S

0

0

The Role of Literature in Culture LearningBy Dr. Thelma Kintanar*

Literature seems to be an im-portant part of culture, from what-ever point of view one may definethe latter. Culture may be seenfrom the humanistic point of viewas "a goal or ideal, . . . closelyconnected with the distinctivelyhumanistic activities of manwhereby man attempts to tran-scend the situation of his partic-ular society and grasp the mean-ing of human existence itself."In his classic definition of culturewhich we may adopt withoutnecessarily restricting ourselvesto his specifically Hellenisticbias, Matthew Arnold sees thisgoal as "total perfection bymeans of getting to know, on allthe matters which most concernus, the best which has beenthought and said in the world."The importance of literature asthe written record of the bestthat has been thought and saidin the world is obvious. Evenmore important perhaps is theclaim, substantiated by our ownexperience, that literature, along

*Dr. Thelma Kintanar, ResearchAssociate at the Institute, con-cluded her appointment on June30 and returned to her home inthe Philippines. She joined CLI'sstaff last December and devotedherself to the exploration of therelationship between literatureand culture learning, a part ofwhich appears in this article. Herresearch is the basis for CLI'sproposing a major research ef-fort along these lines.

with the other humanistic activi-ties of man, is a means of risingabove our particular culturallimitations, to discover and createvalues that are distinctively anduniversally human.When one speaks of particular

cultural limitations or of partic-ular cultures, one approachesthe social science point of viewwhere culture is spoken of inthe plural rather than in the sin-gular, that is, as a universalhuman ideal. Instead of viewingculture as an ideal, the socialsciences describe culture as adistinct product of human soci-ety, "largely made up of overt,patterned ways of behaving,feeling, and reacting" based ona "characteristic set of unstatedp r e m i s e s and categories.which vary greatly between soci-eties." Culture includes "ideas,patterns and values;" here weare not too far, it would seem,from the humanistic view of cul-ture. Certainly, we come close toliterature which embodies, andgives voice to, these values. It isdifficult to see how a study ofculture from the social sciencepoint of view can afford to ignoreliterature entirely, when literatureis not only an important productof the characteristic modes ofaction, feeling and thought of aparticular socio-cultural group,but is also a means of arriving atthe distinctive ideas and valueswhich constitute their culture.The two points of view de-

scribed above are not necessarilyirreconcilable, although one

(Continued on Page 2)

ESOL and Literature:A Negative View

By Charles H. Blatchford*

The enthusiasm for inclusionof literature in primary and sec-ondary ESOL (English to speak-ers of other languages) curricu-lums should be tempered by threeconsiderations-the stated localaims of English teaching, theadequate training of teachers,and the trend in the ESOL profes-sion toward sociolinguistic stud-ies of language, culture, andcommunicative competence. Thestudy of English literature is aluxury that cannot be indulgedduring the limited amount oftime allocated to English. ESOLteachers are generally ill-trainedto teach literature, and further,their students have a greater needto learn useful language andcommunicative skills than topuzzle out the human conditionas portrayed in literary language.The study of literature is notbeing denigrated; rather, theteaching of English literature inEnglish is questioned as beinga vital concern of ESOL languageprograms. The comments madehere may not be applicable to allsituations; for example, theremay be more justification for lit-erary studies where English is asecond, rather than a foreign,

(Continued on Page 6)

*Dr. Charles Blatchford is Assist-ant Professor of English as aSecond Language, University ofHawaii.

EAST-WEST CENTER 1-4 Culture Learning Institute August 1, 1972

Literature's Role(Continued from Page 1)

cannot always do away with theirdistinctions; nor would one wishto do so, for they are eminentlyuseful. For the purposes of cul-ture learning, however, we neednot commit ourselves exclusivelyto one point of view or the other,but may settle perhaps for a moregeneral and inclusive idea ofculture as "certain features thatare shared by members of a soci-ety" including "material thingssuch as styles of clothing, pat-terns of behavior such as the

way men talk and act, man's reli-gious and philosophic beliefsand their humanistic and artisticachievements." Again we maynote that literature figures in thisview of culture as an importantpart of man's humanistic andartistic achievements; even in theless advanced cultures, one findsa stock of literature, oral if notwritten, which, no less than thesophisticated literatures of ad-vanced cultures, vividly depictman's patterns of behavior andconcretely embody his religiousand philosophical or m y t h i cbeliefs. In the study of any partic-ular culture, therefore, or of hu-man culture in general, the studyof literature should certainly bea part.

It is easy enough to say this;it is not as easy to say exactlywhat role the study of literatureis to play in culture learning norhow it is to play that role. Culturelearning emphasizes the study ofparticular cultures and focuseson the study of human behavioras the most efficient way ofunderstanding these cultures. Inthis sense, therefore, culturelearning seems closer to thesocial science view of cultureand, in most cases, uses its meth-odology.On the other hand, a great deal

of literary study, particularly atthe present time, has focused onliterature as individual artisticexpression. In this view, literatureis subjective rather than objec-tive, affective rather than cogni-tive. It moves in the realm of val-ues rather than in the realm offacts. It emphasizes man's spir-itual life rather than his socialbehavior, although his outward

behavior is seen as an importantclue to, and an expression of,his inner life. This emphasis oninwardness is true not only ofcontent but of method: the lit-erary artist works with the mate-rials of his culture but he inter-nalizes them, giving them a newartistic ordering by subjectingthem to his personal vision. Theliterary critic, analyzing the wayin which the structure of a partic-ular literary work has given formand shape to the writer's mean-ing, reconstructs this vision anddraws out its larger, universalimplications.The study of literature seems

thus less interested in the specif-ics of a particular culture thanin a universal human culture,more interested in what havebeen called "cultural universals,"basic patterns of thinking andfeeling that are not bound to anyparticular place or even time,but are true of human beings theworld over and at all times. Thus,the literary artist's success ismeasured not so much by theextent to which he gives us avivid understanding of the partic-ular cultural conditions underwhich he writes (although he maydo this, too, and indeed oftendoes) but by the extent to whichhe succeeds in transcendinghis particular cultural milieu andilluminating the human conditionfor all who read his works.

In contrast to this, knowledgeof a culture depends upon ourknowing the peculiar history andecology of a specific group ofpeople, rather than their generalcharacteristics as human beingsor their shared natures with othermen. For the most part, therefore,the emphasis in culture learningwould seem to be on particularsrather than universals, on dif-ferences rather than similarities.

