Enhancing EFL college students’ cross-cultural awareness and English learning through the implementation of a SPROUT project-based textbook -

Abstract

Sensitive to student needs in today’s globalized world, this study reports the creation and trial, at a Taiwan university, of a new cultural awareness-focused handbook for an English reading course for non-English majors. Research questions were: 1. What kinds of intercultural knowledge needs do the students have? 2. What are students’ views of instruction with the new SPROUT project based English Handbook, rich in cultural awareness material? Methodologically, first, a needs analysis was undertaken based on expert judgment, and questionnaire data from 617 students, which guided the construction of the cross-cultural Handbook. Second, a new undergraduate course ‘Cross-cultural Appreciation and English Communication’ was introduced in the General Education Center (Hung Kuang University) exploiting the Handbook, to develop students’ critical reading skills and cross-cultural literacy. 179 freshmen from the Department of Nursing participated and wrote reflective reports. Qualitative thematic analysis of the reports evidenced English language learning and increased cross-cultural critical awareness. Key findings were: support for the value of the ‘lived cultural experience by proxy’ handbook material for both class and self/home use, and the successful teaching of English cultural awareness to students of quite modest English proficiency.