Project Aims

 

The main aim of the PIC project has been to identify the factors which determine the outcome of communication between language teaching assistants and their mentors in schools in France and the UK.

 

Our objective has been to enhance understanding of the relationship between the national cultures of the two countries and to explore new methodological approaches to research in intercultural communication.

 

At a more practical level, the project has also sought

• to provide the means to support students' preparation for the assistantship experience as well as the administration of the programme
• to facilitate assistants' integration into the school environment
• to suggest ways in which assistants' contribution to foreign language learning in schools can be enhanced

 

We have addressed questions such as:

• What are the points of comparison and contrast between the educational cultures of France and England?
• How are notions of 'culture' perceived and articulated by the two national groups of participants? What do they perceive to be the cultural stereotypes of the other country?
• To what extent are admininstrative difficulties managed differently in the two countries?
• Do foreign language teaching assistants and teaching staff have similar expectations concerning their respective roles and responsibilities?
• If tensions exist in the relationship between assistants and other staff, what are the principal causes of these?
• What are the pragmatic features and conventions governing such aspects of intercultural behaviour as politeness, formality, complaint, rapport management, seeking and giving advice and so on? To what extent do these differ between the two national groups of participants?