Generalizations, however, canbe too facile. A writer does notachieve universality by ignoringdifferences or rejecting partic-ulars, that is, the specific culturalconditions within which and ofwhich he writes. Rather, he isimmersed in these particularconditions; they are the majorsource of his materials which hetransforms by his vision and themedium of language into some-

thing universally. recognizableas human. Even so, his vision hascertainly been shaped by hisparticualr culture and the lan-guage he uses is itself a part andproduct of that culture. More-over, whatever maybe thewriter'sintent, literature remains one ofthe best ways of transmittingculture in written form and oftenaffords us interesting insightsand intimate glimpses into a cul-ture which other written recordsdo not.

Literature, therefore, partakesof both the humanistic and socialscience views of culture. At itsbest, it expresses the culture outof which it was written as well asuniversal human culture. An ex-cellent example of this is JamesJoyce's Ulysses. A brilliant tourde force in depicting the prob-lems of identity, alienation andlack of community which besetmodern man, it is also perhapsthe most comprehensive andintimate picture of the cultureof a particular Irish city, Dublin.Joyceonce remarked to his friendFrank Budgen that he wantedto write a book that would soportray Dublin that even if thecity were completely wiped offthe face of the earth, its socialand cultural history could be re-constructed from the pages ofhis novel. He has succeededremarkably, for what he gives isnot just an idea of Dublin's geog-raphy and topography but anintimate knowledge of its streetsand its public and private places.He shows us what the houseslook like, who lives at a particularaddress, how the shop windowsare arranged, where the pubsare and what goes on inside andoutside of them; he takes us tothe public baths, to church, to anewspaper office, to the library,to the beach, to the hospital; hefollows a procession that goesaround the city; he does not hes-itate to go to various unsavoryplaces including the brothel dis-trict: he immerses us in the lifethere as well as in the inner livesof his characters as they go abouttheir affairs. Needless to say, weget a close knowledge of Dublin-ers, their basic ways of thinking,feeling and behaving as well astheir major values, aspirationsand ideals. More than this, he

S

S

I

2 Culture and Language Learning Newsletter

0

0

0

gives us a vivid and particular-ized sense of the minutiae ofdaily life in Dublin: all the smallpeculiarities of speech, thought,gesture and behavior which goto make up the particular cultureof its people.

So far, this paper has lookedat the relationship between lit-erature, culture and culture learn-

ing. We may now view somespecific ways in which literaturecan cooperate with other disci-plines in cooperative endeavorsaimed at the learning of culture.One such discipline is linguis-

tics. An important focus of cul-ture learning is the learning oflanguages not only because lan-guage is an important part of cul-ture and an indispensable toolof culture learning but because

language learning providesimportant analogies to culture

learning. Literary study too isprimarily concerned with lan-guage but with the particularuses of language in literatureincluding, and perhaps most

specially, its non-discursive andnon-referential uses. Its emphasisis on the metaphorical, stylisticand other aesthetic uses of lan-guage. The linguistic interest ofculture learning is broader, itsapproach more scientific andpragmatic, but there is no reasonwhy it should not include in itsscope the literary uses of lan-guage. For although the study oflanguage has been established asa science, language, in its richestand most expressive forms, isdefinitely an art.More specifically, linguistic

study and literary study touch atvarious points. From the point ofview of the study of language andculture, literary study can makea valuable contribution in tracingthe development of a languageand the history of culture as re-flected in that development. Notonly can literature tell us aboutthe development of a languageas reflected in its writings; it caninfluence and, in fact, has in-fluenced such development-the history of any languagewould be quite different withoutits poets and major writers. Athorough study of the develop-ment of a language, therefore,entails a study of its literature.

From the point of view of lit-erature, the relationship canalso be meaningful. Rene Weitekin Theory of Literature speaks ofthe importance of linguistic studyto literature:

Literature is related to all aspectsof language. A work of art is, first,a system of sounds, hence a selec-tion from the sound-system of a

given language . . . . Phonemicsseems indispensable for compara-tive metrics and a proper analysisof sound patterns.

For literary purposes, the pho-netic level of a language cannot,of course, be isolated from its mean-

ing. And, on the other hand, thestructure of meaning is itself amen-able to linguistic analysis. We canwrite the grammar of a literarywork of art or any group of works

beginning with phonology or acci-

dence, going on to vocabulary.and rising to syntax.

But linguistic study becomes

literary only when it serves the

study of literature, when it aims at

investigating the aesthetic effectsof language-in short, when it be-comes stylistics...

Stylistics ... cannot be pursuedsuccessfully without a thoroughgrounding in general linguistics,since precisely one of its centralconcerns is the contrast of the lan-

guage system of a literary work ofart with the general usage of thetime. Without knowledge of whatis common speech, even unliteraryspeech, and what are the differentsocial languages of a time, stylisticscan scarcely transcend impres-sionism.

Although he does not directly sayso, it may be inferred from WeI-tek's statement that sociolinguis-tic perspectives could be helpfulin the stylistic study of literature.

Stylistics, however, is not justa specialized method of literaryanalysis. A study of style can beuseful not only in telling us aboutthe literary use of language ofparticular authors but can alsogive us a knowledge of com-munal styles (useful in the studyof folk literature) or of stylistictypes characteristic of a partic-ular culture (e.g. the Japanesehaiku) and thus tell us moreabout that culture.Mention has been made of the

analogous relationship betweenlanguage and culture, althoughadmittedly the latter is far morecomplexthan, and infact includes,the former. It is possible, how-ever, that linguistic structurescould serve as a model for thestudy of socio-cultural forms.

This interest in the relationshipbetween a language system anda socio-cultural system is alsoreflected in the study of liter-ature. Structuralism, a move-ment which has been active inlinguistics and anthropology,has extended its questionings toliterature. "The structuralist asks:what is the status of words insociety? Is literature to be com-pared to ritual, or does it mediatein a distinctively different way?At the most general level: arenot social systems best definedby analogy to language sys-tems?"To view the special role of

literature (essentially through itsparticular use of language) inclarifying the structure of societyand ultimately to arrive at a betterunderstanding of the role of artin human life seems to be thegeneral aim of structuralist crit-icism which has been definedas "a new kind of criticism whichcould view literature as an insti-tution with its own laws or struc-turalist principles, yet relatetheselaws to both local traditions andto societal as such. Any inter-pretation that can respect theseaims is rightly called structural."Structural interests in literaturerange from a new emphasis onthe importance of analyzing aliterary work in the context ofits socio-cultural milieu to ratheresoteric forms of criticism, e.g.R o I a n d Barthes' "semio - criti-cism" which according to him ismuch broader in perspective thanmere stylistics: it examines thebasic relationships between writ-er and language, via a return tothe principles of linguistic an-thropology.

