Teaching the New English Cultures & Literatures (PDF)

This collection of articles comprises the first full-volume publication in Germany on teaching the New English Cultures and Literatures. It provides an exemplary survey of the challenges teachers of English are currently faced with - i.e. the opening towards the post-colonial and global world, and the growing diversity and pluralism in English-speaking cultures. In a globalizing world we are departing from former concepts of homogeneous cultures or nation-states and we are experiencing a fundamental shift away from Eurocentric worldviews. In the field of foreign language teaching and in cultural studies at university there has been a trend to go beyond previous concepts of teaching cultural awareness and intercultural competence, which adhered to the notion of national differences with the aim of instructing students in culturally adequate behaviour. The evolving concept of transculturality calls such national constructs into question and stresses the hybrid, interlocking interdependence of cultures in the era of globalization. The 14 case studies presented in this volume provide student-centred and innovative examples of how to teach the New Cultures and Literatures in the advanced EFL classroom. The focus is on a new ethics of cosmopolitanism in a new humanist spirit, which can further peaceful, productive and mutually enriching encounters between human beings from diverse backgrounds. All contributions are written in English and are addressed to university lecturers and students as well as to schoolteachers.