationale des ponts et chaussées learners to assimilate aspects of the target culture so as to adapt to a degree course in a French graduate engineering school and to exchange with fellow French engineering students. We analyse this approach focusing on the language learning methodology used for the activities, namely: on-line searches of Internet websites with cultural contents accompanied by an oral or written synthesis, flexible guidance, and learner activity. The structure of the module is presented and participants' reactions are examined. The relevance of this approach is shown with regard to knowledge construction and transformation, learner responsibility, production in French, exchange with fellow French students, and the development of cultural relativism. The results of this longitudinal study, especially their stability over time, might be of interest for the implementation of other Internet-based training programs wishing to embrace the complexity and variability inherent in the cultural dimension of language learning.
|
|---|