It is not within the scope of thispaper to comment at length onstructuralism; as far as literatureis concerned, the method doesnot seem to be firmly establishedas yet, although there is a greatdeal of criticism that has beencarried on along the lines of whatmay loosely be called structuralprinciples, e.g. the mythic or an-thropological criticism of North-rop Frye and others. The pointis that structuralism is simplyone of the ways in which litera-ture has been brought into rela-tion with other disciplines, in

Culture and Language Learning Newsletter 3

this instance anthropology andlinguistic anthropology, for the

purpose of studying both litera-ture and culture.

In fact, culture learning seemsto be a common ground on whichliterature and the other disci-plines can meet, to build bridges,particularly between the human-ities and the social sciences.For at best, the relationship be-tween literature or other human-istic studies for that matter, andthe social sciences seems anuneasy one. While the socialscientists keep constantly re-fining their methodology to ap-proximate the objectivity of thenatural sciences, the humanistscontinue to write erudite and/oresoteric articles for exclusiveliterary and philosophical jour-nals, content to remain aloof fromthe rather pedestrian concernsof the social scientists. Narrowspecialization, the unwillingnessto communicate across dis-ci p1 ines or just sheer indifferencecontinue to be the rule.

To be fair, however, there areboth social scientists and human-ists who recognize the gap andwould like to close it, or whoadmit, at any rate, that the socialsciences and the humanitiescan contribute to each other'sknowledge. After stating somequalifications to the effect thatthe literary artist's tools of under-standing and empathy are by nomeans "superior" to scientificunderstanding and that, eventual-ly, science may yet find a way ofexplaining away understandingand empathy, May Brodbeck, asocial scientist, attests to this:

" . In literature, too, is depictedthe nature of man and of the societyin which he lives. The novelist usesthe method, if such it can be called,

that the social studies must in prin-

ciple if not in practice, eschew.The novelist or playwright uses his

exceptional empathetic understand-

ing to reveal as much as he can

about the human world around us ...

...Thesocial scientistalso describesand explains, or tries to, the implicitand explicit value judgments of our

society and how they affect our be-

havior. If literature articulates and

helps form these judgments as I

believe it does, then literature and

science need each other in manydifferent ways. From science, both

physical and social, we may learn

what man and society actually canachieve. Certain physical and, even

more particularly, social processesaid and abet the realization of our

goals and ideals, while others re-tard and hinder them. The morescientific knowledge we have aboutthese processes, the more we canmold things to fit our heart's de-sires. The conflict between the waythings are and our belief about the

way things ought to be is one of the

great topics of literature. It is alsoone of the more important areas inwhich weneedmore scientific knowl-

edge. Language and literature canthus articulate the values whoseeffects and methods for realizationscience investigates.

Brodbeck believes that the col-laboration between literature andthe social sciences can be fruit-ful, for the writer's insight or"empathetic understanding" cansuggest "hypotheses" about thenature of man and of societywhich the social scientist canthen confirm and describe.

Humanists, too, believe thatthey can profit from cooperatingwith the social sciences:

We . . . live in a collective era,in which men multiply each other'spower instead of dwelling in proudisolation. We are more attentivethan ever before to the sweep of

huge gregarious forces, more awareof their potentialities for evil, butalso for good. New disciplines at-

tempt to alter man, perhaps to savehis civilization, through a wider

knowledge and a greater control ofsocial factors. Can the humanitiesgain from associating with socialstudies, or at least understandingthem with sympathy?A confrontation of literature (or of

history, or of art history) with other

disciplines is thus constantly inorder. It should be undertaken withtolerance and open-mindedness,but with no undue humility or in a

spirit of subservience. The meetingground is extensive. "More con-sciousness" is the goal of any intel-

ligent person today, a goal which

implies a keener understanding ofwhat differs most from him. But asympathetic confrontation withother

disciplines would and probablyshould, lead humanists to definetheir goals and methods anew, butalso to preserve the originality oftheir own branch of knowledge andthe validity of their own approach.

The theme of both statementsseems to be that there is mutualadvantage in both humanist andsocial scientist working togetherwhile maintaining each other'sintegrity. Both are, of course,general statements, althoughBrodbeck does indicate somedirections that the collaborationcan take, particularly the studyof values.

It seems clear that a study ofvalues is an excellent meetingground for both literature and thesocial sciences, particularly so-ciology and anthropology. Cul-ture, whether we speak of it inthe particular or in the universalsense, consists in large part ofvalues, the values of a specificsocial group, if the former, or thevalues that are common to allhumanity, if the latter. Valuesultimately underlie all humanbehavior which it is the socialscientist's task to explain. To doso, he has to determine what setof values are held by a particularsocial group and what are the ef-fects of these values on the be-havior of members of that group.Literature, expressing as it doesnot only universal human valuesbut the values of the culture outof which it has come can do muchto illuminate the social scientist'sinvestigation of behavior.

Similarly, students of literaturehave interests that border on theprovince of sociology. To whatextent is a work of literaturemerely representative of its age,expressing widely acceptedvalues and already formed atti-tudes? To what extent does itmold attitudes, perpetrate newvalues, anticipate changes in thesocial and/or intellectual order?A use of sociological methodol-ogy in finding out the answers tothese questions may be veryhelpful in substantiating theclaimthat literature does not merelyarticulate values, it discovers andcreates them.

There are, however, some res-ervations which a serious stu-dent of literature would have inengaging in such studies. Thefirst is the feeling that the liter-ary work is being "used" in suchstudies as material for a sociolog-ical study, as merely a sourceof raw data. As such, it is treatedas no more than a social docu-ment and its intrinsic value as aliterary work of art, its aestheticqualities which, after all, are itsprimary reason for being, arecompletely neglected. EvenRichard Hogart who is commit-ted to socio-cultural studies ofliterature at the Centre for Con-temporary Cultural Studies atBirmingham University seems to

I

I

I

4 Culture and Language Learning Newsletter

0

0

0

be very much aware of this asshown in his insistence that"everything must start with theexperience of literature 'in andfor itself.' Without that kind ofattention to the uniqueness ofthe works, that constant concernfor the integrity of their individualnatures, we shall be led into pre-mature pattern - making, genre -

generalisation a n d structuraltype casting-all gained throughsome infidelity to the w o r k sthemselves."Although the literary critic's

primary concern is the literarywork as a work of art, it must bepointed out that such a worknevertheless is a product of so-ciety and, therefore, a socialdocument. Moreover, if one is tostudy the work of art in its totality,one cannot entirely disregard itssocial aspect. The main problemseems to be that, if one looks atliterature as a social document,then one treats all literary works,good or bad, great or mediocre,indiscriminately, subordinatingthe appreciation of literary quali-ty to the gathering of quantitativesocial data. One way out of thisdifficulty is suggested by RolfMeyersohn. He suggests that asociological study of literature,novels in particular, is valuablenot only because of the so-called"data" which can actually befound anywhere but also becauseof the theory of society under-lying the work:

Another, richer use (of literatureas a resource for cultural analysis)is the theory of society revealedin Literature. This theory of societyis translated into concrete episodesby the novelist; whereas for so-

ciologists, society is something ab-stract, a generalized concept alonesort or another . . ., for the novel-ist, society exists in the socialactions of the characters created.

They embody the novelist's con-

ception or theory of society. The

theory may be unconscious or it

may be very deliberate; it is not

really important which it is. If thenovel is Literature, then the coher-ence and "concentration of mean-

ing" contained within it permits thereader to be able to draw it out.The novel can therefore be treatedas containing a theory of society,and the "data-that is, the novel

on one level-can be used to buildthis theory.

Following this approach, it wouldbe possible to distinguish great

literature from mediocre litera-ture; presumably, the greater thework, the more coherent, mean-ingful and valid the theory ofsociety underlying it is bound tobe.

What Rolf Meyersohn calls a"theory of society" does not seemto be very different from the"vision of life" that the seriousreader of literature looks for. Inmany novels, certainly, they maywell be identical. The beauty ofthis approach is that it enablesthe literary critic to be somethingof a "sociological theorist" aswell. While pointing to the fea-tures of the literary work whichdistinguish it as literature, hemay also abstract or reconstructthe view of society which holdsthe work together. In fact, manydistinguished critics of literature,Edmund Wilson and Lionel Trill-ing among them, have done justthat.Another reason for hesitation

on the part of the humanist (andof the social scientist as well,perhaps) is the fact that manyinterdisciplinary studies arebound to be peripheral to the areaof his specialization. It seemsmore logical for one who hasspecialized in James Joyce, forinstance, to write an article forthe James Joyce Quarterly thanto engage in studies involvingother disciplines in which hemay not have had adequate for-mal training. But one can alwaysacquire the necessary training,if one is willing to do so andgranted that one possesses acritical intelligence and basicresearch skills. Certainly, ifwe see ourselves not as narrowspecialists but in our broaderrole as humanists to whom noth-ing human is alien, we shouldnot hesitate to join forces withother disciplines in contributingto man's awareness of his cul-ture. For what goal could bemore humanistic than to help manincrease his understanding ofhimself and his relations withother men?

JOINS INSTITUTE

Dr. Richard Brislin, who wasappointed to the Institute staffJune 1 as research associate, ispresently participating in a pro-gram to develop a controlledindex of psychological vocabu-lary. The purpose of the index isto enable anyone to make use ofany published literature in thepsychological and sociologicalsciences. The project is underthe sponsorship of the AmericanPsychological Association whichwill publish the results and hopesto have them for available use byearly 1973.

Dr. Brislin also recently coau-thored a book entitled "Method-ology in Cross-Cultural Psychol-ogy" with Drs. W. J. Lonner andR. M. Thorndike which will bepublished by John Wiley andSons.

Working Papers

With the printing of staff mem-ber Gregory Trifonovitch's reporton aspects of Ifalukian culture,and Dr. Steven Bochner's "Over-seas Students in Australia: Prob-lems in Culture Learning," the In-stitute completed its 16th and17th working papers. A list oftitles and authors may be ob-tained upon application to thedirector.

Culture and Language Learning Newsletter5

Negative View(Continued from Page 1)

language. Further, there may bestudentswhoseacademiccareersoverseas would be jeopardizedby the omission of literature,sincethey could not pass requiredexaminations like the Cambridge"0" or "A" levels. Likewise, there

may be stronger reasons for in-

cluding literature in a course of

study for an academically orient-ed foreign student in the UnitedStates than for students who are

taking required English in a

foreign land-and this paper'spoints of reference are towardAsia and the Pacific. But what-ever the defense of literature is,teachers and planners shouldconsider the three areas of con-cern mentioned.

First, is literature one of theaims and objectives of Englishteaching? Looking at the educa-tional aims of English languageteaching in fifteen Asian nationswhose representatives met inT o ky o last September, onenotes that the study of literature

in the schools is not included,

except in Pakistan (for studentswho wish to specialize in lan-

guage and literature) and Thai-land. In all fifteen countries the

primary emphasis is placed upona functional command of the

language and the student's abili-

ty to handle simple E n g Ii s h

language situations involving thefour skills.

With such objectives, it followsthat the classroom emphasisshould be on a functional use of

the language, not on literature.With English an acknowledged

lingua franca in Asia, the prac-tical useof English is a necessity:an understanding of literary al-

lusions will not aid the closing ofadeal between theThai rice mer-

chant and the Japanese shipper.Most likely, even more attention

should be paid to the notion of"interculturation" whichtheEast-

West Center symbolizes a n dwhich strives for mutual under-

standing a n d communication

among nations using a languagewhich today happens to be Eng-lish. Ronin, a new monthly news-

letter published in Japan in

English, is another enterprisewhich expresses the same con-

cerns; its editor envisages it asa forum for the "study of inter-Asian relations; an in-depth ex-

planation ... of the political, so-cial and economic problems of

particular Asian countries,

(and) translations of theworks of

young Asian writers, novelistsand poets." Such an undertak-

ing recognizes the importance offunctional English in facilitatinggreater understanding and com-munication among Asians.

A second consideration mili-

tating against the study of litera-ture is theinadequate preparationof teachers for such a task. AnAmerican high school teacherof literature usually has a four-

year undergraduate preparation.Such prospective teachers' in-doctrination makesthem, in mostcases, more concerned with theart of literature and less interest-ed in the ESOL teacher's concernwith what, in their minds, are themore mechanical and less crea-tive uses of language. In Asiancountries there is generally amild disdain for the languageteacher-it is the teacher of lit-erature that earns respect. In anycase, teacher preparation for a

specialty such as literature is an

extravagance when the demandis not high and when the objec-tives do not call for its teaching,as we have seen above. And whenresources available for traininglanguage teachers-let aloneliterature experts-.are rather

meager, they should be consid-ered misallocated if spent in fill-

ing places other than where thedemand lies. The growing bodyof information about teachingESOL that the prospective teach-er must master can easily fill hiscourse of study. The coordinatorof English in American Samoa,for example, feels that better

preparation in teaching thebasic skills is needed: "I wouldwant (the prospective teacher)to learn more about what is in-volved in learning to read and in

teaching our students how to be-come better readers. Our teach-ers are weak in this area. In fact,there is the feeling that readingshould be 'literature,' or at least

preparing the student to readliterature, and that idea should beknocked straight out of their

heads." With the need for com-

petent language teachers ex-

panding, the resources availableshould be expended toward

improving that training, not to-ward adding an expensive gew-gaw. Time should also be spentin improving the prospectiveteacher's own functional use ofthe language, rather than per-petuating the mediocrity that isso widespread in the ranks ofEnglish teachers.Some might disagree with this

notion. For example, RichardNoss in his cogent article, "Poli-tics and Language Policy inSoutheast Asia," feels that

language proficiency for theprospective teacher should beconsolidated at an earlier stageand teacher training time shouldbe used for just that. One of hisreasons is that primary teachersneed training in their own cul-tures and literatures which theyhave the responsibility for trans-

mitting to the young. He furtherindicates that if there is a greatburden upon the teaching ofnational cultures, there is hardlytime left over forworking with the

foreign culture and its attendantliterature. Often, too, theteachingof foreign cultures is regardedwith fear and suspicion.The facilities for teacher train-

ing in Asia vary and cannot belisted here, but a brief glance atESOL training programs in theUnited States5 indicates thatfew include literature as a re-

quirement. Only three M.A. train-

ing programs value literature inESOL programs highly enoughto list specific courses in litera-ture that trainees may take:

"Teaching Literature in a SecondLanguage Situation" (UCLA),"Fundamentals of Literature" (B-YU), and "Linguistics and Liter-

ary Style" (UNM). Others simplyassume either that the literaturein an undergraduate preparationwill be sufficient or that any elec-tive in literature will meet theneeds a teacher will face. In anycase, the position of literarystudies has been diminished bythe growing importance of lin-

guistics, psychology, sociology,culture, and education which, onecan assume, are felt to contributemore to the ESOL teacher's

a

I

I

6 Culture and Language Learning Newsletter

0

0

.

classroom performance and stu-dent's needs.The point is that American

teacher training institutions arenot paying much more than lip-service to the fact that literaturemay happen to be taught and arenot equipping their trainees withmore than a brief exposure toliterature. Such token prepara-tion, when watered down onemore degree in the ESOL class-room, will do little to deal ade-

quately with the vast domain ofhuman values and aspirationswhich literature reflects. Litera-ture may still, of course, be usedat times as reading material, oras the source of classroom dra-matics, or as a change of pace,as in the reading of a poem-butto attempt literary analysis is amisdirected activity when oneconsiders the greater urgency ofattending to the student's morebasic needs.The third concern that this pa-

per deals with is the trend inESOL toward understanding the

place of language in society andits relation to the culture of a

people. In connection with aimsand objectives, this trend towardthe teaching of culture is reflect-ed in educational objectives otherthan the teaching of the fourskills. For example, the Tokyoseminar mentioned above report-ed some secondary goals ofEnglish curriculums asthefollow-ing: acquaintance "with the goodcultural elements of English-speaking peoples" (China),"maintenance of friendly rela-tions with other peoples" (Indo-nesia), and "acquisition of infor-mation, knowledge, attitudes andinsights to appreciate the cultur-al similarities and differences ofother peoples" (the Philippines).In connection with teacher train-ing, the trend is toward includingmore study about language andculture and sociolinguistics tosatisfy the objectives just stated.In addition to learning about cul-ture, the prospective ESOL teach-er is exposed to research meth-ods which enable him to analyzethe role of language use in theparticular area where he is teach-ing. In order to influence lan-

guage planning policy in com-plex linguistic environments with

diverse educational objectives,Noss, for one, feels that muchmore respectable research isneeded.The discussion of cultural un-

derstanding as a trend in ESOLcan be connected with the cur-rent emphasis in the United Stateson bilingualism and biculturalism.The "Guidelines" f o r teachertraining being considered byTESOL for teachers in Americaplace more emphasis upon anunderstanding of the differencesin register and sociolinguisticand sociocultural understandingthat a teacher must have, ratherthan upon literature which doesnot contribute to the student'sability to function in the society.Another trend in ESOL is to-

ward individualization, and underthis rubric, the study of literaturemight be admissible, if one ac-cepts the assumption that a good"literary experience' 17 is unlike-ly with large classes of students.If literature were an electivecourse or if ESOL programs wereflexible enough to include theopportunity for individualization,the student desirous of studyingliterature could provide his ownmotivation and thus improve hischances for a successful exper-ience with literature. It is inef-fective to impose foreign litera-ture upon students who may nothave been introduced to theirown literature, whose formaleducation may be very brief, orwhose background in culturalunderstanding of the settings ofliterature is deficient.The three considerations, then,

of aims and objectives of English,teacher training, and trends inESOL appear to be fairly strongreasons for not encouraging aninquiry into literature during apupil's limited exposure to Eng-lish. Of course, teachers of Eng-lish should be interested in en-couraging their students to readand to have them enjoy theirreading. Such encouragementcan take place just as easilythrough other more compellingmaterial: there is a wealth ofEnglish reading matter other thanEnglish literature and an examplemight include the literature ofthe student's country which iswritten in English. Utilizing what-

ever material has more appealto the student would seem to in-sure his greater pleasure andfoster a positive attitude towardhis English language experience.With the teacher's capabilitiesgenerally limited to teaching thefour skills and with the E S 0 Lprofession's manpower resourc-es strained, it seems wise to en-courage teachers to do what theycan do best. Such efforts will bemore fruitful than venturing intoliterature, especially when we donot know what is difficult in lit-erature, or when students willprobably "read" the assignmentsvia ponies, anyway.

Library Award

Jeff Seigel, degree grantee inCLI, was recently named thegraduate division winner of theUniversity of Hawaii Library's an-nual Pacific Research Award.Seigel won his honor with a paperentitled "The Indian SpeechCommunity in Fiji," a subjectwhich he will pursue further dur-ing his field study portion of theEWC grant. He will travel first toFiji, then on to India in an at-tempt to trace the above speechcommunity to its origins. He willremain in India for a year undera scholarship for language studywhich was offered him by thegovernment of India.

Essay Award

Mr. Faesol Muslim, a partici-pant in the Indonesian Humani-ties Program, recently won thirdprize in the twentieth Annual Es-say Contest sponsored by TheAsian Student newspaper pub-lished in San Francisco. The es-say dealt with the topic "Unem-ployment in Asia-A Dilemma forthe Returning Student."

African Literature

Staff member-degree granteeMrs. Ann Beruldsen led a dis-cussiononcross-culturalencoun-ters in novels by African writerson June 28. Emphasis was placedon the works of Chinua Achebe,especially Arrow of God, ThingsFall Apart, and A Man of thePeople.

Culture and Language Learning Newsletter 7

ntercuItura Studies Featured!n Summer Program for Teachers "

By William Narum*

The Summer Program in East-West Intercultural Studies is amodest attempt of the CultureLearning Institute to promote theidea of intercultural learning inboth Asia and the U.S., as well asto conduct an example of it forfour weeks this Summer (July15-Aug. 15). It is a modest at-tempt because of its short dura-tion and limited budget and it isan attempt because it is experi-mental, designed with the end inview of assessing its value as away of conducting a short-termintercultural study program in fu-ture Summers.

Actually the Summer Programtakes the place of (but does notreally replace) the former Sum-mer Institute on Asian Studies,conducted from 1959-71 by theSummer session of the Univer-sity of Hawaii with East-WestCenter funds. Unfortunately, thisinstitute could not be continuedthis year, and rather than see theentire idea lost, the C.L.I. de-cided to propose the SummerProgram, which would differfrom its predecessor in nature,scope, and budget-all. Sinceone departure for the SummerProgram was that it should in-clude Asians as well as Ameri-cans (the Summer Institute wasonly for Americans-chiefly highschool teachers, numbering 80in all), the planning team of fel-lows, staff, and students changedits nature in several ways: (1) itwould be non-credit instead of acredit program, since the Centercannot give credits; (2) it wouldbe shorter by two weeks com-pared to the Summer Institute;(3) it would not be just a lecture-discussion format, but a 'work-shop' where participants wouldwork together on some commonprojects related to the program;

*Dr. William Narum, Senior Fel-low, will be the project directorof the Summer Program in East-West Intercultural Studies.

and (4) it would be for universityfaculty, not high school teachers.The scope of the Summer Pro-

gram was both broadened andnarrowed. It was broadened,since both Asians and Americanswill be present. It seemed natu-ral, and also in accord with East-West Center philosophy, that itbe not simply on "Asian Studies"but on both Western and Asianstudies-thus "East-West Inter-cultural Studies." Itwasnarrowedin that, instead of conducting abroad surveyofAsian andWesternhistory and culture, the programwill be conducted under a unify-ing theme: "Basic Human Con-cerns in Cross-Cultural Perspec-tive." The t h e m e could bechanged in future years. Theplanning team felt that the humanconcerns to be considered thisS u m m e r should be contempo-rary, and chose t h e s e four:(1) How to achieve humanisticeducation in a technological age;(2) Minorities within larger cul-tures, both East and West; (3) Thegeneration gap in both East andWest; and (4) The quality of thehuman environment.The reasons for choosing these

particular concerns are many,but the pragmatic one is evident:they help to focus a very broadarea of studies upon some spe-cific issues. Moreover, their con-sideration from both West andEast transforms the issues intovehicles of cultural understand-ing, which at the same t i m ewould reveal both differencesand similarities in the differingcultures. Since these concernsare so much a part of education,whether East or West, it was de-cided to invite as participantsprimarily teacher - educators. Ifthe underlying presupposition ofthe Summer Program is the im-portance of cross-cultural learn-ing and understanding for theworld of tomorrow, how bettercould the program serve thatneed except by inviting the teach-ers of future teachers, at least

for this first Summer Program?As mentioned, the budget for

the Summer Program is muchmore modest than that of the for-mer Summer Institute-as a re-sult, only 30 participants at mostcan take part. No travel grantswill be awarded, and only perdiem living costs while in Hawaiican be given.

Serving as staff for the Sum-mer Program will be Senior Fel-lows at the East-West Center andfaculty from the University of Ha-waii.

Each participant will work in atleast one workshop with col-leagues from both the U.S. andAsia. Some workshops will doubt-less take up the basic humanconcerns, whereas others willgrow out of mutual interests dis-covered during the first weeks.It is hoped that the participantswill, in effect, take over the pro-gram at this point, and use it fortheir own ends in education, butwith the cross-cultural dimensionas the primary focus and context.Complementing the program willbe films, museum visits, and fieldtrips.What can be expected from

such a program? Retrospect willtell more, but in prospect it ishoped firstly, that the usual goalsof 'learning another culture' canbe realized: heightened aware-ness of the human condition be-yond parochialisms, overcomingof international misunderstand-ings, humility about one's ownculture, empathy towards anoth-er's, etc. Secondly, since theSummer Program is for educa-tors, it is hoped that the partici-pants will be motivated to act,and enlightened on how to act, inpromoting intercultural studiesand understanding back on homegrounds. And thirdly, it is evenconceivable that the participantswill demonstrate how cross-cul-tural study of some basic issuescould lead to constructive pro-posals and action.

I

I

8 Culture and Language Learning Newsletter

Several participants of the East-West Culture Learning Institute's "Summer Program in East-West Inter-cultural Studies" engage in lighthearted discussion during a coffee break. Pictured are: (seated, I-r) Mrs.Mythili Haq, assistant professor of sociology at Hanover College, Hanover, Indiana; Dr. William Narum, East-West Culture Learning Institute Senior Fellow on leave from his post as professor of religion at St. Olaf Collegein Minnesota and coordinator for the program; and Mrs. Esperanza Manuel, professor and chairman of English

.at the University of San Car/os in Cebu City, the Philippines. (Standing, l-r) Kazuo Sato, associate dean forstudent affairs and associate professor in the School of Social Sciences at Waseda University in Tokyo; andAriff bin Ahmad, assistant director of culture for the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia.

Participants in Summer ProgramTESOL PROJECTEVALUATION

Larry Smith, associate pro-gram officer and specialist inEnglish as a Second Languageeducation, spent the latter halfof May and all of June as part ofa follow-up,or evaluative process,with participants who completedthe 1971 EFL and TESOL projectsand are now back in their homecountries.

In addition to meeting, evalu-ating, and maintaining contactwith former participants, Smithalso assisted in conducting work-shops and seminars in coopera-tion with local educationalauthorities. His trip took him toJapan, Korea, Taiwan, HongKong, Thailand, Singapore, andManila.

Republic of China: CHANG,Fang Chien, National TaiwanNormal University; FANG, Tung-sheng, Tankang College; KANG,Dolores, Tunghai University.Hong Kong: CHAN, Mimi, and

KWOK, Helen, both of the Univer-sity of Hong Kong.

India: MUNSHI, GulammustafaS., St. Xavier's College, Ahmed-abad; MUNSHI, Melanie Skagen,student advisor to the U. S. Ed-ucational Foundation in India.

Indonesia: SUGIHEN, Bahrein,University of Sjiah Kuala; SAHI-DU, Abdul Karim, University ofMataram.Japan: HASHIGUCHI, Yasuo,

Kyushu University; SATO, Kazuo,Waseda University.

Korea: CHOY, Chunghoon,Yonsei University; SONG, JohnD., Hansung University.

Malaysia: AHMAD, Ariff bin,and NOR, Mohammed bin Mohd.,

both of the Ministry of Culture,Youth and Sports.

Philippines: MANUEL, Esper-anza V., University of San Carlos.

United States: ANDERSON,Paul S., San Diego State College;BLATCHFORD, Charles, Univer-sity of Hawaii; BUNMILLER, Dor-othy, San Bernardino Valley Col-lege; GARSIDE, Jane, ChurchCollege of Hawaii; GUZMAN,Gregory, Bradley University;HANSON, Lola, P., ClaremontGraduate School; HAQ, M. Anwa-ral, and HAQ, Mythili, both ofHanover College, Indiana; HUIZ-ER, Joyce, Central College, Pella,Iowa; KING, Margaret, BowlingGreen, Ohio; KRAEMER, Hazel,University of Hawaii; REDDICK,Manjit K., Pacific and Asian Af-fairs Council, Honolulu; SHAW,Larry J., San Diego State Univer-sity.

Culture and Language Learning Newsletter9

Models for Cooperationin Educational Fields

As a Senior Fellow in the Cul-ture Learning Institute, the au-thor is attempting to develop andillustrate a model of educationalcooperation which will suggestguidelines for research, experi-mentation and planning, for moreinformed dialogue among educa-tors and for more mature bi-national and international educa-tional initiatives. The model is ofparticular interest to institutionssuch as the East-West Centerwhich is pioneering in education-al relations across major cultural,geographic, social and economicdistances. As the model evolves,Japan and the United States ofAmerica are being used to illus-trate approaches to the problem.

By Willis H.Griffin

A number of elements are es-sential in structuring an outlineof more mature educational rela-tions among countries. In the firstplace, there needs to be generalagreement regarding the overallgoal of such cooperation. Thegoal which is central to this mod-el is the building of a more ac-ceptable global social system. Itis possible to suggest severalqualities such a world systemshould have, given current trendsand future forecasts. The worldof the future will undoubtedlycontinue to be pluralistic cul-turally, socially, economicallyandpolitically, although a viable fu-ture will require substantial al-terations in current forms, pro-cesses and relationships. At thesame time, a greater sense ofworld community, shared valuesand identification with mankindis needed to complement reori-ented senses of national and cul-tural identity. There can be noquestion of the need for moreeffective regional and global sys-tems of decision-making on worldproblems such as war, economic

inequality and environmental de-cay, and for the means to enforcedecisions reached on an equi-table basis.A second major element of the

model is commitment to engageeducation directly in the processof building a global society andthe assignment of agencies andpersonnel to the task. Politicaland social leaders, educationalplanners, administrators andteachers, and communicationsagencies must enunciate the im-portance of the goal and makethose decisions required to givepriority to carefully planned newefforts.

Another element which followsis the systematic review of cur-rent educational and information-al programs to assess the extentto which they tend to perpetuatenational and cultural bias, limitstudents' ability to develop afuture world perspective, andlack systematic studyof key worldproblems and processes. Reviewof current partial programsin international I intercultural Iworld education is also in orderto identify those which seem tobe making a central contributionand those which seem to be in-effective.Basic to all attempts to improve

this aspect of education is thatof formulating comprehensive,relevant and realistic objectives.One way of viewing educationalobjectives is to analyze the kindsof roles citizens are expected toperform in building a world so-ciety. One way of delineatingroles is the following: participantin informed dialogue, communityactivist and political participant,global society educator, citizen-ship - to - representative roles,people - to - people relationshipsacross cultures, international pro-fessional worker, government -to - government representationroles, and "world citizen" roles.

4.

Wiffis H. GrNhi

Suggested objectives in the cog-nitive - attitude - value area in-clude cognitive flexibility, cultur-al empathy, sense of world com-munity, supranational commit-ment and faith in human effort. Inthe area of knowledge and under-standing, understanding of one'sown country and culture in aworld context, understanding ofthe nature of interdependence,knowledge of armaments and theinfluence on human affairs of thepresent "war society," under-standing of power politics amongnations, and knowledge of thekinds of political, economic andsocial changes that are requiredto build a more equitable worldorder, are among the importantobjectives. Critical to the taskare role-performance competen-cies; these include abilities towork effectively across culturaldifferences, to carry out com-munity action projects dealingwith world affairs, to function asa citizen in relation to law-mak-ers and government officials whomake and carry out policy onworld questions, to relate to in-ternational agencies, and tokeep informed on those ques-tions and events critical to globalsociety.

Following commitment of edu-cation to world society, andagreement on world roles and

a

a

10 Culture and Language Learning Newsletter

10

0

educational objectives, c o m e sthe task of devising and experi-menting with the educationalmeans to accomplish the objec-tives. The model under develop-ment can only suggest a numberof programs that have been tried,outline new ideas that will needto be evaluated in different cul-tural contexts and at differentlevels of education, and indicatedirections of development to bepursued by educational plan-ners. Illustrative ideas include thefollowing: systematic deploymentof teachers of multiethnic, multi-national and multicultural back-grounds, educational exchangeand cross-cultural learning care-fully tailored for those personswho will play central roles in thebuilding of global society, im-proved language programs con-ceived as windows on other cul-tures as well as for skill develop-ment, emphasis on cross-culturaland world education in teachereducation programs, volunteersocial service in other countriesplanned for its educational valueas well as its service contribu-tion, and systematic short-rangeorientation and training programsfor adults who will live and workfor extended periods of time in

significant positions overseas.

Although the above and otheractivities have already beenused, their employment has beenon a sporadic and uncoordinatedbasis which has left the basiceducational system essentiallyunchanged. A major need is forsuch innovations to be built intoa coherent, integrated and sys-tematic effort that touches allstudents and gives priority at-tention to those preparing forinternational and world roles, athome or abroad.

A final element of a model ofeducational relations among na-tions is that of educational co-operation. This needs to be giventhe same kind of priority that hasbeen given t h r o u g h "summitmeetings" on disarmament, worldtrade or space exploration, and

," institutions and programs of co-operation only hinted at previous-ly should be instituted. Amongthe possibilities are: internationalinstitutes for curriculum planningto lay out guidelines and develop

model materials, in the socialsciences and humanities in par-ticular; cooperative culture learn-ing institutions and p r o g r a m samong nations with contrastingcultures for those people whosepreparation is incomplete withoutbicultural competencies; coop-erative research efforts on prob-lems of stereotyping, languagelearning, future world-order mod-els, foreign policy formulation,political socialization, economicand power conflicts of interest,and other causes of war; world orinternational universities wherestudy in many fields can be pur-sued free from national and cul-tural bias; systematic cooperativeinteraction of youth from differ-ent countries in the context of so-cial action, the operation of inter-national agencies, or in researchon global problems; the coopera-tive establishment of learningcenters for special groups suchas the children of diplomats orthe offspring of soldiers sta-tioned abroad and native mothers,where there is the unusual chal-lenge and opportunity to educatefor a different kind of world so-ciety membership.

Educational relations betweenJapan and the United States are

being used to illustrate the model.These two nations are the prod-uct of distinctly different culturaland historical processes and tra-ditions; their cooperation mayserve to illustrate patterns appli-cable across other historical andcultural differences. The futurerelations between these twocountries which have conflictingas well as complementing eco-nomic and political interests, arecritical to peace and progress inthe world of the future. These na-tions, both being industrially de-veloped, can set patterns of re-lations with the developing na-tions of Asia that can be modelsof equitable involvement tosmaller or less powerful nationsin world affairs. In spite of theextent of involvement betweenthese two countries since WorldWar II, there is still considerableignorance of each other amongleaders as well as the generalp u b I i c, stereotyped attitudesabound, a major language bar-rier persists, and what each canlearn from the other is still un-

tapped. In their educational rela-tions lies a major potential tocontribute to the building of aworld order that does not rely onarmaments and war as an instru-ment of foreign policy, that makesthe products of technology avail-able for the building of a morejust and humane world, and in-stitutionalizes equitable systemsfor reaching major decisions re-garding the deployment of theworld's resources and the solu-tion of world problems.A recommended first step is

the cooperative convening of anexploratory conference to be at-tended by high level officials andeducational planners from theUnited States and Japan, andpossibly leaders from selectedother Asian countries, to discusseducational cooperation in thecontext of the world's future andto lay the groundwork for con-crete steps towards more maturesystems of international com-munication and global-societyeducation.

Ed AdministrationGraduation Ceremony

On May 12, graduation cere-monies were held in honor of the49 participants from Micronesia,Samoa, and Indonesia who hadcompleted their program of stud-ies in Educational Administra-tion, Teacher Education, Educa-tional Media Techniques, Li-brary Techniques, and UniversityLibrarians projects.Primer Enicar (Ponape) served

as master of ceremonies. Speak-ers were Drs. Brownell, DeputyChancellor of the Center, andBickley, CLI Director. Project co-ordinators presented the partici-pants to Gregory Trifonovitch,senior program officer, forgraduation. Alesana Lealaitafea(Samoa) responded on behalf ofthe participants.

Culture and Language Learning Newsletter 11

'USE SCALE' FOR EVALUATIONBy H. Van Buren*

I found the article by Randall Whitman in the June issue of thenewsletter to be very thought-provoking. I have for some time beenpondering the question of evaluation in language teaching and why itseemed wrong to me that most evaluative materials available to theteacher are so classroom bound. I would like to see something thathas more predictive value without, at the same time, losing the assess-ment power of most evaluation measures in use today.

I am sure most readers are familiar with the FSI 5 point scale butI will repeat the short definitions here because I intend to use it intandem with another scale whose use I'd like to propose.ELEMENTARY PROFICIENCY: S-i

Short definition: Able to satisfy routine travel needs and minimumcourtesy requirements.BASIC WORKING PROFICIENCY: S-2

Short definition: Able to satisfy routine social demands and basicwork requirements.MINIMUM PROFESSIONAL PROFICIENCY: S-3

Short definition: Able to speak the language with structural ac-curacy and vocabulary sufficient to handle professional discussionswithin a special field.

FULL PROFESSIONAL PROFICIENCY: 5-4Short definition: Able to use the language with complete fluency

and accuracy on all levels normally pertinent to all professional needsand discussions.NATIVE, OR FULL BILINGUAL PROFICIENCY: 5-5

Short definition: Speaking proficiency equivalent to that of aneducated native speaker.

The letter "S" indicates that this is a speaking scale (there is asimilar rating labelled "R" for reading ability).

What reading Dr. Whitman's article made me realize is that thisscale tells us what the subject being rated can do, not what he will do.Therefore I'd like to propose that we investigate the possibility ofmaking a scale that would look something like this:

U-i Never uses spontaneously in or outside the classroom

U-2 Sometimes uses " " and 11 11

11

U-3 Uses more than notU-4 Frequently usesU-5 Always uses

The combination of these two lists would then give us a ratheraccurate description of a given individual's ability in, and use of, a non-native language. For example, Dr. Whitman's French subject wouldperhaps be rated an S-4 plus U-2 (the U stands for use).

My use scale is obviously simplistic and needs much more elucida-tion, but I think it might serve as a starting point for further thought andresearch. For example, the scale would be relative to the cultural valuesthat might be placed on using a foreign language in France, anythingless than S-S would militate against U-5. Another problem would be theavailability of chances to operate on the U scale.

The major problem, and challenge, will be in just how the teacheris to determine the U scale i.e., how does the schoolroom teacher deter-mine what is essentially an extra-curricular activity? Is it simply notpossible for the normal teacher to observe and evaluate students out-side the classroom? Even the use of questionnaires will put a great de-mand on the teacher's time and ingenuity. However, the purpose of thisarticle is to raise the issue, not to solve it. So I will leave it at that andask for reader response.*H. Van Buren is Senior Program Officer with responsibility for degreestudents in the Culture Learning Institute.

THE EAST-WEST CENTER-for-

mally known as "The Center forCultural and Technical InterchangeBetween East and West"-wasestablished in Hawaii by the United

States Congress in 1960. As anational educational institution in

cooperation with the Universityof Hawaii, the Center's mandated

goal is "to promote better relationsand understanding between theunited States and the nations ofAsia and the Pacific through co-

operative study, training and re-

search."

Each year about 2,000 men andwomen from the United Statesand some 40 countries and ter-ritories of Asia and the Pacific

area work and study together witha multi-national East-West Center

staff in programs dealing with

problems of mutual East-West con-cern. They include students, main-

ly at the post-graduate level;Senior Fellows and Fellows with

expertise in research and/or

practicalexperience in governmentand business administration; pro-fessional study and training par-ticipants in non-degree programsat the teaching and managementlevels; and authorities in various

fields meeting in internationalconferences and seminars.

A fundamental aim of all East-West

Center programs is to foster un-

derstanding and mutual respectamong people from differing cul-

tures working together in seekingsolutions to common problems.The Center draws on the resourcesof U.S. mainland universities, and

Asian/Pacific educational and

governmental institutions as well

as organizations in the multi-cultural State of Hawaii.

Participants are supported byfederal scholarships and grants,

supplemented in some fields bycontributions from Asian/Pacific

governments and private founda-tions.

Center programs are conducted

by the East-West Communication

Institute, the East-West Culture

Learning Institute, the East-West

Food Institute, the East-West Popu-lation Institute, and the East-West

Technology and DevelopmentInstitute. Open Grants are awardedto provide scope for educational

and research innovation, includinga new program in humanities and

the arts.

I

I

I